Forum speaks out on male violence

15/03/21 . News

The Forum has put out a strongly-worded statement on male violence.

It makes it clear that it is not women who have to change but men. And not just the men who dish out violence but all men to change the culture and attitudes of our society.

Urging men to sign the White Ribbon promise on male violence, Forum CEO Martin Tod points out that change is critical for achieving better outcomes for men as well as women. Martin says:

Greater gender equality will not be a step back for men, it will be a step forward. It won’t be enough on its own, particularly for those men who face multiple disadvantage, but we also can’t get the improvements we need for men’s health without it.

And we won’t, and shouldn’t, just be doing this for men. The events of the last few days have reinforced again that the status quo is not an option. As men, we should find the events of the last few days intolerable – and reason enough on their own to work for change.

But it won’t be ‘other men’ who are the only ones that need to change. It’s down to all of us. It’s not just individual men, but men and men’s organisations working together. And, if we haven’t already started, that work needs to start today.

The Men’s Health Forum need your support

It’s tough for men to ask for help but if you don’t ask when you need it, things generally only get worse. So we’re asking.

In the UK, one man in five dies before the age of 65. If we had health policies and services that better reflected the needs of the whole population, it might not be like that. But it is. Policies and services and indeed men have been like this for a long time and they don’t change overnight just because we want them to.

It’s true that the UK’s men don’t have it bad compared to some other groups. We’re not asking you to ‘feel sorry’ for men or put them first. We’re talking here about something more complicated, something that falls outside the traditional charity fund-raising model of ‘doing something for those less fortunate than ourselves’. That model raises money but it seldom changes much. We’re talking about changing the way we look at the world. There is nothing inevitable about premature male death. Services accessible to all, a population better informed. These would benefit everyone - rich and poor, young and old, male and female - and that’s what we’re campaigning for.

We’re not asking you to look at images of pity, we’re just asking you to look around at the society you live in, at the men you know and at the families with sons, fathers and grandads missing.

Here’s our fund-raising page - please chip in if you can.

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