YOUNG MEN AND VIOLENCE: Building voices of resistance

Gary Barker, PhD, International DirectorPromundo

Brazil – Rwanda – US – Burundi – Portugalwww.promundo.org.br

Topics

Reflect about key vulnerabilities of young men and how those affect violence

Understanding the resistance to violence that we see every day

How to talk about what boys and men really care about and build their natural resistance to violence

What does being a young man have to do with violence?

Leading causes of death for young men: traffic accidents, homicide, suicide 450,000 homicide deaths annually, 50,000 deaths from conflicts, 80,000 from suicide80% of these are men

When we talk about lethal violence we are talking mostly about young men

Brazil’s Missing Men (IBGE, 2011): Effects of persistent, high rates of homicide and traffic accidents (in millions)

Few make it through boyhood unscathed (International Men and Gender Equality Survey or IMAGES – Promundo and

ICRW)

The making of defensive, bullying boys: Boys who are victims of violence in the home have lower self-esteem

Men’s use of physical violence against female partner - IMAGES

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Correlates of Men’s use of violence against a female partner - IMAGES

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Men’s use of sexual violence linked to childhood sexual victimization (Men 15-59, IMAGES,

2011, ICRW and Promundo)

The multiple ways violence pays forward: Witnessing violence and delinquency

What explains the resistance to violence?

Involved, gender-equitable parents or caregivers

Close connections with someone who openly resisted violence

Supportive peer groups – resistance in groups easier than doing it alone

Higher reflective abilities – thinking about “what if”

Other male identities Caring about or for someone

else or something bigger than you

Education Sector: Program H/M in schools

Structured consciousness raising” about gender and violence using a Paulo Freire approachActivism and community campaigns led by youth “resistors” Training of teachers via online training portal reaching 2000 teachers in 3 states in Brazil

Results of Program H/M: 22 countries

9 quasi-experimental evaluation studies found:Reduction in violence-supportive attitudes among young men;Decrease in bullying behavior (Bosnia), sexual harassment (India), and physical violence against female partners (Brazil);Increased condom use (Brazil, Chile, India);Reduced disruptive classroom behavior (Brazil, Balkans);All compared to no change or negative change in control groups

Program F: Using Football to Change Norms Related to Sexual Exploitation

Living Peace: Trauma support, voices of resistance in post-conflict settings

Why the campaign?

Approximately 4 out of 5 men will be fathers at some point in their lives

New global campaign in more than 25 countries to tap into the intergenerational transfer of caring

What does a resistance approach look like?

Mapping the resistance – individuals, practices, sources of non-violence in communities

Engaging the resistors and the survivors and building on their resistance

Working from an assumption of shared desire for non-violence

Reinforcement of all of these with policy and services structure changes

Psychosocial support boys (and girls) and women and men who have witnessed or experience violence

Talking about issues that men and boys care about and care for – from “I don’t care” to “I care”