Tuesday, 17 June 2025

 Tim RICHARDSON (Mordialloc) (15:50): Recently I had the chance to join Respect Victoria and a range of stakeholders for the launch of What Kind of Man Do You Want to Be?, a campaign in the words of 12 Victorian men around what it means to be a man in our community. We need to find creative ways to bring men into behaviour change conversations and the journey when it comes to gendered violence. This campaign is grounded in fantastic research and extensive focus grouping. It speaks to what men and so many Victorians are telling us. It uncovers the pressures that relate to masculinities and provides space to safely explore ways that are safer for men to be themselves.

In my role I get to see this and the incredible work that is done each and every day to prevent gendered violence. I also get to hang out with some incredible legends from Jesuit Social Services, the Man Cave, Movember and the extensive network of women’s health organisations, who do so much work in this space. This campaign supports their work. It is there to reinforce and provide ways for men to have conversations that safely challenge gendered roles. Challenging gendered roles and especially challenging harmful, constraining ideas about what it means to be a man in our community are an essential part of the bigger effort to prevent men’s violence against women. These are essential resources that we will see across Meta, YouTube and Facebook. They plant the seed of conversations that we have to have in ending gendered violence and supporting the mental health and wellbeing of Victorian men across our community.