Undoing Sexism: Involving Men in the Battle Against Domestic Violence

This article begins with the following: "Violence against women can no longer be seen in isolation, as essentially a private or a regional problem. Though it is important to acknowledge differences in the causes and forms of violence, it is equally important to map the commonalities in women's experiences. Hence, while evolving strategies to combat domestic violence we have to think globally but act locally."

What Malini Sen suggests in this introduction is that communications practitioners - in India, especially - need to consider interventions that are designed to stop men and boys from using aggression in the first place - that is, "primary prevention". So, for Sen, it is not productive to focus on women's responsibility for "policing" men's violence against them; rather, Sen describes and endorses programmes that attempt to move men away from violence through treatment and/or education.

Sen is not unaware of the constraints that might hinder those seeking to adopt this approach (among them: anger management techniques may just be a "quick fix" for men that could actually endanger women). However, she states that these programmes "are a step towards raising awareness and tackling domestic violence at its roots. However, sexist attitudes are so deeply embedded in society that in order to bring about wider social change, men themselves need to take the initiative to fight domestic violence." Among the examples of such initiatives profiled in this article is The Zero Tolerance Trust in Scotland, which is based on the idea that public education campaigns can serve as a strategy to tackle the root cause of domestic violence (gender socialisation). For example, the Trust launched a Respect Campaign among the youth in UK and Scotland that aimed to redefine the dominant notions of 'femininity' and 'masculinity' and to dispel stereotypes that women provoke violence. It also charged young men with the responsibility of showing respect toward the opposite sex.

The concluding section of this paper is entitled "Strategies for change". In this context, Sen argues that "The definition of domestic violence hinges on norms of acceptable behaviour and the specific acts that constitute the problem. In India, a majority of women do not perceive certain acts as being violent; at times they even justify them. But it is in the interest of women to recognise the problem of domestic violence. It is equally important that men too recognise the problem and take responsibility for their actions. The work of men resisting domestic violence is about social change. In India, we need to evolve strategies involving men and the young, which could act as catalysts for change."