Victim's Informer Newsletter - Texas Department of Criminal Justice

www.responsiblemen.netSafeplace - 512-267-SAFEwww.safeplace.orgTAASA - 1-800-656-HOPEwww.taasa.orgexperienced domestic violence or sexualassault. It is time for us to stand withwomen in solidarity and publicly speakout against family violence.”In order to prevent violence againstwomen, Diaz de Leon argues that wemust rely on the majority of men. “Thereare so many men who have committedviolent acts already, but we have to focuson the larger group of nonviolentmen who want to have healthy relationships.We need to support those men.”An Austin group called ResponsibleMen has made this idea its mission.Founded by improvisation actor andformer schoolteacher Ted Rutherford,Responsible Men espouses that sincemen are doing most of the damage,they need to be part of the solution.“Guys don’t understand how they’recontributing to sexism, which ultimatelyleads to violence against women,”reveals Rutherford. “A lot of guysdon’t mean to be sexist, but they doit often out of ignorance.” Male privilege,defined as the idea that there arerights granted to the male population insociety on the basis of their biologicalsex that the female population is usuallydenied, asserts Rutherford, is somethingthat all men should realize theyinnately possess. “If you look at men’ssalaries as those compared to women’sor if you look at men’s incarcerationrates for sexual assault or domestic violence,you will see that both sexes arenot treated equal.”Rutherford remembers his upbringing– “around the barbeque pit,” he callsit. “That’s where I learned how men aresupposed to act. All the women went toanother part of the house, and my malefamily members stood around talkingabout women. It’s time to rewrite thescript on interactions among men. Theyneed to be more gender-respectful, removethe sexist jokes, and talk aboutwomen having value for more than justtheir bodies. If young boys hear theirfathers having respectful conversationsabout women with other men, it willhave a huge impact on how they behaveas adults.”Already an official group with 106members on the popular social networkingwebsite, www.facebook.com,Responsible Men hopes to spread itsmessage virally. “I want men to talkto other men,” says Rutherford. “Weneed to redefine masculinity so that futuregenerations learn that the way torespect a woman is not to hurt her.” Rutherfordtakes his message to fathers,coaches and religious leaders throughworkshops and interactive training. Formore information about his group andhow to join, visit www. responsiblemen.net.Rutherford draws parallels of hisgroup to those outraged Americansfighting segregation in the 1960s. “Noteveryone was on board with racism, andthere had to be a group of people whostood up and said, ‘that’s not okay.’ Weare doing the same thing now with adifferent issue because all forms of oppressionare connected.”Currently, six of TAASA’s 21 staffmembers are men (approximately29%), and SafePlace has 13 male advocateson its 140-person staff (approximately9%). “If you would have askedme in 1985 if men should be workingside-by-side with me, I would haveadamantly said ‘no,’” reiterates Wilson.“Now, my answer is absolutely‘yes.’ We need men and women doingthis work together because it is about ahuman rights issue that knows no gender.”www.austinwomanmagazine.com“It is with our judgments as with our watches: no two go just alike, yet each believes his own.” - Alexander PopeTxCVCVOL.14, N.1 – MAR/APR 20097