May 6 Peace Talk: Allies on the Road to Gender Justice Published on April 18, 2014
Join us for a PeaceTalk at the PDF Center for Peace and Justice, featuring activists from PDF-funded organizations.
Tuesday, May 6
Allies on the Road to Gender Justice
7 to 9 p.m.
PDF Center for Peace and Justice
44 North Prospect Street (parking on the street after 5 p.m.)
Amherst, MA
Rob Okun, editor of Voice Male: The Untold Story of the Profeminist Men’s Movement, and Sara Elinoff Acker will discuss men’s role in redefining masculinity in order to work towards gender equality. Longtime colleagues and friends, Sara and Rob worked together for a decade and a half at the pioneering Men’s Resource Center for Change.
Taken together, Sara Elinoff Acker’s Unclenching Our Fists: Abusive Men on the Journey to Nonviolence and Rob Okun’s Voice Male: The Untold Story of the Profeminist Men’s Movement, serve as an introduction to the world of “changing men.” Both books take an honest look at contemporary masculinity—from “abusive men on the road to nonviolence” to “one of the most important social justice movements you’ve never heard of”—the profeminist men’s movement. The result? An unparalleled journey into a world of possibility where men are finding their hearts and building new lives.
Sara Elinoff Acker has been an activist in the battered women’s movement since 1985. She worked in shelter programs in Northern Vermont and Western Massachusetts and in 1992 started the partner contact program at the Men Overcoming Violence program of the Men’s Resource Center’sn Amherst, Massachusetts, one of the earliest antiviolence, profeminist men’s centers in North America. Acker became a certified batterer intervention group leader in 1996 and ran groups for abusive men for more than a decade. She is currently working as a psychotherapist in private practice. www.unclenchingourfists.org
Rob Okun is editor and publisher of Voice Male magazine. An antiviolence, profeminist activist for nearly three decades, his op-eds and commentaries have appeared in a range of print and online publications—from Ms. to Alternet; WomensEnews to Vday—and his essays on men and violence and men and feminism have been featured in anthologies including Men Speak Out as well as broadcast on public radio. A former executive director of one of the oldest antiviolence men’s centers in North America, he facilitated batterers’ groups for many years. His new book, Voice Male: The Untold Story of the Profeminist Men’s Movement, offers an inside look at the transformation of masculinity through more than 125 stories, commentaries and essays that have appeared inVoice Male magazine. It gives voice to a variety of perspectives from boys becoming men to being a father; from navigating life as a GBTQ man to the struggles and joys of being a man of color; from overcoming violence to new beginnings as a survivor. www.voicemalemagazine.org
Voice Male: The Untold Story of the Profeminist Men’s Movement takes you inside one of the most important social justice movements you may never have heard of—the social transformation of masculinity. Although it’s been underway since the late 1970s, it still largely remains under the radar of much of society.
Thematically arranged essays by leading experts and moving first-person stories illustrate how a growing movement of changing men has discovered in feminism the basis for redefining masculinity and creating healthier lives.
The longtime editor of Voice Male magazine, Rob introduces audiences to men examining contemporary manhood from a variety of perspectives—from boys on the journey to manhood to men overcoming violence; from fatherhood and mentoring to navigating life as a man of color; as a gay man, and as a survivor. The voices of a chorus of women can also be heard in the book’s pages.
Long recognized for articulating a hopeful vision of the future of men, Okun sensitively presents a vivid portrait sure to be welcomed by a wide audience interested to learn what is happening with men. His many years as a gender justice activist have not just deepened his skill as a chronicler of the profeminist men’s movement, but also have helped to strengthen his voice as a spokesperson articulating men’s second act. Voice Male offers compelling evidence of a new direction for men and illuminates what’s around the bend on the path to gender justice.
