Contemporary initiatives to engage men and boys in preventing men's violence against women in the UK are modest but growing in prominence, and attracting increasing interest from policymakers. This article discusses findings from qualitative research in which expert-informant interviews were carried out with activists playing an influential role in the development of such efforts. It explores how, despite its potential, there are a number of policy obstacles facing work with men in the UK, including ongoing neoliberal austerity, the influence of 'gender-neutral' conceptions of abuse, and political inertia towards prevention. In addition, the interviews highlighted some of the political contradictions that lie within work which encourages men to question their own power and privilege, and critically evaluate their own practices and those of their peers. These include the need to support rather than supersede the women's movement, simultaneously appealing to and challenging men, bringing about both individual and structural social change, and building pro-feminist engagements without diluting them. The article argues that, if these contradictions are addressed and pro-feminist equilibriums found within them, then work with men has the potential to make an important contribution as part of efforts to prevent men's violence against women in the UK.
Much of the work to engage men in preventing violence against women across the globe is profeminist-it is informed by feminist perspectives and done by or in collaboration with women and women's organisations. Men involved in this work typically are expected to support feminism and to be accountable to women and feminism. But which feminism should profeminist men support? There has been relatively little discussion of this question in the 'engaging men' field. Yet, organisations and individuals involved in undertaking this work, whether it is delivered by or with men, adopt a range of different approaches and the significant diversity of thought within feminist activism is also reflected to some extent within the engaging men field. This can make accountability more challenging, because it means asking: to whom specifically should profeminist men be accountable? The relationship between feminism and the theories and strategies adopted by organisations and activists in this field is often left implicit or vague, and there can be a lack of clarity or transparency about the nature of the feminist social change that such groups seek to help bring about. The paper therefore contributes to the articulation of how profeminist men should understand their relationship to feminism, and considers how they can make choices about which feminism to adopt. It argues that, by discussing more explicitly the different interpretations of feminism shaping the engaging men field, this work will be better equipped to tackle men's violence against women through more open, rigorous and profoundly profeminist praxis.
Since #MeToo took the Internet by storm in 2017, it has had transnational social and legal ramifications. However, there has been little research on the repercussions of this movement for the ways in which masculinity has been politicized as questions around its meaning and place in gender relations were brought to the forefront of public discussions. Thirteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants from two Western Anglophone men’s groups, one embracing and one opposing feminist ideas. Our findings demonstrate a qualitative shift in contemporary expressions of “backlash” and “masculinity politics” in the #MeToo era compared to their initial formulations in the wake of the women’s and men’s movements of the 1960s to 1980s, shaped by novel tropes and tactics.
This chapter explores the complex and contradictory nature of political masculinities within efforts to engage men and boys in the prevention of men's violence against women. It discusses findings from 14 expert-informant interviews with activists who have played an influential role in developing this work in the UK context. These interviews drew attention to how, for male agents of pro-feminist change, political masculinities are also profoundly personal.Transformations in the self are thus as important as bringing about change in others in this work − otherwise men risk reproducing the same patriarchal inequalities that they seek to dismantle. One significant barrier to critical self-reflection for men involved in preventing violence against women is that of disassociation; a perception and construction of oneself as being separate from the problem in relation to other men, men's violence itself, and patriarchal relations. Resisting disassociation is therefore vital in order for pro-feminist men to recognise how they continue to be implicated the perpetuation of violence against women. This requires male agents of change to move beyond a sense of shame about their position within patriarchy − and to understand how they engage in political masculinities as they work to prevent men's violence against women.
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