End the violence

A few hundred people attended the two-hour “A Call to Men” breakfast Saturday at the Avalon Golf & Country Club in Vienna to hear Tony Porter, co-founder of a national association of men and women dedicated to ending domestic violence. Porter urged males to:

Listen to women as a way to chip away at the male-female imbalance of power.

Examine their own sexism and beliefs regarding women.

Challenge any views that support men’s power over and domination and sexual objectification of women.

Stop attending strip clubs and subscribing to magazines and other means that denigrate women.

Cease making excuses for all forms of abuse.

Recognize that most women don’t want to be rescued or protected; they need men to stop being violent.

Galvanize other men to help create programs and interventions to address violent males.

Intervene or call authorities if violence is seen.

Source: “Breaking Out of the Man Box” by Anthony Porter