Thursday, March 3, is the 9th annual statewide Massachusetts White Ribbon Day which calls upon men of good heart to stand up and be counted as allies against male violence toward women. At 1pm that day, men and boys will gather with girls and women at the Gardner Auditorium in the State House to make the following pledge: “From this day forward, I promise to be part of the solution in ending violence against women and all gender based violence.”
White Ribbon Day in Massachusetts is related to an international effort in over 60 countries to engage more men and boys to help end violence against women, from sexual assault and domestic violence to sex trafficking and sexual harassment. The movement was launched by mean in Canada after the murder of a number of women at a college there by a man in 1989.
The Sudbury-Wayland-Lincoln Domestic Violence Roundtable especially invites the Town Crier’s male readers to attend this gathering as witnesses in support of finding answers for the all too prevalent use of abusive behaviors to control a spouse or a partner in a committed relationship. For advance registration and information about speakers for the March 3rd event at the State House, visit https://whiteribbonday.splashthat.com/.
Too often, those of us residing in suburban towns assume that domestic violence is an issue primarily in metropolitan areas. In Wayland, for example, we rarely hear about a battering or about gun violence against a local woman. Nevertheless, at any given time, Wayland has 20 to 40 restraining orders in effect. Sudbury’s numbers are similar. In suburbia, where men typically have above average levels of educational attainment and carefully guarded social status, a man determined to exercise unreasonable control over a spouse or partner is more likely to employ psychological or financial tactics rather than brute physical violence.
For more information about domestic violence, please visit the Sudbury-Wayland-Lincoln Domestic Violence Roundtable’s website: www.domesticviolenceroundtable.org. Last year, our website had 183,349 individual visitors!
For the Domestic Violence Roundtable,
Malcolm Astley and Robert Mainer
