Men Against Violence and Abuse

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Men Against Violence and Abuse (MAVA) is an Indian organisation that works to prevent gender-based violence. Started in 1993, it is one of the first men's organisation in the country to work on preventing violence against women.

History[edit]

Men Against Violence and Abuse (MAVA) started out with an advertisement posted by a journalist, C.Y. Gopinath, in several journals in Mumbai in 1991.[1][2] The ad asked for men who wanted to oppose gender-based violence and 205 men responded.[1] The men met for a year or so, creating a core group and Harish Sadani became the leader.[1] The group felt that both men and women needed to be "liberated from the shackles of patriarchy."[3] In March 1993, the group was formally organised in Mumbai.[1][2] In 1996, MAVA began a journal, Purush Spandana (Men's Expressions), written in Marathi which is published annually during the time of Diwali.[3]

In 2006, Sadani received a fellowship from the Population Council to create a pilot project for MAVA called Yuva Maitri.[3][4] The program brought young men to a camp experience where they discussed and reflected on gender roles and relationships between genders.[3] The Yuva Maitri program is still part of MAVA's programming and by 2014, had reached around 80,000 young men and created 500 youth mentors.[3]

About[edit]

Men Against Violence and Abuse (MAVA) operates in the state of Maharashtra.[5] MAVA provides counselling, guidance for couples getting married, self-defence classes for women, a call in help-line, and other programs dealing with gender issues.[6][2] MAVA and women's group, Akshara, have posted information in Mumbai colleges about gender-based violence and gender issues.[2] MAVA provides a place for men to open up to other men about issues in their lives.[2]

A documentary, directed by Inka Achté, and called Boys Who Like Girls (2018) profiles some of the work that MAVA has done.[7]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d Sadani, Harish (Spring 2015). "Young Men in India Challenging Sexism and Rape Culture". Voice Male. 19 (65): 14–15 – via EBSCOhost.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Men Against Violence". Women's Feature Service. 25 February 2002. Archived from the original on 17 November 2018. Retrieved 10 August 2018 – via HighBeam.
  3. ^ a b c d e Pisharoty, Sangeeta Barooah (19 November 2014). "From the other side of the prism". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
  4. ^ Halim, Moeena (30 January 2017). "Even Men Need to Be Liberated: Men against Violence and Abuse Co-Founder". India Today. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
  5. ^ Joshi, Sonam (1 October 2017). "Meet India's male FEMinists - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
  6. ^ Plummer, Lucy (7 July 2017). "In a Country Struggling With Sexual Harassment, These 5 Initiatives Are Fighting Rape Culture". The Better India. Retrieved 11 August 2018.
  7. ^ Young, Andrew (23 June 2018). "Sheffield/Doc/Fest: Interview – Inka Achté". Nouse. Retrieved 10 August 2018.

External links[edit]

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