WhiteRibbon Day 2010: Connecting the dots to end violence against women

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.

• Lt. Governor
  Murray
  highlighted the positive changes that come about when we are proactive in
  addressing the needs of victims/survivors and working to prevent sexual and
  domestic violence.
• District Attorney Gerry
  Leone spoke
  about the impact seen at the prosecutorial level and the need to change
  attitudes defined by rigid, outdated roles about gender that are driven by a
  desire for power and control.
• WBZ Sportscaster Steve
  Burton shared
  how violence against women had touched his own family and talked about the
  responsibility of parents, teachers and friends to teach young men and boys –
  and each other – to engage in safe, healthy and respectful
  relationships.
• Gunner Scott, Director of the MA
  Transgender Political Coalition, described his own experience as
  a transgender man of looking for male role models who do not use violence and
  shared stories of how violence against transgender people is rooted in a
  culture that expresses masculinity as dominant over women and demeaning of
  femininity.
• Pascal Akimana brought an international
  perspective from his childhood growing up in a patriarchal society where
  violence against women was accepted as the norm and used as a weapon of
  war.
• Department of Children and
  Families Commissioner Angelo McClain tied his own experiences of
  growing up as an African-American man to the struggles for equality, dignity
  and safety for women and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, and
  how through the WRD we
  can get more folks into the movement.
• Darrus Sands, an organizer with
  Boston Public
  Health Commission’s Start Strong Initiative, talked about making a
  commitment from a young age to treat people with respect and how
  his work to promote healthy relationships means having eral conversations
  about sexual violence and other forms of abuse.
• Derrick James, a youth leader
  with Close to Home (C2H), spoke
  about the work that the youth team is doing to address Teen Dating Violence,
  gender expectations, and social norms as portrayed in the media.  He introduced “A Real
  Man” a
  video by
  Dashawn Watkins, another
  member of the C2H team.

In the next few
days, we will post a photo and video gallery along with transcripts of the
speeches. 

Thanks to everyone
who participated, signed up as an Ambassador and joined as an Affiliate.  

Special thanks to
VDA Productions for making the event look beautiful. To Employers Against
Domestic Violence for sponsoring the reception.  To 451 Marketing for designing our
materials. To all the volunteers for helping the event run
smoothly.

Thanks
for all each of you do everyday to make a difference.

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