Welcome to XY online

I was with my mother when my obstetrician called to tell me the sex of my baby. I wasn’t with my husband at the time, and so I handed my mother the phone, putting the pressure on her to 1) find out the sex, and 2) hold in the information until my husband and I could find out from her together. My husband came home and my mother delivered the news: “Are you ready? You are having… a… BOY!”

How are domestic and sexual violence workplace issues, and what can we do to prevent and reduce them? This talk provides an accessible introduction to the workplace prevention of domestic and sexual violence. Men in particular have a positive role to play in violence prevention. Professor Flood explores the everyday steps that men can take to make a difference, the mistakes it’s easy to make, and the ways forward in building more respectful, inclusive workplaces for everyone.

Programs that engage men and boys in health promotion and violence prevention are proliferating. Many aim to foster “healthy masculinities”, using education and support to involve men and boys in adopting more positive or gender-equitable forms of selfhood and relating. 

This paper offers a critical stocktake of 15 'healthy masculinities' programs in one state in Australia, assessing them against common standards for gender-transformative programming among men and boys. 

What role do fathers play in violence prevention and building a non-violent future?

This new white paper by Professor Michael Flood explores fathers' roles in violence prevention. It was launched at the inaugural Fathering Summit on March 14 2024, in Sydney (Australia), hosted by the Fathering Project.

The paper notes that:
1. Positive father involvement is good for children, mothers, families, and fathers themselves
2. Positive father involvement and non-violence go together

Men in workplaces can make influential contributions to progress towards gender equality. Most men support principles of fairness and equity in workplaces and most welcome women’s participation in STEM. Despite this, few men so far have actively supported efforts to increase women’s participation. However, male allyship is vital if we are to make progress.

Men must call each other out when they see disrespect, because the behaviour we walk past is the behaviour we accept, writes Keith Tracey-Patte.

It’s now four years since the death of Hannah Clarke and her children and 10 years since the murder of Luke Batty. And here we are again. In the last seven days we have seen three separate atrocities and the violent deaths of more women, children and men.

(Speech by Professor Michael Flood at the launch of The Man Box 2024.)

Let’s think about that model of traditional masculinity, toxic masculinity, dominant masculinity, whatever we want to call it. That version of manhood based on being tough, aggressive, stoic, homophobic, and dominant over women.

Good news and bad news

First, there’s some good news. Most men don’t personally endorse this model of manhood. Most men believe that:

The Working Together with Men (WTWM) model is an evolving and innovative approach for engaging identifying men in allyship. With a unique focus on  strengthening men's accountability towards gender equity and violence prevention efforts.