Within the past couple years two Canadian friends of mine were accused (one charged and the other case still pending) of sexual assault. Men who I could never believe would commit such violence against another. Conscious men. Men who fought for the rights of others through action and words.
Through work and living deeply within community I witness the many ways violence against women is internalized, normalized, propagated. Witnessing the socialization of violence in its many forms helps to understand (while still hold accountable) how violence against women is learnt, normalized, spread rampantly and then excused.
With all this said I believe in men. I believe in men’s goodness, kindness, their compassion and ability to be more then what our patriarchal imperialist world system have taught embedded indoctrinated many men to be.
To all men kind, emotional,committed, caring, forgiving, restorative, loving, socially active, we need you. We need you to take a stand and fight for gender equality and justice. We need you to create, build spaces for men to come together and be in conversation with one another, to critically examine why many men are violating women and men. Why violence against women continues to be a world-wide epidemic. We need you to come together in conversation and dismantle what it means to be masculine. Create a new definition, one that includes and allows men to be emotional, to cry, to be vulnerable…
I read the other day the antidote to violence is conversations. We need you to start critically engaged, conscious conversations around these issues. We need you. We believe in you.
photo from www.genderhub.org/