MensWork: eliminating violence against women, inc. was formed in 2007 by a small collective of men who wanted to create more ways for more men to be more actively and proactively involved in ending men’s violence against women.
Our organization has grown steadily, but continues to operate from this grassroots foundation. We offer an array of programs and organize community events that are designed specifically to talk with men, and engage men in this work.
Our mission is “educating, engaging and mobilizing men to end all forms of sexual and domestic violence.” We are a unique organization in 2 main ways: we focus on engaging men and boys, and we are exclusively focused on prevention. We do not provide counseling or other kinds of services. We work to prevent sexual and domestic violence.
We include, in our understanding of sexual and domestic violence, the following:
- bullying
- sexual harassment
- rape/sexual assault
- dating abuse
- domestic violence
- pornography and prostitution
- sex trafficking
For an understanding of our key efforts and how they relate to our mission, view our Mission and Activities Flow Chart _2011.
Ending sexual and domestic violence requires the active involvement and leadership of men and boys. We believe most men are opposed to sexual and domestic violence, and work to engage men through this opposition to become more active and effective in their opposition. We also believe that in order to be effective, we as men, and as a men’s organization, have to be accountable to women who do this work. We created an Accountability Statement that clarifies how we understand accountability and how we try to put this understanding into practice.
While we focus our efforts locally, we are also actively involved state-wide (in both Kentucky and Indiana), nationally, and internationally. Some of our programs have started to receive national and international attention, and we continue to develop innovative efforts that engage men and boys as part of the solution. We are the only community-based organization of our kind in Kentuckiana – in fact, we’re the only community-based organization of our kind in all of Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, West Virginia, Illinois, Arkansas, Mississippi, or Alabama.
