menspeakup

Apply to participate in MenSpeakUp expansion

A new generation of college students is speaking up for gender equality!

How about you? Would you like to make a short testimonial in favor of gender equality? Do you have a brief anecdote or personal statement that you would like to have presented in video or in written form?

Please visit our beta version at http://www.menspeakup.org/videos

*You can also nominate someone by emailing us or entering the form with their contact details ! This is actually one of the best ways that you can help us highlight respected community leaders and reach a wider audience.

Women and men from any college or university, are encouraged to apply to offer video contributions, and/or written statements, in favor of a progressive understanding of gender equality.

This year's video filming is scheduled for Filming will take place on:

*Friday the 26th of March from 1 to 5pm.

Over 350 people - mostly men and boys – from diverse communities across Massachusetts packed into Gardner Auditorium to pledge their commitment to be part of the solution in ending violence against women. 
Everyone left transformed by the honest, courageous and inspiring
speakers who shared their personal and professional experiences with the
issue.

From Craig Norberg-Bohm, Coordinator,
Men's Initiative for Jane Doe Inc.

A summer report by the All-State Foundation claims that 44% of abused spouses say the most difficult barrier to leaving an abusive relationship is not the threat of cuts and bruises, but of financial turmoil. 

When we think of sexual assault, the last thing we should
think about is television. Unfortunately, it may be one of the first things to
cross our minds.

The fact of the matter is, if you ask a random person about
sexual assault, they might tell you the extent of their expertise is a “Law and
Order: SVU” marathon they caught over holiday break. In these episodes, we’re
taken through a horrific crime, a thrilling suspension of habeas corpus by
Detective Spitzer, and a tear-jerking closing argument in the courtroom. The
accused sits apprehensively next to his lawyers and awaits the verdict. Guilty
or innocent. Jail or freedom. Right or wrong.

There are four major problems with this.

1. Shows like this frame sexual assault as a judiciary issue
rather than a moral one.

A little while ago I was driving around my hometown when I heard a local
radio DJ refer to R&B singer Rihanna as "knockout gorgeous, pun
intended". This attempt at wit came six months after Rihanna was
physically and verbally assaulted by her then-boyfriend, singer Chris Brown.

We need to set a higher bar for our humor. I'm not sure if
this DJ was reprimanded or not (he should be), but the fact that he felt
comfortable saying what he did on the air says something about our culture. We
shouldn't accept violence against women as something funny or entertaining.
We're better than that.  

As young boys, many of us grow up without anything deeper than the shallowest knowledge of the gender gap. Worse, we often unknowingly absorb ideas of violence and sexual disrespect from pop culture.

It all begins early. As we grow older and (hopefully) begin to understand a little more about the challenges girls and young women face in school and throughout adolescence, we have a responsibility to promote sexual respect among our younger siblings and friends.

In a New York Times article published this spring, Dr. Perri Klass addresses the complicated subject of discussing sexual respect with pre-teens and teens. She says speaking with boys and young men involves a special tenseness: conversations often put the boys in the position of a perpetrator. Dr. Klass suggests that rather than criminalizing adolescents, perhaps we should focus on manners and politeness: values fast disappearing in American society.

The international community has been shocked by a recent South African study, headlined in the respected Mail & Guardian and picked up by The Huffington Post, which found that 1 in 4 men admitted to rape.