I don't know how else we change the systemic issues because they are largely due to how masculinity is constructed in this culture? Jackson Katz and his organization have been quite successful with different initiatives where student athletes, or officers in the military, or whomever it is within the group who has some clout with the larger group taking on confronting inequality and challenging harmful norms as a function of their own leadership, as well as giving guys a pro-social support network to support these shifts long-term.
It's been pointed out to me more than once that Peterson and Tate are reaching young men, and although I recognize that asking men to do more vulnerable inner reflection work isn't as fun or as easy as frothing over the scapegoats those guys have presented, it's still demonstrably possible to have groups of men that form around pro-social values and that influence other men. It's been going on since the 1970s. It just needs to expand and to become more "cool" within the mainstream.
There are innovative and effective ways to achieve this. But they require a united effort and funding. CALM (the UK-based Campaign Against Living Miserably), for example, has created a powerful movement against suicide, particularly focused on supporting men and boys. It offers frontline services, such as a confidential helpline and web chat, but it also encourages community engagement by facilitating supportive spaces in workplaces, universities, pubs, clubs, and prisons.
It runs campaigns with popular figures, like celebrity comedians, to tackle male stereotypes and encourage “help-seeking behavior, using cultural touch points like art, music, sport and comedy.” In other words, it adopts exactly the tactics of the manosphere, infiltrating cultural spaces and communities, but with a positive and constructive aim.
Bates, Laura. Men Who Hate Women (p. 353). Sourcebooks. Kindle Edition.
I'm hoping to do a more in-depth piece on this UK organization and others like it at some point in the future because it is a legitimate question - How would this all work? And it's a huge social science question - How do we alter social norms in such a huge and diverse nation? I think the answer is one bite at a time, one small corner of the culture at a time. It's clear that we have to do something, and it's clear that most men will not listen to women around this topic. Naturally, you can't just walk up to someone and decide you are going to "mentor" them, but organizations like the Boy Scouts, sports teams, etc., that already have access to boy's time, attention, and focus could partner with organizations like Katz's that have time-tested and honed various types of programs already.
ONE RESULT OF THE INCREASED political, legal, and journalistic attention to the ongoing persistence of high rates of sexual assault—especially on college campuses and in the military—has been a proliferation of prevention initiatives and programs. Many of these emphasize the need to engage and inspire men and young men in the process—one of the greatest challenges in the field. I am the creator and cofounder of one such initiative, the multiracial, mixed-gender Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) program, which began at Northeastern University’s Center for the Study of Sport in Society in 1993 and has since expanded broadly to a range of institutional settings with diverse populations of students on college, high school, and middle school campuses, the sports culture, and the military, mostly in North America, but also in such places as Scotland, Sweden, and Australia. Since 1997, I have led one such iteration of the MVP model under the organizational title “MVP Strategies.” This chapter outlines the origins, philosophy, and teaching methods of the MVP program, which has played a significant role in the gender-violence prevention field since its inception in 1993.
Katz, Jackson. The Macho Paradox (p. 278). Sourcebooks. Kindle Edition.
What are your thoughts on trying to address these systemic issues?
