Domestic Violence Prevention through the Constructing Violence-Free Masculinities Programme: An Experience from Peru

Citation:

Mitchell, Rhoda. 2013. “Domestic Violence Prevention through the Constructing Violence-Free Masculinities Programme: An Experience from Peru.” Gender and Development 21 (1): 97-109

Author: Rhoda Mitchell

Abstract:

This paper examines work undertaken with male perpetrators of violence in the Construction of Violence-free Masculinities, a project run by the Centro Mujer Teresa de Jesus, a Women’s Centre located in a poor peri-urban district of Lima, Peru, in conjunction with Oxfam-Quebec. Centre staff faced the challenge of how to work with men who are violent towards their intimate partners. They use a community education approach, to challenge powerful stereotypes about gender roles, to question men’s assumed dominance over women, and support men to construct new forms of masculinity, without violence. Ultimately, the programme seeks to modify and change the beliefs, values, attitudes, and behaviours of men who are aggressors.

Keywords: masculinity, Intimate partner violence, domestic violence, men's groups

Topics: Armed Conflict, Civil Wars, Ethnic/Communal Wars, Domestic Violence, Education, Gender, Women, Men, Girls, Boys, Masculinity/ies, Gender Roles, Gender Analysis, Gender Balance, Gender-Based Violence, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Gender Hierarchies, Gender Equality/Inequality, Gender Equity, Masculinism, Households, NGOs, Nonviolence, Sexual Violence, Male Perpetrators, Rape, SV against Women, Sexuality, Violence Regions: Americas, Central America, South America Countries: Peru

Year: 2013