{"id":9337,"date":"2018-01-17T13:13:40","date_gmt":"2018-01-17T17:13:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.equimundo.org\/?p=9337"},"modified":"2022-12-07T15:37:06","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T19:37:06","slug":"changing-male-attitudes-middle-east-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.equimundo.org\/fr\/changing-male-attitudes-middle-east-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Changer les attitudes masculines au Moyen-Orient et dans le monde : que faut-il faire ?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"Programme<\/p>\n

By Jane Kato-Wallace and Nina Ford<\/strong><\/em>
\nPubli\u00e9 \u00e0 l'origine sur Perspectives sur la paix<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Social expectations about masculinity both shape and are shaped by conflict. A program being run in Lebanon creates safe spaces where young men can think critically to challenge harmful ideas and redefine masculinity in order to create a more socially just and equal world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cIf you want to \u2018be a man,\u2019 you don\u2019t cry. If you want to \u2018be a man,\u2019 you have to be tough…You have to use violence. Whoever hits you, you should hit him back,\u201d says Hassan Joumaa, speaking about what it means to be a \u201creal man\u201d in Lebanon today.<\/p>\n

UN\u00a0shortage of good-paying jobs<\/a>\u00a0in Lebanon, especially for young men with lower levels of education, can leave many frustrated with their inability to be financial providers. Indeed, men who experience unemployment, and a lack of income and social recognition, may be\u00a0plus probable<\/a>\u00a0to use violence and participate in armed conflict.<\/p>\n

Taking on a breadwinner role is just one social pillar of manhood, along with appearing strong and hiding emotions. The pressure to meet these expectations grows as young men reach adulthood, with negative impacts for both young men and the women in their lives.<\/p>\n

These social expectations about manhood both\u00a0shape and are shaped by<\/a>\u00a0conflict. Experiences of conflict can change men\u2019s ideas of self-worth and create identities rooted in extreme violence, while underlying\u00a0patriarchal norms<\/a>\u00a0encourage men to adopt dominant, violent behaviors.<\/p>\n

Shifting perceptions, shifting reality<\/h2>\n

Hassan wants to shift this reality. \u201cI want to be a part of a society where I made something, changed something,\u201d he says. \u201cWe have to work to improve the attitudes, to improve the behaviors, of men \u2013 to engage men and boys to reach gender equality.\u201d<\/p>\n

There might be certain advantages for young men who act in more stereotypically masculine ways.\u00a0New research<\/a>\u00a0carried out with young men in the US, UK, and Mexico found that they are often rewarded for fitting into the \u201cMan Box\u201d, or being a \u201cman\u2019s man.\u201d\u00a0Such rewards include feeling accepted, being respected, and living up to society\u2019s expectations.<\/p>\n

However, there are also harmful consequences associated with conforming to society\u2019s expectations about how men should behave.<\/p>\n

Recherche\u00a0finds<\/a>\u00a0that young men who adhere to rigid beliefs about manhood are more likely to engage in risky behaviors, to cut themselves off from intimate friendships, to resist asking for help, to experience depression and suicidal ideation, and to use violence.<\/p>\n

When young men behave in such ways, it not only impacts those around them, but has also\u00a0been shown<\/a>\u00a0to put young men themselves at higher risk for early mortality and morbidity.\u00a0And, when young men feel unable to live up to unrealistic expectations of manhood, they may also\u00a0express this frustration<\/a>\u00a0through violence, substance abuse, or other self-abusive behaviors.<\/p>\n

Challenging stereotypes<\/h2>\n

To work towards a more positive future for young people in Lebanon, Hassan devotes his time to facilitating interactive workshops and inspiring student activism through Lebanese NGO\u00a0ABAAD<\/a>. Called\u00a0Programme Ra<\/a>, based on Equimundo\u2019s\u00a0Programme H<\/a>, the sessions Hassan leads encourage young men to challenge stereotypes related to what it means to be men.<\/p>\n

For example, in one session, youth engaged in role-playing, being either \u201cpersons\u201d or \u201cthings\u201d and treating each other as such. A deep discussion then followed, exploring the ways in which we treat other people like \u201cthings,\u201d as well as how youth themselves are often treated as \u201cthings.\u201d The purpose of such discussions is for young people to become aware of the harmful gender norms and attitudes that exist in their communities, as well as engage in new ways to challenge those norms.<\/p>\n

Such approaches to engage young men in redefining the way they think about the intersections of gender, power, and violence are desperately needed in Lebanon. The country is still experiencing low-intensity conflict on its southern border with Israel and its western border with Syria where civil war, although drawing to a close, continues to impact the everyday lives of the young men and women. However, the experiences of young men in Lebanon are not wholly unique.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought that we have violence and we have racism only in the Middle East. But, when I began traveling to many countries in the world, I found that some places have even more than us,\u201d says Hassan.<\/p>\n

\n

John Crownover of CARE International, who has been implementing Program H in the Balkans region for more than a decade agrees, saying, \u201cI think the struggles of young people are similar in every place. I think there\u2019s universality to a lot of what we\u2019re doing…Gender-based violence isn\u2019t just a problem of the South, it\u2019s a problem of the whole planet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, from the\u00a0United States and Mexico<\/a>\u00a0\u00e0\u00a0Brazil and India<\/a>, the experiences of young men are similar, with consequences both for young men\u2019s health and well-being and for the health and well-being of young women and others around them.<\/p>\n

Program H aims to work with men to create safe spaces where young men can not only find reliable information, but also think critically to challenge harmful ideas about what it means to be a man, and share their fears, hopes, and dreams for the future. This methodology, 15 years after its launch in 2002, is still having an impact in a shifting and globalized world: it is encouraging tens of thousands of young men across more than 20 countries to redefine manhood in an effort to create a kinder and more socially just world free from violence.<\/p>\n

As Hassan says, \u201cI don\u2019t want my children to be raised as I was. I want them to be feminist, advocate for women\u2019s rights, and have the freedom to express their feelings and their emotions.”<\/p>\n

Programme Ra<\/em><\/a>, adapted with\u00a0<\/em>ABAAD<\/em><\/a>\u00a0depuis\u00a0<\/em>Equimundo’s Program H<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and supported by\u00a0<\/em>The Womanity Foundation<\/em><\/a>, has been piloted in Lebanon in 2016 and 2017.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Social expectations about masculinity both shape and are shaped by conflict. A program being run in Lebanon creates safe spaces where young men can think critically to challenge harmful ideas and redefine masculinity in order to create a more socially just and equal world.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7635,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[247,666,246,239,213,627],"class_list":["post-9337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-abaad","tag-beirut","tag-lebanon","tag-middle-east","tag-program-h","tag-programme-ra","program_areas-caring-boyhoods","program_areas-social-connection","geography-lebanon","geography-middle-east-and-north-africa","program-program-h","program-program-m"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.equimundo.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.equimundo.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.equimundo.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.equimundo.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.equimundo.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9337"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.equimundo.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9339,"href":"https:\/\/www.equimundo.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9337\/revisions\/9339"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.equimundo.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.equimundo.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.equimundo.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}