Although men have only recently been significantly involved in violence prevention, they gain more credit and receive more praise when they do this work (Pease 2008; Linder and Johnson 2015). This is particularly problematical when women have done most of the work in organising an event and men get most of the credit for being involved. It is apparent that in most of the local White Ribbon events, women do most of the administrative and background work in getting the project organised. When men are present for photos and interviews, women’s work may not be sufficiently acknowledged.
As a man who has being doing this work for many years, I have often felt uncomfortable about the accolades that I have received from some women and men that is out of proportion to the contribution I have made. It is also understandable that other women would not be happy about the praise that I and other men have gained from our involvement in this work.
One of the often stated concerns about engaging men is that women will be marginalised and silenced (Marchese 2008). It has been widely noted that when men challenge men’s violence they are more likely to be listened to because of their privileged status. Messner et al. (2015) refer to men’s unearned praise and the greater likelihood of being listened to as the ‘pedestal effect’. This has contradictory effects. On the one hand it means that men’s privilege is being used for a progressive outcome of influencing other men, while on the other hand it may further marginalise the voices of women who are less likely to be heard (Murdolo and Quiazon 2016). Will men’s voices be heard as more authoritative and will this lead to the further suppression of women’s voices? It is important when men receive such unearned praise to make the point that they would not be doing the work if it was not for feminist women who have mentored and taught them almost everything they know (Atherton-Zeman 2009).
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