A 68 – minute documentary titled ‘Boys Who Like Girls’ directed by Finnish filmmaker Inka Achte would be screened for the audience. The screening would be followed by an interaction with the gathered crowd. During the interaction, Harish Sadani and his team at Men Against Violence & Abuse – MAVA would deliberate on the prevailing toxic masculinity and male entitlement to privilege and power, which is at the core of gender discrimination and violence in society. Through powerful compelling stories of MAVAs work among adolescent boys and young men in interrogating Masculinity as depicted in the film, Harish and Altamash will stimulate the gathered audience on the various tools and methodologies used to engage boys and young men on gender issues. Citing examples of the organization’s journey in the past 25 years, insights would be provided on the out-of-the box methods used by the organization to reach out to young men and how these could be adapted by others including individuals wanting to work on Masculinities. The gathered crowd would be then stimulated on specifically discussing steps which every man and woman could take to engage men and boys into healthy conversations on contemporary gender topics and help promote gender equality and diversity.
Men Against Violence & Abuse, based in Mumbai, has been working since 1993 among Men and Boys to help stop and prevent gender-based violence against women using out-of-the box methods. MAVA’s notable work has been recognized by Ashoka Changemakers, US and also Harvard University’s South Asia Institute. MAVA has been organizing periodic screenings of films on gender and related issues. Last year we had organized a One Day Workshop with film-screenings at Lamakaan that received wide appreciation.