Katie Ward, Staff Writer

Farthing Auditorium echoed with thoughts concerning violence against women, feminism and other issues that have been traditionally considered women’s concerns.

However, these issues were introduced to the audience by a man.

Jackson Katz, the founder of the anti-sexist men’s organization Real Men, delivered an adress entitled “Football, Feminism, and other Contemporary Contradictions.”

His presentation concerned sex and violence in our generation, while speaking to both genders.

A former all-state football player, Katz was the first man to graduate with a women’s studies minor from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
 
He is considered the leading male anti-sexist activist of our generation.

Katz began his presentation by discounting the rumors and explaining the purpose of the Real Men organization.

According to Katz, this group is not a support group for ex- football players, nor is their purpose to solicit male strip acts.

In reality, the Real Men organization encourages men to speak out against all forms of violence.

Katz stressed the belief that women’s issues are not just the concern of women, and that men need to take active roles.

He proved his point by asking the men in the audience to raise their hands if they had a mother, sister, girlfriend, aunt or any female acquaintances. Hands raised unanimously in support.

“Every issue that affects women affects us too, by definition,” Katz said.

Although Katz agreed that men and women are concerned with different issues, he urged the audience to move beyond simplistic ways of thinking and eliminate terms such as “gender wars” and “battle of the sexes” from our vocabulary.

“Men’s violence against women is a major crisis,” Katz said.  “It cuts across class, race and gender.”

According to Katz, traditional male and female roles may easily be traced to mythology.
 
The symbol for females is a representation of Venus, or the goddess of love and beauty, while the symbol for males represents Mars, the god of war.
 
History teaches that men have long since been associated with violence, whereas women are traditionally associated with love and beauty.

Laughter erupted throughout the auditorium when Katz asked the men what measures they take to prevent themselves from being sexually assaulted.

However, hundreds of hands raised toward the ceiling when women were asked the same question.

“It is notable that people laugh at this question becuase we have the notion that it is unmanly to take care of ourselves,” Katz said. “Do not feel embaressed, but move beyond Neanderthal thinking.”

Some common measures taken by women to protect themselves included carrying pepper spray, walking in groups after dark, always, always locking the car door, carrying keys as a weapon and spending huge amounts of time and money on self-defense classes.

Taking extra precautions when alcohol is involved was also a major concern.

“Some men take some precautions.  For women, this is universal,” Katz said.

Shock appeared on the faces of the audience when Katz introduced some  shocking statistics.
According to FBI research, a woman is nine times more likely to be assaulted in the home or by someone she knows.

Research by the Surgeon General shows that the number one cause of injury to women is battery.  Katz urged women to be careful when choosing their intimate partners.

Katz’s presentation continued by introducing the realities of violence in our society.  In fact, the realities for women and men are different and reach far across the spectrum.

Katz did not deny men as victims.  However, 99 percent of rapes are committed by men.

Although men may be afraid of violence, it is violence by other men.  This type of violence usually occurs in a prison setting.  Many men enter prison as non-violent criminals and leave as rape survivors.

“Physical assault from women is not a reality,” Katz said.

Katz stressed the reality that women have to live in a world of violence, and that keeping silent only fuels the fire.

“The good guys have to speak up,” Katz said.”  “Silence is a form of violence.”

Why are the “good guys” silent?  Katz linked the answer to a single word, homophobia.

Men are afraid of being viewed as a  “wuss.”

Violent offenders play on peer pressure and use it to their advantage.  Katz believes that linking anti-sexist men to homosexual acts is a true contradiction.

“Because we care about  women, we want to have sex with men?”

There is a strong link between verbal agression and violence against women.

According to Katz, the comedy of Andrew Dice Clay is far from comedy.  He profits off of verbal agression against women and causes the desensitization of reality, Katz said.

To correct the growing problem, Katz feels that youngmen need strong, non-sexist role models to provide strong, non-sexist views.

 Focusing mainly on what men can do, Katz provided additional suggestions for correcting the problem of growing violence.

Ideas included discussing the issues, reading women’s literature, using gender-inclusive language and supporting rape crisis and battered women shelters.

However, holding men accountable who have committed violent acts is the first step that should be taken, Katz said.

“Not confronting a friend is not an act of friendship,” Katz said.

 The presentation concluded with the discussion of feminism.  Although this word has been traditionally viewed as negative, Katz associates feminists with strong women and women who “refuse to be doormats.”

 “I am here because this situation is preventable,” Katz said.  “Women we care about live in a world of violence and we can decrease this by orders of magnitute.”
 
 

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