March 2, 2021, on InkandescentRadio.com: A Note from Tracy Schott, host, Voices4Change Radio Show — On today’s show, I had the honor of interviewing Jackson Katz, Ph.D., an internationally renowned for his pioneering scholarship and activism on issues of gender, race, and violence. He has long been a major figure and thought leader in the growing global movement of men working to promote gender equality and prevent gender violence.
Jackson is co-founder of the multiracial, mixed-gender Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) program, one of the longest-running and most widely influential gender violence prevention programs in North America and beyond.
Jackson’s accomplishments include:
- the classic bestseller The Macho Paradox: Why Some Men Hurt Women and How All Men Can Help
- the critically acclaimed Man Enough? Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and the Politics of Presidential Masculinity
- the creator of the award-winning Tough Guise educational documentary series
- the video The Bystander Moment: Transforming Rape Culture at Its Roots
His most recent film, released in October 2020, is entitled The Man Card: White Male Identity Politics from Nixon to Trump. Jackson has appeared in numerous popular documentaries, including Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes, Miss Representation, and The Mask You Live In. His TEDx talk, Violence Against Women Is a Men’s Issue, has over 4.5 million views. He has lectured and trained in all fifty states, eight Canadian provinces, and every continent except Antarctica.
Click here to watch his TEDx talk.
Scroll down to read Jackson’s 10 Things Men Can Do To Prevent Gender Violence
- This is a men’s issue. Approach gender violence as a men’s issue involving men of all ages and socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic backgrounds. View men not only as perpetrators or possible offenders but as empowered bystanders who can confront abusive peers.
- Don’t remain silent. If a brother, friend, classmate, or teammate is abusing his female partner — or is disrespectful or abusive to girls or women in general — don’t look the other way. If you feel comfortable doing so, try to talk to him about it. Urge him to seek help. Or if you don’t know what to do, consult a friend, a parent, a professor, or a counselor.
- Have the courage to look inward. Question your own attitudes. Don’t be defensive when something you do or say ends up hurting someone else. Try hard to understand how your own attitudes and actions might inadvertently perpetuate sexism and violence and work toward changing them.
- Ask how you can help. If you suspect that a woman close to you is being abused or has been sexually assaulted, step in and find out what you can do to improve the situation.
- Seek professional help if you are emotionally, psychologically, physically, or sexually abusive to women.
- Be an ally to women who are working to end all forms of gender violence. Support the work of campus-based women’s centers. Attend “Take Back the Night” rallies and other public events. Raise money for community-based rape crisis centers and battered women’s shelters. If you belong to a men’s sports team, fraternity, or another student group, organize a fundraiser.
- Recognize and speak out against homophobia and gay-bashing. Discrimination and violence against lesbians and gays are wrong in and of themselves. This abuse also has direct links to sexism. The sexual orientation of men who speak out against sexism is often questioned, a conscious or unconscious strategy intended to silence them. This is a key reason few men do speak out.
- Educate yourself. Attend programs, take courses, watch films and read articles and books about multicultural masculinities, gender inequality, and the root causes of gender violence. Once you have learned more, educate others about how larger social forces affect the conflicts between individual men and women.
- Don’t fund sexism. Refuse to purchase any magazine, rent any video, subscribe to any website, or buy and music that portrays girls or women in a sexually degrading or abusive manner—protest sexism in the media.
- Lead by example. Be a mentor and teach young boys about how to be men in ways that don’t involve degrading or abusing girls and women—volunteer to work with gender violence prevention programs, including anti-sexist men’s programs.
Click here to learn more about Jackson Katz: www.jacksonkatz.com.