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Description
Role models based on male dominance and a culture of violence are a major element of daily life and of the upbringing of boys. This results in discrimination and gender based violence. While the number of initiatives providing support for girls and women is increasing, making them more and more aware of their rights and leading to practical measures, there are not many initiatives that make men more conscious of what constitutes sexism, discrimination, or violence towards women. In the project, the Wielkopolska Equality Academy will be created. The project will encompass six municipalities in the vicinity of Poznań, and will firstly diagnose the male-dominated communities in those municipalities. The Academy will provide training for ten persons to act as leaders in violence and discrimination prevention measures. Another group of Academy attendees, and the target group for the leaders'' activities, will be approximately 30 boys and young men. The knowledge and skills of the attendees will be developed based on art and artistic activities. The attendees will make a number of film études on the various forms of discrimination towards women.
Summary of project results
The project responds to the problem that patriarchal and violent patterns are an important part of boys'' daily lives and upbringing. This results in their adoption of violent behavior, discrimination against individuals and groups that deviate from the commonly accepted norms of masculinity and femininity, and an increase in gender-based violence. Traditional, patriarchal social models dominate in smaller towns, where they are perpetuated by institutions and local authorities, adults and the youth themselves, who - due to various social factors - do not have the opportunity to learn about other points of view. Youth are also influenced by a superiority narrative based on the manipulation of facts, statistics or pseudo-scientific arguments, which leads to radicalization. While there are a growing number of initiatives to empower girls and women, there is still a lack of activities to sensitize boys and young men - especially from small towns and rural areas - to sexism, discrimination and violence.
As a part of the project, a questionnaire survey was conducted among youth workers in Wielkopolska province, and 10 in-depth interviews were conducted. The respondents were youth workers, both from NGOs and informal groups, as well as teachers, educators from aid and rehabilitation centers, sports coaches, etc. The survey showed how adult youth workers perceive the problems of discrimination and violence in this group and how they address these problems. Fifteen meetings were held for young people, primarily boys and young men, on the topics of equality and anti-discrimination and violence. Young people also took part in workshops on screenwriting, acting, the basics of working with a camera, working with studio lighting, composing shots and preparing footage in post-production. The meetings and workshops ended with the preparation and realization of a nearly twenty-minute etude.
The workshop was attended by a total of about 60 people, mostly boys in their teens, including boys with right-wing views from backgrounds similar to football fans, supporters of extreme parties and political views. It was possible to initiate a discussion among them about what discrimination is and what its effects are.