Members of National Organization for Men Against Sexism ( NOMAS ) took part in the "pre-conference" day of the "At the Intersections: Gender, Sexual Orientation & Race in Public Policy" conference at University of Chicago Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality, 5733 S. University Ave., on Aug. 7. Members discussed what role male activists could play in helping to advance feminism.
According to its website, NOMAS is "an activist organization of men and women supporting positive changes for men" that "advocates a perspective that is pro-feminist, gay affirmative, anti-racist, dedicated to enhancing men's lives, and committed to justice on a broad range of social issues including class, age, religion, and physical abilities."
NOMAS was one of the first organizations to research around gender and masculinity from the masculine perspective, said Co-Chair Moshe Rozdzial, noting it stands as testimony "that there are men in the world committed to both the women's feminist movement and the anti-violence movement—to the visibility of having men as allies."
Co-Chair Allen Corben added that members are careful not to label themselves as "feminist," but as "pro-feminist," adding, "Who are we to say whether we are actually allies to feminists or not? Only feminists say answer that."
Some members described the interests that brought them to NOMAS. Gloria Woods, who is from Michigan, said that her involvement with the organization began in the mid-1990s, when legislation began in her state that would assume shared custody agreements between divorcing parents. At the time she was president of Michigan National Organization for Women.
In order to combat such legislation, "You need riveting stories, and you need riveting research to back up the stories," Woods said. "This organization does a piece that activists now don't do, which is the research."
A harsh reality, Rozdzial added, is that research often is ignored when it comes from female researchers and advocates: "Often a male is heard over the voice of a woman saying the same thing."
Phyllis Frank, from Rockland County, New York, discussed NOMAS' commitment to improving programs that are ostensibly aimed at rehabilitating batterers. She founded the first batterers' program in New York State and over the years had become disillusioned by a "therapized" model that quite often dumped the offender back into society, only to have them commit intimate partner violence again.
"Most programs have the goal of stopping the man from being an abuser—how you can turn them around, though?" Frank asked. What are you going to do to make that happen when they're living in a world that lets that happen?"
Frank advocates for the New York Model of Batterer Programs, whose curriculum emphasizes discussion of the social justice and human rights aspects of intimate partner violence, and which functions as an extension of the court's monitoring system.
It's a problem that exists in most cultures, according to Frank. "It exists across the economic spectrum. There is no community that I am aware of where it's not a problem. The mainstream white community wants to say that it's not about them, but it is."
Participants are not asked about their histories of battery, and are monitored mainly for their attendance at sessions, which usually lasts 26-52 weeks.
"These are standards that are real and fair, and that [they] will be accountable to," Frank said, adding that offenders are nevertheless treated respectfully. "They're men from our community— they're somebody's brother, somebody's child. But we tell them 'You're here because you've committed brutal violence against a woman.'"
Affinity Community Services Executive Director Kim Hunt asked Frank how pertinent the New York Model would be for the LGBT community, where intimate partner violence is also a grave problem.
Frank admitted that it didn't hold much relevance yet, since so much of the New York Model is tied to power dynamics between men and women. Domestic violence researchers and advocates have failed to account for problems unique to LGBT families, such as internal and external homophobia.
"If they ever have the conference where they account for those, I want to be invited," Frank said.
Other NOMAS members included Robert Barron, who earlier in the day discussed the disconnect between social science research and government policy, and Jacob Jacquez. Chicago-based member Don Bell opened the day with remarks and, that afternoon, led a discussion of the film "Gen Silent."
Photo cation: Jacob Jaquez, Moshe Rozdzial, Phyllis Frank, Gloria Woods, Kim Hunt, Robert Barron and Allen Corben. Photo by Matt Simonette
