NJCASAs mission includes elevating the voices of service providers and communities. We believe these voices will not only bring about social change, but create spaces for victims to thrive. The Partners in Prevention series will feature voices from throughout the state working to create safer communities for all. Todays post focuses on one universitys efforts to challenge toxic masculinity using different approaches and perspectives.
Engaging men* initiatives are vital components in addressing risk, protective, and causal factors for sexual violence perpetration. These initiatives are often evidence-based or evidence-informed and use comprehensive approaches. I have found that engaging men, promoting healthy masculinity, and developing skills within the community that support pro-social behaviors support other efforts to decrease perpetration on college campuses.
Professionals and activists can use a variety of frameworks and approaches to engage men. Thesocial norms approachfocuses on the positive rather than emphasizing only the negative. It is defined as a theoretical and evidence-based method for addressing public health and social justice issues within communities. A practitioner using a social norms approach would engage men as allies in ending sexual violence rather than addressing their risk to be potential perpetrators.
Another framework for engaging men and discussing healthy masculinity would be to utilize a social justice/pro-feminist informed approach. This framework speaks to both rape culture and how research shows that when men band together in groups that exclude women, theyre more likely to see women as Other. The attitudes and beliefs fostered and supported in these spaces focus on sexually objectifying women as well as the control and domination of women. This speaks to the pervasiveness of sexism, misogyny, and gender inequity within our society and how our beliefs and attitudes about women support the perpetration of sexual violence.
In my work I prefer to utilize thegender awareness approachfor myriad reasons. This approach educates men about their gender identity. First I dont think you can engage men as allies if they are unaware of their gender identity. Men as the dominant group are similar to white people. White people often, due to white privilege, dont have to be aware of their racial identitysimilarly, men, due to male privilege, do not have to be aware of their gender identity. Men make a lot of choices that are based upon gendered expectations and gender norms, but there isnt a need for active awareness because the world is set up for us as the dominant group. Gender awareness can also be framed as educational, pro-social, and positive. Done thoughtfully, it can overcome mens defensiveness and discomfort.
RESOURCES FOR LEARNING MORE:
Gender awareness:Sexual Assault in ContextTeaching College Men about Genderby Chris Kilmartin and Alan Berkowitz
Social norms approach:Men and Rape: Theory, Research and Prevention Programs in Higher Educationby Alan Berkowitz his website has a whole host of free articles
Social justice/pro-feminist:Sexual Assault on the College Campus The Role of Male Peer Supportby Martin Schwartz & Walter DeKersedy
Shawn Maxam is the Prevention Coordinator for mens initiatives at Princeton UniversitysSexual Harassment/Assault Advising, Resources & Education office. In his role, he coordinates the Mens Allied Voices for a Respectful & Inclusive Community (MAVRIC) Project, a healthy masculinity/engaging men initiative. Shawn is a graduate of Bryn Mawr Colleges Graduate School of Social Work & Social Research with a Master of Social Service and Master of Law and Social Policy.
*NJCASA recognizes each individuals right to determine their own gender identity and expression. The use of gender-specific pronouns and language is not intended to exclude or assign an identity to survivors, activists, or community members. We include this language to reflect what has been captured by researchers and practitioners, fully acknowledging it may be limiting.
