1. Supporting Men who’ve been Victimized:
Gender Transformative Approaches to Helping men heal
Rus Ervin Funk
Coordinator of Men’s Engagement

2. Some Starting Points… Understanding Masculinities
Exploring where men are in relation to masculinities
Understanding the “gender-based” nature of IPV and SV
Men’s experiences of being victimized
Offering support

3. Hegemonic Masculinity
Defining
The notion that there exists “a way” to be a man
Those qualities that are most honored and desired
How its operationalized
Configured in gender relations
Institutionalized within social structures
Defined negatively (“not feminine”)
Subordinated masculinities (often feminized)

4. Masculinities
How males come to understand ourSelves as “Men” is culturally and socially constructed.
This self-definition is at the intersection of our other identities.
Within a meta-definition of manhood
How these messages and lessons impact on men’s response to loved ones being raped

5. Being a “Man”
What’s Done to Men
What Men are Called
“Man Up”

6. Unpacking the manhood box
Lessons learned
About manhood
About relating to women and girls
Forces enforcing the manhood box across the social ecology
Benefits of staying “in the box”

7. Social Ecology Socio-Cultural Community (Customs, laws, beliefs)
Organizational (Practices)
Intrapersonal
(Attitudes) X
Relational
(Behaviors)
Community
(Norms) X
Socio-Cultural
(Customs, laws, beliefs)

8. Becoming a “man” Developmental stages of “being a man” Babies Toddlers
Early school age
Middle school
High school

9. Intersectional Theory
“Our identity, how we come to understand or define ourselves, is at the intersection of various categories of identity (race/ethnicity, sexual/affectional orientation, gender, etc.) at a given moment in a particular context.”
(Funk, 2007, based on Crenshaw, 2001)

10. Men’s relationships to Masculinities
Hegemonic masculinity is neither most common nor the most comfortable
Hegemonic masculinity as contested space
The ways men navigate within and around hegemonic masculinity
Hegemonic and subordinated masculinities
Men’s experiences of when and how to step out of the box

13. Gendered nature of men’s violence
Dynamics of sexual assault and IPV
Who women fear
Who men fear
Impact of women’s fear on women’s lives
Q = “what do you do to protect yourself?

14. Gendered Nature of Gender- Based Violence
Women and Men appear to hit each other mutually but…
How men and women hit
Why men and women hit
Men and Women’s experiences of being hit
Sexual assault within relationships
Reproductive health sabotage
Post relationship abuse
Verbalizations during abuse 14

15. What do you do to protect yourself…

16. Notice what we know… How often are boys men afraid of girls and women?
What do boys and men think about when they think about dating someone new…
What do girls and women think about when they think about dating someone new…
Boys and men’s responses to being hit by a girl or woman.
Girls and women’s responses to being hit by a boy or man. 16

17. Marginalized Masculinities Subordinated Masculinities
Gender Hierarchy
Hegemonic Masculinity
Allied Masculinities
Marginalized Masculinities
Subordinated Masculinities
Feminities
Sara Meger (2015)

18. Dynamics of Sexual Assault
Men who rape tend to talk while they rape.
It exposes that they understand rape to be a sexist assault
Male physiology and physiological responses to aspects of the assault.
What “being a man” teaches men about being sexually victimized.

19. Dynamics of Male Sexual Assault
Men perpetrate about 86% of male rape
Boys/men more likely than girls to be abused by strangers.
Boys and men experience more forms of violence associated with the assault than women.
As males age, the likelihood of multiple aggressors increases.

20. “But this isn’t supposed to happen to men”
How he understands himself “as a man”
Influenced by he understands himself “as a man” prior to the assault(s)
“real men” don’t allow themselves to be abused
“real men” don’t acknowledge pain
“real men” don’t ask for help or seek support

21. Impacts Inability to Label the experience Questioning sexuality
Shame/self-blame
Fear
Confusion
Anger

22. Implications for Advocacy
People experience GBV at the intersections:
Their multiple identities
Their identities and the identities of the other person
Their identities and the various systems they come into contact with
Male’s interact with their loved ones through these intersections
Male’s interact with support systems through these intersections

23. Supporting men in these moments
Listen actively
Recognize/identify feelings
Anger
Frustration
Sadness
Re-direct

24. How Men Typically Respond
Protective
Self-blame
Shame
Anger
Questioning
Confusion
Eroticization of the assault and of her/his response
The need to “fix” it

25. How men “know” to respond
Refer to the manhood box…
Acknowledge the pain
Asking for help/support
Self-advocate
Accept advocacy

26. Gender Transformative Approach
Challenges and redefine gender norms
Intersectional approach
Addresses structural gender inequities
Use culturally-appropriate and positive messages
Engage boys as assets, part of solution,
Engage girls as assets, leaders, not as victims or bystanders
Synchronize work with boys and girls, together or separately as needed

27. G.T. Approach with Men Within yourself:
Recognize that traditional masculinity is toxic
Identify your own biases about male gender norms
Examine how race and other identities intersect with your male gender ideals

28. GT Approach with Men (II)
Provide a framework for understanding that was done to them
Explore what it means for them to “be a man”
Identify opportunities to re-define “manhood”
Support a flexible and nuanced definition

29. Thank-you!
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