The Social Norms Approach to Violence Prevention

This paper presents the social norms approach to preventing violence against women and girls, which seeks to engage men as allies. The article describes how to present the social norms approach in workshop presentations, media, and other public education forums by addressing "1) men's misperceptions of other men's sexual activity, 2) incorrect beliefs about other men's support of rape myths, and/or 3) false assumptions about other men's comfort with degrading language towards women." Berkowitz' focus is on creating campaign messages that work to change social norms by validating men's hidden feelings and beliefs in order to foster an environment where speaking out against violence against women is socially acceptable. This article is part of the Family Violence Prevention Fund's 2003 Online Discussion Series: "Building Partnerships to End Men's Violence" - Discussion 4, Young Men as Allies in Preventing Violence and Abuse - Building Effective Partnerships with Schools.