Violent males: Address causes, not symptoms
David AnthonyPublished: Feb 9, 2006 8:21 AM | Updated: Jan 29, 2008 10:21 AM
I refer to the letter Involve males in masculinity redefinition by JJ Ray.
Men's violence is a result of the way many men learn to express their masculinity in their relationship to women, children and to other men. This being so, the horse is far from being dead. The horse is alive and kicking.
I think that Judith Loh-Koh would have meant that we ought to look into the causes rather than the symptoms. I agree with Ray on the culture of violence that it not only aggravates violence but also creates a never-ending vicious cycle of violence when the world tries to solve the problem of violence with greater violence.
The safety of women, like the safety of children, is the responsibility of all of us, not just the women and not merely the authorities or the government. Since the problem is deeply rooted in patriarchy, we need to address the causes and not merely the symptoms. A dent is often something made by an external force. The change we are looking at should come from an internal force.
Men and boys being taught new ways of being masculine, this is not merely on paper. It is precisely the point of a renewed process of socialisation that All Women's Action Society (Awam) and the Men's Action Network against Violence (Man.V) are currently engaged in.
We are conducting workshops for young adults not only in Selangor but also in the other states of Malaysia. The workshop participants in turn plan out their own activities. We also conduct the White Ribbon Campaign every year calling on men and boys to break the silence and denounce violence against women. We invite them to sign a pledge and wear a white ribbon which is a symbol representing a personal pledge never to commit, condone or remain silent about violence against women.
For the information of all, Man.V is organising a workshop on April 1 and 2 on The Nature and Causes of Gender-based Violence 'On men in partnership with women working to end violence against women'. We would like to invite Ray and other interested readers to participate. Please contact Mano at Awam at 03-78774221.
The writer is the coordinator of Man.V.
Men's violence is a result of the way many men learn to express their masculinity in their relationship to women, children and to other men. This being so, the horse is far from being dead. The horse is alive and kicking.
I think that Judith Loh-Koh would have meant that we ought to look into the causes rather than the symptoms. I agree with Ray on the culture of violence that it not only aggravates violence but also creates a never-ending vicious cycle of violence when the world tries to solve the problem of violence with greater violence.
The safety of women, like the safety of children, is the responsibility of all of us, not just the women and not merely the authorities or the government. Since the problem is deeply rooted in patriarchy, we need to address the causes and not merely the symptoms. A dent is often something made by an external force. The change we are looking at should come from an internal force.
Men and boys being taught new ways of being masculine, this is not merely on paper. It is precisely the point of a renewed process of socialisation that All Women's Action Society (Awam) and the Men's Action Network against Violence (Man.V) are currently engaged in.
We are conducting workshops for young adults not only in Selangor but also in the other states of Malaysia. The workshop participants in turn plan out their own activities. We also conduct the White Ribbon Campaign every year calling on men and boys to break the silence and denounce violence against women. We invite them to sign a pledge and wear a white ribbon which is a symbol representing a personal pledge never to commit, condone or remain silent about violence against women.
For the information of all, Man.V is organising a workshop on April 1 and 2 on The Nature and Causes of Gender-based Violence 'On men in partnership with women working to end violence against women'. We would like to invite Ray and other interested readers to participate. Please contact Mano at Awam at 03-78774221.
The writer is the coordinator of Man.V.
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