Men as Allies
Calling gender violence a women's issue is part of the problem.
It gives a lot of men an excuse not to pay attention.
– Jackson Katz
Jackson Katz
Jackson Katz, PH.D., is internationally renowned for his pioneering scholarship and activism on issues of gender, race, and violence and been a major figure and thought leader in the growing global movement of men working to promote gender equality and prevent gender violence. He is co-founder of Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP), one of the longest-running and most widely influential gender violence prevention programs in North America, and the first major program of its kind in the sports culture and the military.
Jackson Katz’s TED Talk asserts that violence against women is a men’s issue.
Porn Harms
Porn Harms is a National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) initiative to raise awareness of the public health harms of porn - exposing the connection between porn and all forms of sexual exploitation. Porn Harms/Research archives offer the most comprehensive look at available research on pornography. NCOSE Porn Harms engages the public and change policies with projects such as the Dirty Dozen list, the Safe Schools Safe Libraries initiative, and No Vacancy for Exploitation.
A Call To Men
A Call To Men offers an invitation to men, not an indictment of manhood, letting men and boys know that their ideas about manhood, women, and girls have been shaped by their collective socialization. The job is to raise men’s and boys’ consciousness about their collective socialization so that they can think critically about how they might be reinforcing or passing on these harmful beliefs and so they can challenge those beliefs in other men, paving the way for gender equality. A Call To Men has mobilized hundreds of thousands of male-identified aspiring allies to women and girls around the world by promoting healthy manhood, and offering training and educational resources for companies, government agencies, schools, and community groups.
Men Can Stop Rape
Men Can Stop Rape works to mobilize men to use their strength for creating cultures free from violence, especially men’s violence against women, and to institutionalize primary prevention of men’s violence against women through sustained initiatives that generate positive, measurable outcomes in populations throughout the world. MCSR offers downloadable handouts, youth development programs, public education programs, training and technical assistance, and the Healthy Masculinity Action Project.
Fight The New Drug
Fight the New Drug is a non-religious and non-legislative organization that exists to provide individuals the opportunity to make an informed decision regarding pornography by raising awareness on its harmful effects using only science, facts, and personal accounts. FTND also hosts the bi-weekly podcast Consider Before Consuming.
Truckers Against Trafficking
Truckers Against Trafficking posits that if no one purchased commercial sex, the crime of sex trafficking wouldn’t exist. TAT addresses the issue of demand in order to create a culture where the buying and selling of human beings for another’s sexual gratification is not looked upon as normal behavior. Their video Addressing Demand: Man to Man along with next steps and a downloadable brochure is here.
#SetTheExpectation
Set the Expectation is dedicated to combatting sexual and physical violence through raising awareness, and providing education and direct engagement with coaches, students, and athletes in high school, collegiate, and professional athletic programs. Athletes, coaches, and institutions can adopt The Tracy Rule, sign pledges to adhere to certain rules of conduct, and be ambassadors.
“Getting bad grades and accepting money is an NCAA violation. You know what’s not an NCAA violation? Rape.”
- Brenda Tracy
HeForShe
HeForShe is mobilizing the world for gender equality. As a United Nations movement that recognizes women’s rights as human rights, HeForShe is an invitation for men and people of all genders to stand in solidarity with women to create a bold, visible and united force for gender equality. By committing to initiatives such as annulling child marriages and redefining masculinity, participants are driving lasting changes in their communities.
Men End FGM
Men End FGM is a movement that rallies men and boys to join the quest to end female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), child marriage and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). The Men End FGM mission is to empower the girl child while keeping the boy child, young men, and elders informed through mentorship and sensitization, guided by the values of collaboration, equality, diversity and inclusion, and integrity.
Your Brain on Porn
Your Brain on Porn is a secular and primarily science-based website maintained by a group effort that includes men who have recovered from internet-porn related problems. Focusing on pornography’s effects on the brain and how the internet’s extreme pornography alters the brain, Your Brain on Porn offers research, support, videos, articles, and strategies for quitting pornography use. Gary Wilson is the creator of the website and author of Your Brain on Porn: Internet Pornography and the Emerging Science of Addiction.
David Challen
David Challen is a domestic abuse campaigner and keynote speaker in the UK. He successfully campaigned to free his mother Sally Challen in a landmark appeal recognising a lifetime of coercive control. David continues to speak out against violence against women, coercive control and recognising women's experiences in the criminal justice system.
MenEngage
Men Engage Alliance is a global alliance of dozens of country networks across many regions of the world, hundreds of non-governmental organizations, as well as UN partners. Through country-level and regional networks, MenEngage seeks to provide a collective voice on the need to engage men and boys in gender equality, to build and improve the field of practice around engaging men in achieving gender justice, and advocating before policy makers at the local, national, regional, and international levels.
The Mobilising Men for Feminist Peace Project
The Mobilising Men for Feminist Peace Project (MMFP) is Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom’s (WILPF) initiative to counter militarized masculinities and increase men’s active support for the Women, Peace and Security agenda. Militarised Masculinity refers to the assertion that traits stereotypically associated with masculinity can be acquired and proven through military service or action, and combat in particular. The project uses five broad social change strategies to mobilize men for gender equality, violence prevention, and peacebuilding: 1) alliance building, 2) research and analysis, 3) advocacy, 4) training, leadership development, and movement building, and 5) communications.
Male Allies Challenging Sexism
Male Allies Challenging Sexism is a UK based pro-feminist men’s organization with the purpose of moving from awareness to action. MACS’s aim is to support men in becoming better, more empathetic human beings and to engage them in education, consciousness raising and activism to counteract sexism and misogyny.
Rwandan Men’s Resource Center
Rwandan Men’s Resource Center’s (RWAMREC) mission is to promote gender equality through reconstruction of a non-violent entity of men, adoption of healthy masculine behaviors and men’s empowerment to be positive and supportive partners, role models for other men and change agents in promoting healthy families and women’s socio-economic development, eradication of sexual and gender-based violence, positive fatherhood and men’s health in Rwanda.
When women refuse to be limited by gender stereotypes, then they’re treated as pioneers. I want the same kind of respect for men who refuse to use violence, who refuse to dominate others. We need to build new ways of being a man that don’t have their foundations in being dominant and violent – just as much as we need to challenge stereotypes of women as submissive and passive.
– Deeyah Khan, Documentary Film Director & ICAN Board Member