Expanding the Movement:
Focusing on Prevention & Engaging Men
by
Family Violence Prevention Fund
Connecting Prevention and Men
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In the mid-90s, the FVPF reflected on the successes and shortcomings of
the organization’s 20-year efforts.
Despite the victories in law enforcement, public policy and judicial
education, domestic violence was continuing at virtually the same rate. If
deterrence and intervention didn’t reduce the violence than something else
must – that something else was determined to be prevention: Stopping
the Violence Before it Starts.
Prevention, however, could only be successful if everyone who cared was
engaged, but when the FVPF surveyed the dv landscape they realized that
men were missing from the table; that men were either seen as outsiders
or worse, villains and perpetrators.
But no movement can truly succeed when half the population is excluded.
So the FVPF set out to understand how men felt about dv by surveying
1,000 American men to find out about awareness of and engagement with
the issue.
Survey Findings
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Men were clearly willing to take important steps to stop domestic violence.
Most encouraging was their high degree of willingness to get involved.
Many stated that they were open to getting involved directly if they
suspected a person they knew was in a domestic violence situation, and
solid proportions were ready to make time for community actions that could
help awareness of the problem and address it.
Not only were they willing to get involved, but many stated that they had
already done so. The majority who knew someone involved in a domestic
violence situation said that they’d talked about it with either the man or
woman involved.
The most significant findings to the FVPF, however, were two points:
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Twenty-one percent of men said they didn’t support community efforts
to stop domestic violence because “no one asked me to get involved”.
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A majority of men were willing to talk to children about the importance
of healthy, violence-free relationships.
Survey Findings cont’d
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The findings signaled a positive social norm regarding the issue – namely
that men were willing to take important steps to stop domestic violence, but
the survey found two caveats:
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That men’s responses and statements of intention likely exceeded the actual
level of their current involvement as well as their probable actions and,
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That despite their willingness to get involved, it would likely take a lot of effort
and effective marketing to convert men’s good intentions into action and
participation.
Ultimately, the findings illustrated the need to make addressing the problem
of domestic violence a higher priority for men to ensure that men are
informed of the most effective ways to become involved in stopping
domestic abuse.
Leveraging the Research: Coaching Boys Into Men
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Out of the research came the FVPF’s first men’s campaign: CBIM
Guiding Principles of the campaign were:
1.
Violent behavior is learned and can be unlearned
2.
Boys see men as role models
3.
Based on the survey, men are willing to talk to boys
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The campaign message: men – fathers, brothers, coaches, teachers, uncles
and mentors – are in a unique position to help prevent domestic violence.
They can educate tomorrow’s men through action and conversation.
A powerful Public Service Announcement (PSA) campaign originally entitled
Teach Early and which later became Coaching Boys Into Men, developed in
partnership with The Advertising Council, invited men to start conversations
with boys about how they treat women and girls, and teach them that
violence does not equal strength.
In two years CBIM has generated more than $30 million in donated media
time and aired in over 25,000 markets. Picked up by NY Times Foundation
has one of five annual campaigns and has run in the NY Times over 16
times as full page ads.
From CBIM to Founding Fathers
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The response to CBIM was so strong that it became the catalyst for the
FVPF’s next men’s campaign – Founding Father’s 2003, which asked men to
take a public stand and make a financial contribution to end violence
against women and children.
On Sunday, June 15th, 2003, the names of 400 men appeared in an FVPF
ad in the New York Times. The campaign struck a chord by challenging men
not with blame, but with hope and the opportunity to be part of the
solution. The idea of “inviting not indicting” them.
Founding fathers came from all walks of life – from the famous such as
Michael “Moon” Thompson of the Seattle Seahawks and Ted Waitt, co-chair
and CEO/founder of Gateway Computers to the everyday hero that includes
local coaches, regular dads, teachers etc.
Despite different ideologies, different political persuasions and different
lifestyles, the men were, and continue to be, united in their commitment to
ending the violence.
FPVF has begun work on FF 2004 and is expanding the campaign’s reach
and focus. The goal is to engage the workplace and employees to promote
safety, healthy families and good relationships in general.