Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1450614
9 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 13 FEBRUARY 2022 INTERVIEW cases. We often see stories about (most- ly young) men, who resort to violence in reaction to a perceived 'loss of male control': for instance, an inability to ac- cept being rejected. Why are so many young men – and I emphasise their age, because they are products of today's generation – still clinging to such archa- ic, 'possessive' attitudes? Do you see this as a systemic failure, too? It's not an easy question to answer, be- cause – as Dr Marceline Naudi put it, in another interview – there is a whole spec- trum to be taken into account here. Do- mestic violence; sexual violence; harass- ment; stalking; intimidation; bullying… these things are all intertwined, at a certain level. But when you start looking at where, or how, such attitudes originate… generally, it all points in the same direction. It's all about the status of women in our society: how societies have traditionally perceived women throughout history… going all the way back to ancient mythologies. What roles have traditionally been assigned to women? And how does society expect women to act, and behave… or even just to 'be'? At the same time, however, this also cre- ates 'expectations' on the other side. What is a 'man' supposed to be, in our society? How is a 'man' supposed to act, and be- have? Culturally, our answers to some of these questions have evolved, over time: but there is undeniably a 'macho culture' that still exists. Because, for generation after generation, men have always been brought up in a patriarchal society; so these ideas of 'male privilege'… that a man should be expect a certain type of treat- ment; to be the 'breadwinner', for instance; or even, perhaps, to disguise his own emo- tions, for fear of appearing 'unmanly'… these things have very deep roots. We have been 'soaking them in' – as, again, Dr Nau- di put it – for centuries, upon centuries. So yes: even young people, who have gone through 10 years of schooling… they have absorbed those attitudes too: whether they realise it or not. And this is also what I meant earlier, by 'treating the symptom, not the cause'. If you ask me, this is in fact one of the main reasons why the patriarchy is still so pervasive, to this day. When it comes to services, for instance – and this happens all over the world; not just here – the em- phasis is primarily on punitive justice. Be- cause obviously, we are talking about 'vio- lence'; so you have to deal with the victim, and also with the perpetrator. So the police, the social agencies, the ju- diciary… all their efforts are, understand- ably, concentrated in this one direction: 'an act of violence has occurred; the victim must be supported; the aggressor must be brought to justice'; and so on. And of course, I'm not saying that's a bad thing. It all plays a part; and an important part, too. But… once again, it still remains a case of dealing with the problem only retro-ac- tively, and on a case-by-case basis. We re- spond to violence, yes; but only after it has already happened. And this, I think, ex- plains in part why the underlying culture is not actually changing, all that much. Because to achieve any real change, we have to somehow also address all those ex- pectations, and societal perceptions, that have been brought about by that culture. And that is not easy… Nonetheless, it is a task that your organ- isation has set out to at least attempt. So… how do you propose going about it? What needs to be done, in practi- cal terms, to bring about this culture change? The one thing that is needed the most, I would say, is political will. And I'm talking about 'Politics-with-a-Capital-P' here… because we live in a country where that [politics] is the only area where decisions can truly be made. Then again, however: it's not a question of simply drawing up the right legislation – though that would certainly help – be- cause legislation, without policy, is… just words on a piece of paper, at the end of the day. So what we need, first and foremost, is a long-term political commitment: to at least kick-start the process of trying to change these cultural attitudes. That would include, among many other things, what we give priority to in our educa- tional system. There is a lot that can be done, though education, to prevent cer- tain 'stereotypes' from developing. Not just through programmes to prevent vio- lence against women – something which is already happening, in our schools – but also through positive messages: about, for instance, what it means to have 'pow- er-equality', in personal relationships…. or what constitutes 'acceptable', or 'unac- ceptable' behaviour… But we also have to acknowledge that the underlying causes are so deep-rooted, and multi-faceted, that it might take anywhere up to 20, or 25 years, before we can even begin gauging the first results. And this is clearly a problem, because – as we all know – the political cycle is much, much shorter than that. Politicians need to have tangible results to show for their efforts… in the short term. Unfortunately, from this perspective: violence against women is not 'sexy', as a political issue. It's not something that any politician can suddenly step up and say: 'Look: these are our results; this is what we have achieved, over the past five years…' How much 'political will' is there at present, though? 'MAV' has existed for six years now; and I assume you've had meetings with government, opposition, and so on. What sort of feedback are you getting? Do you see any sign of 'commit- ment'? Well, there is certainly a lot of good will from all sides. And not just in politics, ei- ther: from my own experience talking to people in general, I would say that most people clearly agree with what we are gen- erally saying. Because after all, who would want violence in our society? Nobody, re- ally. So it is ultimately a perfectly normal, natural human response: when it comes to recognising what the problem is… and how important it is to solve it… there is no disagreement whatsoever. But there are obstacles; and they are dif- ficult to overcome. Just to give you one ex- ample: in 2013, the Education Department came out with a document, for public con- sultation, about 'Bullying, and the Preven- tion of Bad Behaviour in Schools'. There was a previous policy document, already in place; but it needed upgrading; and what the Department came up with was innovative, well-researched, and very, very detailed. Twenty-eight pages, with spe- cific proposals on how tackle this, or that aspect of the problem… and, among other things, it also included specific references to gender-based violence; sexual violence; harassment; and on so on. That was in 2013. But by June the follow- ing year – after the consultation period was over – that document had been re- duced by three pages: from 28, to 25… and I'm not saying that what remained, was in any way 'bad', or 'wrong'… but let's just say that all the more 'innovative' aspects – all the best parts, quite frankly - had been re- moved, in the meantime… At the risk of playing the devil's advo- cate: couldn't there have been practical reasons for those redactions? After all, it's not the first time that the Education Department has imposed sudden chang- es on the educational system… only for schools to complain that – while the ide- as are great – they just don't have the necessary resources to comply? Yes, yes… that is no doubt part of it, too. Again, I'm not suggesting that there was resistance, in the sense that people didn't agree with the aims of the reforms. Of course, the schools agreed; of course, they want to have workable policies in place, for how to prevent bullying, and so on… But the reason I gave that example, is that it also illustrates just how complex this problem is. Because it's not just a case of drawing up the right policies… the peo- ple implementing those policies – schools, in this case – must also be given the neces- sary resources, to actually do that. And this, too, is what I meant by a 'long- term, political commitment'. It's not enough to have 'good will'; what we need is a long-term vision; and enough political determination to make it work… PHOTO: JAMES BIANCHI / MALTATODAY