Groups

Anti-Sexism | Feminist Movement | UN Fourth World Conference on Women - Bejing, China | GLBTQ | INCITE | Men's Liberation | Conclusion| Anti-Sexism Sources

Description

Mentors In Violence Prevention (MVP)

Mission Statement

The mission of MVP is to raise awareness about the level of men’s violence against women, challenge the thinking of mainstream society, open dialogue between men and women, and inspire leadership by empowering people with concrete options to effect change.

General Overview

Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) is a leadership program that motivates student-athletes and student leaders to play a central role in solving problems that historically have been considered "women's issues": rape, battering, and sexual harassment.

Utilizing a unique bystander approach to prevention, the MVP program views student-athletes and student leaders not as potential perpetrators or victims, but as empowered bystanders who can confront abusive peers. This emphasis reduces the defensiveness men often feel and the helplessness women often feel when discussing issues of men's violence against women.

The mixed gender, racially-diverse MVP Program, composed of former professional and college athletes, motivates men and women to work together in preventing gender violence. | Jackson Katz is the co-founder of MVP is an anti-sexist male activist who concetrates on the prevention of violence. | List Of Events All information taken from [1]

Robert Allen founder of Oakland Men's Project (OMP)

Mission

To educate young boys and girls about gender roles implications in society and what the kids can do to change those views which lead to violence. Teach men to recognize the socialization of violence that confines them, but also encourage them "to step out of the box." Through their training, the leaders try to show that the socialization not only sets men up to act in a violent manner, but it also trains them to shut down emotionally.

General Overview

Allen is also a former abuser who believes it is important for people who have survived or witnessed domestic violence to "break through the silence" of shame. The premise of our workshops is that the male socialization in American culture trains men to accept violence as normal. Allen says, "Where we are fundamentally challenged is in the culture at large. And a construction of manhood that says (violence) is acceptable is in itself a problem. And since our premise is that this is a general thing in American culture, as far as we're concerned, all men and boys are at risk for becoming perpetrators of violence."[2]