From Perpetrators to Allies: Men Supporting Women's Human Rights

• NCJ Number: 194504
• Journal: Sexual Assault Report Volume: 5 Issue: 1 Dated: September/October 2001 Pages: 1,11-13,14
• Author(s): Rus E. Funk
• Date Published: 2001
• Length: 5 pages
• Publication Format: News/Media
• Publication Type: Program Description (Model)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article focuses on men’s violence against women and ways men can support women’s human rights.

Abstract

Men’s violence against women is a violation of women’s human rights. Violence against women is men’s violence for three reasons: (1) men perpetrate the vast majority of violence against women; (2) all violence against women occurs in a larger sexist context that institutionalizes the over-valuing of men and masculinity while devaluing women and femininity; and (3) naming the responsible party--men--provides a clear picture of how women are victimized. It is the disrespect, the sense of entitlement, the denial of a woman’s right to self-determination and bodily integrity that is the beginning of rape, sexual assault, and battering. Beyond this definition of perpetrators are the men who stand by and refuse to do anything because it is not their “issue.” These men are perpetrators because their silence perpetrates the attitudes and values that allow other men to choose to be violent. The first step in helping men to move from perpetrators to allies of women’s human rights begins with educating them to not stand by and refuse to get involved, to raise their awareness of how their actions violate a woman’s right to self-determination, and to show that most men do not want to perpetrate violence against women. The second step is to offer specific, concrete definitions of what it means to be an ally. One of the best ways for men to act as allies for women is to believe women. The third step is supporting women, which means asking what it is that they need from men in order to be and feel supported. The fourth step is taking action in men’s personal lives and collectively to address the institutional violations of women’s human rights. The fifth step is for men to choose to stop their abusiveness. Some barriers to men’s supporting women’s human rights include the implications for how manhood is defined and actualized, lack of role models, and not knowing how women are going to respond.