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Prevention Works … and Men Are the Missing Piece

  • Writer: Amanda Parriag
    Amanda Parriag
  • Sep 18
  • 3 min read

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Men must step up


Last week, the NHL lifted suspensions for the five former Hockey Canada players acquitted in the trial involving the complainant known as “E.M.” The verdict didn’t erase what the case revealed: multiple men were present in that hotel room, and not one stepped in.


Last year, in France, Gisèle Pelicot chose to waive anonymity after describing how her husband drugged her for years and allowed men to rape her. Her ex-husband and 50 other men were convicted of rape, attempted rape, and sexual assualt.


In both cases, men who knew what was happening chose silence over morality.


The lesson is clear: men must be part of the solution to ending gender-based violence (GBV). This is reflected in Canada’s National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence. The second pillar of the plan focuses on Prevention to address the “root causes of GBV in order to stop violence before it occurs.”


The sector tension


When governments talk about prevention, shelters and sexual assault centres worry it means diverting money away from frontline services that are already stretched thin. That’s a valid fear. But prevention isn’t about taking away protections, it’s about reducing the number of women and children who need shelter in the first place.


What the evidence shows


  • School programs work. Canada’s Fourth R curriculum cut dating violence rates among boys. U.S. programs like Green Dot and Shifting Boundaries showed measurable reductions in sexual harassment and assault. (Wolfe et al., 2009; Taylor et al., 2013; Coker et al., 2017).

  • Coaches and peers matter. Coaching Boys Into Men demonstrated that short, structured conversations by coaches led to lower rates of dating violence among athletes (Miller et al., 2012).

  • Environment counts. Interventions in schools, bars, and workplaces show that when environments change, behaviour does too (Jewkes, et al., 2020; Graham, K., et al., 2004).


The common thread across all these programs is that prevention works when it is intensive enough, credible enough and reinforced by the environment around it.


How GBV organizations can lead prevention


Shelters and sexual assault centres don’t need to abandon their core mandates. They can integrate prevention into the work they already do:


  • Expand youth outreach with proven curricula.

  • Train staff to model bystander approaches.

  • Partner with local coaches, workplaces, or fathers’ groups.

  • Include conversations about masculinity and consent in crisis counselling.

  • Embed prevention messaging in cross-sector partnerships with schools, police, and healthcare.


The bottom line


The stories of E.M. and Gisèle Pelicot remind us that violence thrives not just because of perpetrators, but because of the silence of those who look away. Prevention means breaking that silence — equipping men to step in, speak up, and shift the culture from within.


Protection and prevention are not either/or. We need both.


Let’s talk about how to embed Prevention into what you are already doing.


Susan Underhill


Amanda Parriag


References


  • Wolfe, D.A., Crooks, C.V., Jaffe, P., et al. (2009). A school-based program to prevent adolescent dating violence: A cluster randomized trial. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 163(8), 692–699.

  • Taylor, B., Stein, N., Woods, D. (2013). Shifting Boundaries: Final Report on an Experimental Evaluation of a Teen Dating Violence Prevention Program in NYC Middle Schools. NIJ Report.

  • Coker, A.L., Bush, H.M., Fisher, B.S., et al. (2017). Multi-college bystander intervention evaluation for sexual violence prevention. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 52(5), 566–578.

  • Miller, E., Taylor, B., McCauley, H., et al. (2012). Coaching Boys Into Men: A cluster-randomized controlled trial of a dating violence prevention program. Journal of Adolescent Health, 51(5), 431–438.

  • Jewkes, R., Flood, M., & Lang, J. (2020). From work with men and boys to changes of social norms and reduction of inequities in gender relations: A conceptual shift in prevention of violence against women and girls. Global Health: Science and Practice, 5(10), e002883.

  • Graham, K., et al. (2004). Safer Bars: Evaluation of a multilevel environmental prevention program in bars and clubs. Addiction, 99(6), 703–715.

  • Government of Canada. National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence.

 
 
 

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