Hundreds of men have led a demonstration in Switzerland’s capital, Bern, to denounce misogyny and violence against women, saying men need to take a more effective role in fighting both.
The “Men Against Violence Against Women” rally outside parliament on Saturday follows persistent concerns that misogyny is too prevalent online among teenage boys and young men and that other men need to build a stronger counter-narrative.
The misogynistic views are pushed by the right-wing “manosphere” – a loose network of online forums and influencers that promote male supremacy and hostility to feminism. Such influencers were emboldened after Donald Trump won the US presidential election in 202 to justify and amplify misogynistic derision and threats online.
“We men are part of the problem – the problem being violence against women and queer people,” said Christoph Gosteli, a 42-year-old social worker who co-organised the rally with a group called maenner.
“That is why it is important for us to take a stand and say, ‘We no longer want to be part of the problem; we want to be part of the solution.’”
An academic and advocacy group survey released in June by the University of Zurich and MenCare, an umbrella group of Swiss men’s and fathers’ organisations, found that half of male respondents aged 18 to 24 held a “restrictive and dominance-based view of masculinity”, expressing concerns that “real men are increasingly marginalised in society”.
The study called for “a systematic and society-wide debate about ideals of masculinity that promote violence”, beginning in schools.
Swiss Justice Minister Beat Jans attended a conference earlier this month on the dangers of violent online abuse of women.
In a speech on November 2, he said that men commit four-fifths of violent crimes and that in rape cases, the share is “as high as 99 percent”.
“It is not all men. But we must also admit: It is almost always men,” Jans said. “Violence by men does not begin with the first blow; it begins with a disparaging remark. We men all have a duty.”
