Hundreds of men marched in Bern to condemn misogyny and violence against women, calling for men to play a stronger role in challenging both.
The “Men Against Violence Against Women” rally was held outside Switzerland’s parliament on Saturday amid concerns about the spread of misogynistic views online among teenage boys and young men.
Organisers said men needed to help create a stronger counter-narrative to the right-wing “manosphere” – a loose network of online forums and influencers promoting male supremacy and hostility towards feminism.
Christoph Gosteli, a 42-year-old social worker who helped organise the demonstration with the group maenner, said men had to acknowledge their part in violence against women and queer people.
“We men are part of the problem – the problem being violence against women and queer people,” he said.
“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.’”
Concerns over restrictive views of masculinity
A study by the University of Zurich and MenCare, an umbrella organisation for Swiss men’s and fathers’ groups, found in June that half of male respondents aged between 18 and 24 held what it described as a restrictive, dominance-based view of masculinity.
The respondents expressed concern that “real men are increasingly marginalised in society”. The study called for a systematic debate across society about ideas 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 targeting women.
In a speech on November 2, Mr Jans said men committed four-fifths of violent crimes and accounted for as many as 99 per cent of perpetrators in rape cases.
“It is not all men. But we must also admit: It is almost always men,” he said. “Violence by men does not begin with the first blow; it begins with a disparaging remark. We men all have a duty.”
