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BRAZIL: Pilot Project Helps Men Abandon
Violence
By
Fabiana Frayssinet
RIO DE JANEIRO (IPS) - Some men interpret an
overly long glance from another man as "a
gay thing," others as "a provocation" to
fight - ideas that are part of the "machista"
mindset that a government initiative in
Brazil is trying to break down.
As a new tool in the fight against
gender-based violence, the men are taking
part in a reflection group at the Service
for Education and Accountability for Men
Committing Gender Violence (SerH), in the
municipality of Nova Iguaçu, a poor district
in Rio de Janeiro.
The pilot project, which is to be extended
to 78 municipalities around the country, is
the first example of a public policy that
engages men in seeking a radical social
solution to violence against women.
The initiative is a response to demands by
non-governmental organisations like the
Instituto Papai (Daddy Institute), which
encourages participation by men in new roles
in the family, in support of gender equity.
"It's no use promoting initiatives like this
one if they are not reinforced by public
policies," Jorge Lira, co-director of the
institute, told IPS.
The reflection groups are, in fact, promoted
by the Special Secretariat for Women's
Policies, attached to the Brazilian
president’s office.
The aim of the groups is "to help men to
question the values and ideas underlying
acts of violence, whether physical or
psychological, against women and family
members," Fernando Acosta, head of SerH and
creator of the initiative, told IPS.
In 2007, 5,760 women a day were assaulted in
Brazil, and most of the attackers were men,
according to a study by SerH. The Perseu
Abramo Foundation determined in 2001 that a
woman is beaten every 15 seconds in this
country of over 190 million people.
The reflection groups seek to develop
"alternative ways of relating that are
capable of avoiding and preventing violent
behaviour within the family," Acosta said.
Men who have committed acts of violence are
sent to the rehabilitation centres by
domestic and family violence courts, and
children's and juvenile courts, as an
alternative to prison.
These men are "sentenced" to reflect on what
led them to assault a woman. But the
compulsory nature of the orders is frowned
on by some sectors of the women’s rights
movement.
"It's like treatment for drug addiction. No
one should be forced to undergo treatment,"
Myllena Calasans, adviser to the
non-governmental Feminist Centre for Studies
and Advisory Services (CFEMEA), told IPS.
Acosta said that the groups do not
constitute treatment, although in practice
they may have a therapeutic effect.
"It isn't therapy, but taking masculine
psychology or subjectivity into account is a
basic and integral part of the work, because
that is the way men think, and above all,
act and feel, which is what we are
questioning in the groups," he said.
CONSTRUCTING A NEW MASCULINITY
Psychologists, sociologists and social
workers lead group meetings and workshops
aimed at "constructing an alternative
concept of masculinity that is different
from the culturally dominant 'machista',
patriarchal and homophobic masculinity,"
Acosta said.
The expert referred to an interview IPS held
with a participant, Rogerio*, who confided
that he had cried for several nights after
being convicted by a judge for attacking his
sister.
"If he told this in the group, some of the
others would probably laugh at him and make
jokes, and he would be discriminated against
for crying. And we would in fact use this
event to reflect collectively on the idea
that men cannot cry at difficult times, in
order to prompt them to analyse the
situations in which they exercised
violence," Acosta said.
The men's groups were his idea, after he
found that working only with women did not
curb the violence. When a couple separated,
the aggressor would repeat his violence with
his new partner, while the battered woman
would often find a new companion who was
also violent.
He also came to the conclusion that most
violent men are afraid of women, and attack
them for that very reason. Some "men fall
back on violence when they feel their
masculinity is threatened, either because
they are afraid of women, or because they
cannot fulfil their role as a provider, or
due to some problem related to their
sexuality," the expert said.
"Anything that questions their dominant
masculine identity creates fear, and
therefore violence," he summed up.
This was visible in the men's group meeting
in which IPS participated. Rogerio said this
was the first time he "had a dialogue with
himself," and that "the strategies for
getting to know myself and for opening up"
were positive.
"How to look at other men, how to converse
with them, how to react when someone insults
you: Is it a good thing to react
aggressively when someone else offends you?"
asked Rogerio, discussing the guidelines for
a new masculinity.
Paulo Sergio*, a 54-year-old painter who
will only admit to "giving a little tug" on
his wife's hair as the reason he "ended up
at the police station," recalled his own
violent childhood. He saw his mother barely
once a month, and when they were together,
"she beat me every time someone in the
neighbourhood told her tales about me."
This is another factor to be taken into
account, Acosta said. Seventy-five percent
of aggressive men were victims of domestic
or social violence, or witnessed violence in
their family home. Among examples of social
violence he pointed to police brutality,
commonly used against poor young Brazilians,
especially if they are black.
None of this absolves a man from
responsibility for his actions, which the
police must combat and the courts must
judge, he said. "Our role is to get the men
to take responsibility for the violence they
committed, because when they face up to it
they are able to change," and interrupt the
cycle of violence, he said.
"We are not on the side of either men or
women. We are in favour, and I hope this is
quite clear, of equity between men and
women. We are against violence between men
and women and, mainly, against the violence
that men have historically inflicted on
women," he said, in response to criticism
from Brazilian women's organisations.
CONDITIONAL SUPPORT FROM WOMEN’S RIGHTS
ACTIVISTS
CFEMEA's Calasans admitted that the women's
movement "is very divided" on the
rehabilitation centres. Personally, she
agrees with involving men in the process of
change, "so long as resources and attention
are not taken away from women's issues."
One fear is that the men's groups may divert
funds from Special Secretariat for Women's
Policies projects specifically aimed at
women, although the Secretariat has
announced that the centres' costs of 600,000
dollars will be financed by the Justice
Ministry.
But the main concern of women's
organisations is that this new alternative
penalty may eliminate the criminal
responsibility of aggressors. Calasans said
that judges could decide to send abusers of
women to the centres instead of to prison,
based on the argument that their violence
was due to mental problems or addictions.
The Maria da Penha Law, which stiffened
penalties for domestic violence in September
2006, provides for prison sentences of
between three months and three years for
those who inflict injuries.
The CFEMEA adviser said that out of 150,000
prosecutions under the law, nearly 42,000
were criminal cases and only 19,800 were
civil suits. In addition, 88,972 restraining
orders were served, mainly injunctions for
the aggressor not to approach within a
certain distance of the victim, or evicting
them from the joint home.
"Some judges think that men abuse women
because, for instance, they are unemployed,
and then turn to drink or drugs, when in
fact the women’s movement believes that
violence is part of patriarchal culture,"
Calasans said.
The head of SerH agrees. "Violence against
women is based on a patriarchal and 'viriarchal'
(male superiority) model of masculinity,
which stems from abuse of the power that we
have. On the basis of this model we practise
violence, especially against women because
culturally we believe that we are superior
to them," Acosta said.
"The work done in the groups is for men to
perceive that, as men, we suffer from
something called emotional selectivity, that
is, feelings like love, sadness, fear or
loss are socially and culturally forbidden
to men," he said.
"We try to encourage the men to get in touch
with these feelings, and having done so, to
question the other emotions that are
socially permitted to them, such as
violence, aggression, rage, anger or hate,"
he said.
Acosta said that when they perceive that one
of the participants in the groups may fall
back into violent behaviour, or shows signs
of a serious emotional disturbance such as
bipolar affective disorder, he is referred
to mental health services. But he stressed
that no more than six percent of the men in
the groups "suffer from a severe mental or
emotional disorder."
ABUSED WOMEN HAVE CENTRES TOO
Cecilia Soares, the state government of Rio
de Janeiro’s head of women’s rights,
supports the project on certain conditions,
for instance that it should be integrated
into the network of services for women.
"It's no use setting up services to get men
to stop being violent, if women don't also
have an opportunity to work on how to give
up the role of victim. The origin of the
problem is not a sick relationship between
couples, but a place socially created by
women, who see no other way of being a woman
than to be submissive," she said.
To break this pattern, women also need help.
That is, in fact, the function of the
Women's Care Centres that support victims of
violence with legal, psychological and
cultural advice, individually or in groups.
Guided by a facilitator, the women tell
their stories, pour their hearts out, listen
to each other, praise one of their number
who has come in "looking prettier," laugh,
or hug someone who is crying. Their common
theme is the man who abuses them.
One of the women, Maria*, told IPS a story
typical of many others.
At long last, she said, she managed to end a
20-year marriage to a man who under the
definition provided by the current law is
guilty of "psychological violence." "He
humiliated me, insulted me, called me a
whore, belittled my looks, called me 'fat
old thing' and said I should kiss his feet
for having married me," all spiced with
yelling and blackmail, Maria described.
Like many other women, Maria stayed married
because "we're brought up to be the pillar
of the home, and to forgive and put up with
everything." It was her son who gave her the
strength she needed to change, when at the
age of 17 he began to be aggressive towards
her, just like his father.
"If I didn't teach him that was wrong, he
was going to be just like his father with
his own partner, and I wanted to show him
that a woman must be respected at all
times," she said emotionally.
This is one way of breaking the dominant
masculine pattern internalised by women
themselves, and preventing that model from
being reproduced in the next generation,
said Soares.
Such a deeply-rooted model is difficult to
overturn in a generation, but it is starting
to crumble with the support of the Maria da
Penha Law, named in honour of a Brazilian
woman who was left permanently paralysed
after a second failed murder attempt by her
husband.
The law’s recommendations include creating
"rehabilitation and education centres for
men committing acts of violence," like those
established by SerH.
Calasans of CFEMEA said the new law
establishes that gender-based violence is a
violation of human rights, and makes other
forms of violence punishable by prison
sentences, such as patrimonial or economic
violence, which is the restriction or denial
of access to shared or family property.
Acosta said the measures contribute not only
to "interrupting violence" against women,
but also violence between neighbours or work
colleagues, and road rage.
Over 90 percent of the men, who must
participate in 20 group meetings over five
months, in addition to an initial month of
interviews, make progress. "We construct,
with them, a new non-violent masculine
identity, with an active commitment to
non-violence and to a culture of peace,"
Acosta concluded.
* At the request of those interviewed,
surnames have been omitted. |
