Men and Families: An International Interdisciplinary Approach

Susan Chuang
Department or Unit: 
Family Relations & Applied Nutrition
Sponsor: 
SSHRC Connections
Project Dates: 
to

About the Project

The two-day conference, Men and Families: An International Interdisciplinary Approach, will be first of its kind to focus on boys and men in the context of their families and communities, with a particular focus on violence and abuse. Bringing scholars, community organizations, community members, and other stakeholders (e.g., lawyers, practitioners) from 14 countries and regions will be a great opportunity for all presenters and delegates to collectively build our perspectives and knowledge about boys and men across the lifespan.

Family violence has no borders and is a serious international concern as all members of the family, extended family, and communities are affected. To gain greater insights into family violence, there needs to be greater attention to violence against boys and men. For example, one in five Canadians who experienced family violence were men (Burczycka & Conroy, 2018; Conroy et al., 2019). Unfortunately, men have been "in the shadows," silenced by societal stigma, shame, and misconceptions about the severity of negative effects on men (Brooks et al., 2020).

Using Canada to illustrate this phenomena, the Canadian General Social Survey on Victimization (GSS) revealed that both men and women reported similar incidents of intimate partner violence (IPV) by a spouse/partner but the majority (70%) did not report to the police. Also, men were more likely than women to experience both physical and sexual IPV within the previous five years, at 2.9% for men, compared to 1.7% of women (Statistics Canada Canadian Center for Justice Statistics, 2016).

However, IPV is complicated and dynamic, especially when family violence involves children, directly or indirectly. Unfortunately, for many years, fathers have faced challenges and barriers in seeking gender sensitive, socioculturally appropriate services and programs (Fraehlich et al., 2020; Roebuck et al., 2020).

Thus, the conference design is very intentional to build a comprehensive and inclusive understanding on violence against boys and men. Specifically, scholars as well as community stakeholders (including survivors) need to investigate the intersectionalities of gender, sexuality, age, able-ness, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, religion, for example. This also includes some focus on family dynamics, functioning, and relationship such as fathering, fatherhood, parent-child relationships as it is important to highlight the spectrum of families.

The conference will be downtown Toronto, held on September 15 - 16. Presenters include scholars, students, community organizations, lawyers, and practitioners from almost 20 countries and regions (i.e., Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Israel, Portugal, South Africa, Sweden, Taiwan, Trinidad and Tabago, the United Kingdom, Vietnam, and the United States). With two keynote speakers, two panel sessions, and almost 60 presentations, the conference is multidisciplinary, including, but not limited to, criminology, family studies, human development, immigration studies, law, nursing, psychology, public policy, social work, and sociology, and victimology. Such diversity of presenters will promote intensive and meaningful discussions and critical reflections with the goals of capitalizing on respective areas of expertise and experiences.