POPULAR EDUCATION & CONSCIOUSNESS-RAISING
As part of our Engaging Young Men as Allies campaign, we have organized a series of events to educate young men about issues of violence against girls.
In December 2006, we partnered with several other organizations to screen Byron Hurt’s Beyond Beats and Rhymes documentary. Over 350 people attended the event. The screening was followed by a series of roundtables that were moderated by members of YWAT along with representatives from other youth groups.
We have attached the discussion questions. In addition, the YWAT along with the other facilitators wrote reflection notes after the discussion. In addition, the event was covered in our local press.
In February 2008 building off a series of workshops that YWAT had conducted with male allies, we decided to plan and organize a conference for young men ages 11 to 25 called “Talking about Misogyny.”
Talking about Misogyny was a conference organized by our leadership team as part of our larger effort to engage young men as allies to end violence against women and girls. Over 125 young men ages 12 to 35 attended this event. YWAT was thrilled to partner with Depaul University’s Women and Gender Studies Program to sponsor this conference. In addition, we were pleased to work with members of our brother organization the Male Ally Network (M.A.N.) and with Men against Sexual Violence at UIC to create a successful event.
The conference workshops were only open to people who identified as young men (this obviously includes trans men). The conference also included a screening and discussion of Beyond Beats and Rhymes facilitated by members of M.A.N. The screening was co-ed.
Talking about Misogyny Conference Participants at Film Screening
Attached is the program for the conference which includes a list of all of the terrific workshops that were offered at the event.
Young Men from Connect Force Create Art at the Conference
