National Crime Victims Awareness Week 2011

National Crime Victims Awareness Week April 10 – 17th  and Battered Women’s Support Services is continuing our call urging men to own their role to end violence against girls and women.

 

BWSS ending violence initiative Men Ending Violence is a coalition of men across Canada and the US who are taking action to end violence against girls and women. The work has evolved where we have been implementing violence prevention actions that include:

  • Social Media & Marketing
  • Internet Strategies
  • Workshops & Education
  • Cultural Events
  • Fundraising Activities

 

Our work is centred through recognizing that men relate to the issue of violence against girls and women in four interconnected & intersecting ways:

  1. Men Who Use Power and Control in their relationships and interactions with girls and women (including physical and sexual violence)
  2. Men Who Are Silent By-Standers
  3. Men Who Are “Good Guys”
  4. Activists

 

For our National Crime Victims Awareness Week action we will post videos, direct action, articles, and other writings mostly by men for men specifying how men can take action individually, in their relationships, in community and in the larger society.

To participate in this critical conversation see us here, on Facebook, and/or follow us on Twitter.

 

To participate in our work at Battered Women’s Support Services please check our blog, follow us on Twitter, see us on Facebook where through the conversation we attempt to keep current on calls to action, analysis, issues, and status of girls and women to engage and mobilize throughout our communities.

Our Spring issue of Women Making Waves goes to print April and will be in the mail shortly and will be available online, this is where we will report on our work and share the voices of survivors who speak directly to the vision of ending violence against girls and women.

 

Video

 

Men Can Stop Rape – “Use Your Strength” Trailer
“This is the trailer for the film “Use Your Strength” which introduces Men Can Stop Rape’s award-winning youth development programs to those interested in learning how young men can join with women as allies in preventing sexual and dating violence”
 

 

Men’s Work: To Stop Male Violence
Paul Kivel
 

 

Jackson Katz’s Tough Guise
Jackson Katz argues that widespread violence in American society, including the tragic school shootings in Littleton, Colorado, Jonesboro, Arkansas, and elsewhere, needs to be understood as part of an ongoing crisis in masculinity. Tough Guise is the first educational video geared toward college and high school students to systematically examine the relationship between pop-cultural imagery and the social construction of masculine identities in the U.S. at the dawn of the 21st century.
 

 

“Where are the leaders? Where are the men? Silence on the issue is deafening”
Silent No More by Little Hawk – Troy Westwood
video compilation by Shelley A. Cook
 

 

Direct Action

 

Check back soon for updates!
 

Articles

Come for the Pizza, Stay for the Deconstruction of Masculinity
Teenage boys gathering to discuss harassment of women in “Come for the Pizza, Stay for the Deconstruction of Masculinity”. Article by Amanda Hess

The Rio Declaration
From the Global Symposium on Engaging Men and Boys on Achieving Gender Equality Rio de Janeiro March 29 – April 3, 2009 Download the document here.

Men’s Work—To Stop Male Violence
An Article by Paul Kivel: “WHY DO MEN BATTER WOMEN?” “Why do men rape women?” “Why do men stalk, harass, exploit and mistreat women?” To answer such questions we must first of all discard the easy answer…” Read the entire article here.

The Seven P’s of Men’s Violence
An Article by Michael Kaufman, Ph.D. “Men’s violence against women does not occur in isolation but is linked to men’s violence against other men and to the internalization of violence, that is, a man’s violence against himself.” Read the entire article here.

Spring Is No Excuse For Street Harassment
Hugo Schwyzer writes about the First Annual Anti-Street Harassment Day Read the entire article here.

A Man for Others
Read the article by Seamus Matlack on the Good Men Project website here.

Teaching Boys Feminism
A feminist teacher shares experiences of teaching feminism in the classroom. Read the article here.

Why I Am a Male Feminist
An article by Byron Hurt, “The word turns off a lot of men (insert snarky comment about man-hating feminazis here) — and women. But here’s why black men should be embracing the “f” word…” Read the entire article here.

My First Time
In Byron Hurt’s article for the BWSS Women Making Waves Fall 2009 issue, he shares that “the first time I spoke out against men’s violence against women, I was mad nervous, yo… I wondered if the guys would take me seriously.” Read the entire article here.

 

Other Writings

Male Responsibility For Rape And Rape Awareness
by Charlie Jones
“Unfortunately, most men do not yet even recognize that there is a problem here, and fewer still acknowledge responsibility for any part of it. As a result, rape is seen, if at all, as a “women’s issue”. The impression remains that men are in no way connected to sexual assault, neither in its occurrence, nor through its effects, nor by its causes.” Read more here.

Articles and Resources from ACallToMen.com
10 Things Men Can Do To Prevent Domestic and Sexual Violence
Ending Men’s Violence Against Women by Ted Bunch
A Call to Men: Its time to become part of the solution by Anthony Porter

Resources from KevinPowell.net
Kevin Powell’s blog, which includes many articles can be found at http://www.kevinpowell.net/blog/
Men Speak Out About Sexist Coverage of Rape: A Call to Action. Download the PDF here.

Resources from PaulKivel.com
Article: Working with Men and Boys (Emerging Strategies from across Africa to address Gender-based Violence and HIV/AIDS, by Sonke Gender Justice Network and the MenEngage Network)
Video series: “Men’s Work: To Stop Male Violence”
Paul addresses the National Network of Stopping Violence in Auckland, New Zealand. He discusses Men’s Work, the cultural and economic context of violence prevention, and the connections between power, wealth, and violence:

  • Part 1: Introduction to Men’s Work
  • Part 2: Political & Economic Context and the Heart Exercise
  • Part 3: Power, Wealth, and Violence
  • Part 4: Men As Allies to Women; The 4 Levels of Men’s Work
  • Part 5: What Men Are Doing

 

This initiative has been made possible with financial contributions from Justice Department Canada and My Sister’s Closet – Social Enterprise of Battered Women’s Support Services