engaging men Archives | Stop Street Harassment

The “Sexist” Seat on Mexico City’s Subway

March 30, 2017 By HKearl

“A new campaign hoping to tackle sexual harassment in Mexico has introduced a ‘sexist’ seat on the metro exclusively for men – complete with chest and penis. The seat was created to make men feel as uncomfortable as women on public transport and, judging by the accompanying video, it worked. Men are seen to consciously avoid sitting on the seat, or sitting on it without realising, only for them to quickly jump up and move. In front of the seat is a message to men, reading, ‘It’s uncomfortable to sit here, but it doesn’t compare with the sexual violence that women suffer in their everyday lives.’ The anti-harassment message has since gone viral, with the hashtag #NoEsDeHombres.”

I was in Mexico City a few weeks ago for the UN Women Safe Cities Global Leaders’ Forum and we heard from many Mexico City leaders, including the mayor, about their efforts to make public places safer for women. What struck me was that nearly every effort they discussed, such as women-only transit options and the distribution of thousands of whistles, put the onus on women to try to stay safe. What I appreciate about the “sexist” seat is that the message is directed at men. While no, the seat by itself is not enough to change the cultural norms that allow sexual harassment to occur, I think it is an example of a unique and attention-grabbing way to start discussions with men about sexual harassment in public spaces and why men must help stop it.

That said, would-be harassers are not the only ones who ride the subway and consideration should be made for survivors of sexual assault and others who could be upset by it.

UPDATE: I did an interview for BBC News on this initiative.

USA: Gender Essentialism, Engaging Men in Sexual Assault Awareness, & Walk a Mile in Her Shoes©

April 27, 2016 By Correspondent

By LB Klein, Jen Przewoznik, & Jeff Segal

Every April, for Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM), men all over the country stumble through public parks in high heels to raise awareness for the gender-based violence movement. Walk a Mile in Her Shoes© has been a staple of SAAM programming since 2001, and has been touted as “a world-wide movement” engaging “tens of thousands of men” in conversations on difficult topics like gender, power, and sexual assault in an accessible and fun way.

Men have embraced Walk a Mile in Her Shoes© – it’s very often the most well-attended SAAM event by men, and its popularity has helped raise tremendously needed funds for rape crisis centers and other anti-violence organizations nationally and internationally. However, many activists and organizers have begun to voice serious concerns over the popular event.

It is vital that we consider not only the intent but the impact of our sexual assault awareness events. In Walk a Mile in Her Shoes©, men step into high heels to show their solidarity with women. High heels are therefore held as emblematic of “women.” But while some women wear high heels, many women do not, and furthermore, women are often targeted specifically because they express themselves outside of the normative societal expectations of their gender. By equating high heels with “women,” we remove gender non-conforming women from our conversations about sexual violence entirely, and reinforce the common myth that people who present in ways that are considered masculine are not vulnerable to violence. Walk a Mile in Her Shoes© positions women as victims and men as perpetrators, but we need to also acknowledge that there are survivors of all gender identities, including men.

Walk a Mile in Her Shoes© also creates spaces that further marginalize transgender people. Forge, a national transgender rights organization, says activists should consider “whether they are re-victimizing more than a third of all victims by ignoring their very existence.” According to the National Transgender Discrimination Survey, 64% of transgender people have been sexually assaulted in their lifetime. Transgender women are often incorrectly and offensively described as “men wearing women’s clothing,” which is often used to justify violence against them. Transgender women, especially those of color, face not only an incredibly disproportionate risk of experiencing sexual and intimate partner violence but also street harassment, police brutality, homelessness, joblessness, incarceration, and murder. It is vital for people working to end gender-based violence to closely ally with transgender and non-binary people instead of holding events that exclude and further marginalize them.

It is evident that Walk a Mile in Her Shoes© has raised attention, awareness, and funds, but at what expense? We cannot afford to raise awareness by perpetuating an essentialist view of what people should wear, how they should look, act, and be. The Walk a Mile in Her Shoes© narrative is accessible because it is reductive, and oversimplification in our work is, quite literally, dangerous. Of course, communities should still hold awareness raising events, but we must be intentional about changing the exact norms that perpetuate violence instead of reinforcing them. Events that re-victimize, erase, or marginalize survivors in their very concept do not have a place in our field.

So, what else can we do instead to engage men during SAAM?

We can hold events that encourage folks of all genders working together. We can bring smaller groups of men together for meaningful conversation or larger groups for fundraisers that are not built around reinforcing harmful gender norms. Perhaps, as Forge suggests, we should hold events that encourage everyone to break stereotypes about gender and discuss how harmful gender norms perpetuate violence. Then, we will be raising awareness of the true message of the movement to end sexual assault: that to end sexual assault, we must change culture.

LB Klein, MSW has dedicated her professional and academic life to ending gender-based violence, supporting survivors, and advancing social justice. She is a Consultant and Lead Trainer for Prevention Innovations Research Center at the University of New Hampshire. She is based in Atlanta, GA and will begin pursuing a doctorate in the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill this August.

Jen Przewoznik, MSW has over 15 years of experience working with/in women’s and LGBTQ communities as an educator, trainer, technical assistance provider, practitioner, and programevaluator. She is founder of the Queer Research Consulting Collaborative, a project designed to consult with researchers studying LGBTQ issues. Jen is currently the Director of Prevention & Evaluation at the North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault and co-chairs the NC Sexual Violence Prevention Team and the NC Campus Consortium.

Jeff Segal, BS resides in NYC, where he works in the tech sector and moonlights as a professional dancer. He has been a part of the movement to end sexual violence for ten years. Jeff has four years of experience as a sexual violence crisis counselor, and currently is leading initiatives to make social dancing in New York a safer space.

USA: Engaging Male Allies to End Violence Against Women

December 14, 2015 By Correspondent

Meghna Bhat, Chicago, USA, SSH Blog Correspondent

A few months ago, I came across Emma Watson’s brave efforts to promote gender equality. Her interview with Malala Yousafzai highlighted the need to address feminism and how this movement should include men as allies. As Watson correctly pointed out, “Let’s not make it scary to say you’re a feminist. I want to make it a welcoming and inclusive movement. Let’s join our hands and move together so we can make real change. Malala and I are pretty serious about it but we need you.”

It’s our collective responsibility, especially male allies, to create awareness about gender violence, prevent and intervene this vicious cycle.

My experiences growing up with positive male role models/allies and Watson’s message resonates with the research and advocacy of Dr. Jackson Katz. He is an educator, author, filmmaker and cultural theorist who is a pioneer in the fields of gender violence prevention education and media literacy. His 2013 speech on TED talk titled, “Violence against women—it’s a men’s issue” showed that domestic violence and sexual abuse, which are often labeled as “women’s issues,” are often “intrinsically men’s issues” and he “shows how these violent behaviors are tied to definitions of manhood.”

According to a report by the New York State Department of Health, research has consistently shown that a majority of men are conflicted about violence against women. Most of these men may not even “recognize when it is happening nor know how to stop it”. Another factor that can make men defensive and doubtful of participating in the efforts to end gender violence is “treating [or stereotyping] males as potential perpetrators.”

There are many social service agencies and organizations promoting and practicing this model of engaging men as allies to prevent and intervene gender-violence. Have you watched the powerful documentary “The Mask You Live In” by The Representation Project? I highly recommend it. I have found this film to be educating, inspiring and an eye-opening experience that needs to be screened to our children and youth.

This film focuses on boys’ and young men’s struggle to stay true to themselves while negotiating America’s narrow definition of masculinity. Young children, especially boys, need to feel safe to be themselves and express their emotions without the fear of being bullied, labeled, mocked, or rejected by other children and adults. They must not feel pressured to fit within the problematic binary roles or other rigid frameworks of masculinity our society expects them to claim.

If you need further details of how these programs and agencies implement this model of engaging male allies or men as partners in combating gender violence, I have listed a few of the examples and resources that I have come across and found to be useful (including as teaching resources):

Mentors in Violence Prevention: A program intended to create public awareness about men’s violence against women, challenge how the mainstream society thinks, and initiating community dialogues between men and women to identify long-term tangible options.

Coaching Boys into Men: The only evidence-based prevention program designed to train high school coaches to teach their male athletes healthy relationship skills and that “violence never equals strength.”

Men as Partners: At EngenderHealth, this program includes working with “men to play constructive roles in promoting gender equity and health in their families and communities”. Through their interactive skills -building workshops and enhanced health care facilities among other services, they strive to confront negative stereotypes about being men and provide men with quality care.

Men Can Stop Rape: Works towards mobilizing men for creating cultures free from violence, especially men’s violence against women through their strengths and sustainable initiatives.

Movement against Sexual Violence: At the University of Illinois at Chicago, I am fortunate to have colleagues who represent and lead the Men against Sexual Violence, now called as the Movement against Sexual Violence. This student group aims to engage and involve people, especially male-identified allies to join in the fight against sexual violence. Through their workshops such as ‘Reimagining Masculinity’ and events, they encourage us to challenge the negative stereotypes and images of gender roles. Although I haven’t got an opportunity to attend these events myself, I am looking forward to being a part of these important and powerful dialogues and community conversations next semester!

Dr. Katz calls out to all men and women to stand up and advocate for changes to end violence against women. He further raises these very critical questions that we all need to think about:

“How can we do something differently? How can we change the practices? How can we change the socialization of boys and the definitions of manhood that lead to these current outcomes? These are the kind of questions that we need to be asking and the kind of work that we need to be doing?”

If you want more ideas for what men can do to prevent gender violence, click here.

Meghna is a doctoral candidate in the Criminology, Law, and Justice program at the University of Illinois at Chicago, with a specialization in Gender and Women Studies. She is currently working on her dissertation, which focuses on representations of violence against women in a widely viewed form of Indian popular culture, Bollywood cinema.