- What is the difference between abuse, violence, mistreatment, or harassment?
- How can we explain violence between same-sex couples or violence from women towards men?
- What are the early signs that should put me on guard or make me stay away from that person?
- What should I do if I think I am being physically and psychologically abused?
- Does the system protect abused women? I'm worried about being left destitute, about losing custody of my children.
- How does gender-based violence, abuse, and mistreatment affect women's mental health?
- Can a woman who is going through or has gone through this situation recover emotionally?
- Is there any prevention training for women, to learn how to detect the signs?
- What are the protective factors against gender-based violence, with children and adolescents in mind?
- Is the lack of shared responsibility from one of the parents or guardians a risk factor for children?
- What can men do to prevent our daughters from suffering situations of violence and sexism?
- We know of a case of a woman who is being abused, and her children are being raised in an environment of violence. What can we do?
- Do sons and daughters reproduce patterns of gender-based violence in the future when they grow up in a home where this happens?
- How can we help a man who perpetrates gender-based violence to break out of this pattern of behavior?
- Why do women with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience more gender-based violence? We have difficulty interpreting the other person's intentions, and our condition is not taken into account in court (their nonverbal language doesn't match their account). What can we do?
- Could you provide a checklist to keep in mind for the proactive detection of gender-based violence? Professionals have 10 minutes to visit women in person during primary care consultations.
- What can health professionals, social workers, and teachers do to better train themselves in this field and be able to detect and prevent it?
What can men do to prevent our daughters from suffering situations of violence and sexism?
We need positive male role models, men without stereotypes.
In the first stage of childhood or even before birth, from the moment the first question is asked: "is it a boy or a girl?", stereotypes are unintentionally established that determine the differences between men and women.
Boys are associated with strength, indifference, and self-affirmation; girls with weakness, delicacy, and caring for others. Boys are taught they can do anything; we are given limits.
These stereotypes run deep, defining and shaping how we relate to one another later on. Therefore, it is essential to teach positive models of masculinity, examples that help deconstruct the sexist and patriarchal society in which our roots still emerge today.
It takes work, commitment, and belief in the possibility of building an egalitarian society. However, as feminism grows, so does its opposition—the "polarization of feminism"—which leads to a greater prevalence of denialist discourses on this and other issues affecting equality.
Furthermore, unfortunately, this type of discourse is more likely to penetrate adolescents, with their worldview and their own being still under construction, and this, in turn, causes more tension and continues to normalize many abusive behaviors.
However, if we framed this issue as something in which young men have an active role and very clear benefits in deconstructing themselves so that they can free themselves from the stereotypes that also harm them, perhaps it would be easier for them to become involved in the feminist struggle and stop seeing themselves as part of the problem and start perceiving themselves as a clear part of the solution that liberates them and us as well.
Therefore, if a man asks what his important role is in preventing gender-based violence, the answer would undoubtedly be men without stereotypes who are the foundation of education for new generations.
We are sharing this guide in case it may be helpful: Preventing violence against women and girls from within the family .
