NCJ Number
156147
Journal
Ms. Volume: 5 Issue: 2 Dated: (September/October 1994) Pages: 50-53
Date Published
1994
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article describes the work of the Oakland Men's Project (California), which is committed to community education and the eradication of male violence, racism, and homophobia.
Abstract
The Oakland Men's Project (OMP) was formed in 1979 and is a nonprofit, multiracial organization of men and women. The group has worked with thousands of boys and men. Its workshops are designed to encourage participants to examine gender roles, violence and discrimination, and alternatives to violence. An important part of OMP's work is to get men and boys to look at how power, inequality, and the ability to do violence to others are structured into social relationships in the United States. Boys are generally taught to influence and manage people as well as gain social acceptance by adopting a "tough" persona. This means using intimidation and violence to establish supremacy and control. Threats to this persona, particularly domination by women, effeminate men, and homosexuality, are viewed with alarm and rage. OMP workshops discuss how these images of masculinity are maintained and how violence against one targeted group encourages violence against others. Workshop strategies are based in the belief that in order to make better choices, men must understand the framework of power and violence that constantly pressures them to be in control. OMP challenges men to help change other men by countering the myth that men's abuse of women is natural; men must challenge one another to stop the violence.