[Brussels, 07 December 2011] A French network of men standing against prostitution has just been created and gathers more than 200 men calling for equality between women and men and an end to machismo.
With the title ‘Nous n’irons plus au bois’ (literally ‘We will no longer go to the woods’, meaning that we shall no longer engage with the system of prostitution), their manifesto calls for sexual liberation and an end to the justification of prostitution as men’s right.
This initiative also involves women who can become ‘sponsors’ by signing up to the Female Sponsors’ Manifesto and sponsoring one of the signers of the “Men “Just Say NO” to prostitution” Manifesto.
Zero Macho on 6 December sent an open letter to members of the French General Assembl, on the occasion of the vote on the resolution reaffirming France’s abolitionist position with regards to prostitution. The open letter was entitled: ‘Construisons ensemble un monde où personne n’imaginera d’acheter l’accès au corps d’autrui, et où les plaisirs du sexe ne seront liés ni à l’argent ni à la violence !’ (‘Let’s build a world where buying access to someone else’s body is unthinkable, and where sexual pleasure is linked to neither money nor violence!’)
Read the Zero Macho manifesto in English, German, Spanish, Italian and Russian.
In reaction to various initiatives of men joining the feminist struggle, the news website ‘Egalité’ has dedicated a section of its pages to feminist men: ‘Les hommes, des féministes comme les autres’ (‘Men, feminists like any others’). Besides interviews and research, men can test whether they are feminist by means of an online quizz!
On 22 October 2011, the EWL organised a seminar about ‘The other half of gender: masculinities and men’s role towards equality’ and will soon publish the second edition of it European Women’s Voice dedicated to this theme.
