White ribbons
The small contingent of Men Against Sexual Assault (MASA) who stood beside the route of the Sydney Reclaim the Night march with their banner this year, received a warm very welcome, at least from the women marching near me. It was an evening when the size and mood of our crowd seemed indicative of a qualitative change in the movement against sexual violence, a move out of the margins to a level of inclusiveness and activism which could not be ignored by the people we passed on the street. We weren't feeling embattled, we were feeling powerful, noisy, energised.
The RTN organising committee had asked men not to march, but to show their support by lining the route and contributing financially, and they honoured this request. I would have liked to have had them, and more pro-feminist men, march side by side with us, and I think many women present would have agreed (perhaps we should take a poll next year), but for many different reasons other women didn't want them to do so. Nor did the committee want them in "our space" at the concert after the rally, requesting, from the platform, that men stay on the outer.
Now pro-feminist men have begun to organise, separately, against male violence against women. The White Ribbon Campaign, which will run throughout Australia from December 6 to 11, commemorates the murder of 14 engineering students at Montreal University by Marc Lepine, who yelled "I hate feminists" as he gunned the young women down. During the campaign MASA is distributing white ribbons to men who are willing to take part in the struggle to end male violence against women, men who are pro-women and pro-feminist and men who believe that men are not innately violent.
"Behind the White Ribbon Campaign, and all MASA's actions", reads publicity for the campaign, "is the fundamental belief that men can change. MASA offers men a positive message; violence is not caused by men's biology or by some innate aggression inside us. Violence is learned or socialised behaviour.
"We see feminism as a positive movement towards women's equality and for redefining relations between men and women in a way that will enhance and improve all our lives."
If you want to help to distribute the ribbons, contact the campaign office in Melbourne on (03) 389 2770. Ribbons will cost $2 each and funds raised will go towards campaigns against male violence against women.
By Karen Fredericks