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The report, Where Men Stand: Men' s roles in ending violence against women was launched in Australia on November 25th, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and the focus of the White Ribbon Campaign. The report is a stocktake, a reckoning, of where men are at when it comes to violence against women. The report focuses on four key dimensions of men’s relations to violence against women. (See below for the full report, in PDF.)

One of the most contentious topics today is gender. Whether the issue is sexual assault, housework or body image, the public sphere is quickly, predictably inflamed by discussions of men and women, and their relationships.

This toolkit presents conceptual and practical information on engaging men and boys in promoting gender equality and health. Specific topics it addresses include sexual and reproductive health, material, newborn and child health, fatherhood, HIV and AIDS prevention, care and support, and GBV prevention. In addition to laying out numerous examples of programmes that have effectively addressed these issues, the toolkit provides guidance on advocacy, needs assessment, monitoring and evaluation related to efforts to engage men and boys.

Created in God’s Image: From Hegemony to Partnership is a Church Manual on Men as Partners: Promoting Positive Masculinities. It builds on the gender manual, Created in God’s Image: From Hierarchy to Partnership, which was developed and published by the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) in 2003. It embodies and builds on the rich experiences gained from workshops, which were done from 2006 to 2010 in St Maarten, Malawi, Guyana and Kenya.

sex+++ or sexism+racism +heterosexism +capitalism? [This is a modified version of a blog post, which I welcome you to comment at *here*. I hope it works fine here as a story.]

Sexual harassment will only disappear when men take an active role in ending it. Most men don’t harass, and most don’t condone it. But sexual harassment is largely a problem of men’s behaviour, against women and other men.

'Men are Changing' seeks to strengthen and broaden the evidence base on working with men and boys. It describes and analyzes 12 programmes from around the world that sought to alter the attitudes and behaviours of men in relation to sexuality, sexual and reproductive health, violence and relationships. The report discusses challenges in this field, provides an overview of emerging good practice, and makes recommendations for improving existing policy work, programmes and services.
Work with men has demonstrated significant potential in contributing to building gender equality and improving the health of women and men. However, most work with men has tended to be local in scale and limited in scope. To be more widely effective, that is to transform the pervasive gender inequalities which characterize many societies globally – efforts to transform men’s behaviour require to be significantly scaled up. Policy processes and mechanisms are key elements in any effort to engage men and boys in achieving gender equality. This Policy Brief:

When Edmonton Capitals Manager Brent Bowers went on a homophobic tirade against a gay umpire, the sports world hardly took notice. It took the courage of the umpire's heterosexual colleagues to denounce Bowers's hate speech by threatening a league boycott before North American Golden Baseball League management took significant action and ultimately suspended Bowers for the remainder of the season. Bowers reportedly resigned, before being fired by Edmonton Capitals management.

Most of us are prepared to accept that men perpetrate most sexual violence (the lunatics in the men’s rights movement, notwithstanding). However, the majority of prison treatment programs for sex offenders neither take account of the issues of gender and masculinity nor their potential positive role in the rehabilitation process. By omitting these essential considerations, these programs stymie any possible, worthwhile ‘behavioural and attitudinal change’. Cowburn (2010) argues, and I would concur, that we need to understand how and why men behave ‘as men’ when it comes to sexual violence. ‘We’ here, I would think, should as much refer to sexual offenders as it does to everyone else in the community.