Men called on to help curtail violence

By SEAN BARRON

news@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

One national organization says the country’s domestic-violence problem will continue until more men leave the sidelines of silence and become part of the solution to the crime.

That idea, along with ways to promote positive changes in men’s relationships with women, children and other men, will be the main premises of “Breaking Out of the Man Box,” a free workshop set for 7:30 to 10 a.m. Wednesday in the Chestnut Room of Youngstown State University’s Kilcawley Center.

The main speaker will be Tony Porter, co-founder of A Call to Men, a national association of men and women dedicated to ending violence against women.

Sponsors are Raymond J. Wean Foundation, YSU police and A Call to Men, which has a local chapter here.

Key aspects of male socialization that sanction violence against women are viewing them as less than men and seeing women as property and objects, Porter contends.

Part of the seminar will be to empower “well-meaning” men who want to help but don’t know how, noted Joseph Caruso, executive director of Burdman Group Inc., a 40-year-old community-service agency that provides behavioral-health as well as employment and job-retention services in the Mahoning Valley.

The Burdman Group is a participant in the workshop because it also operates the Sojourner House Domestic Violence program.

Making changes in men’s attitudes won’t occur overnight but can start with adult males’ being aware of how they speak to boys, Caruso said.

For example, some athletic coaches compare a boy’s poor ball-throwing motion to being like a girl’s, something that demeans women and can cause the youngster to view them as less than men, he explained.

Also reinforcing the subservience of women are beer commercials, many of which depict females as sex objects, Caruso added.

A good way to place a dent in violence against women is for men to tell their male friends that it’s not all right to make derogatory or condescending remarks about females, he continued.

“The silence affirms that [violence] is OK,” Caruso added.

Concurring with that opinion was Detective Sgt. Dave Lomax of the Youngstown Police Department.

Lomax, who’s also a community organizer with A Call to Men, said Wednesday’s gathering will demonstrate, for example, that men don’t have to be aggressive when in conflict with their partners.

The workshop will help participants “change the way they have been taught to be a man from the time they were able to walk,” he said.