ManKind Program
25 Bellam Blvd.,
Suite 222
San Rafael, CA 94901
(415) 457-6760

The ManKind Program of Marin Abused Women's Services:
"An Innovative Approach to Stop Domestic Violence and Abuse"

In 1980, Marin Abused Women's Services (MAWS) developed one of the nation's first Batterer Re-education Programs to work with men who are violent to their female partners to stop their violence and abuse. The two goals of the MAWS ManKind Program are to help men end their immediate violence towards and abuse of their partners, and to engage men in community advocacy to change the attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors that support men's violence against women and girls.

The program includes several interlocking components and activities: reeducation classes for male batterers, a men's 24-Hour Hotline, and the active participation of those who complete the program in community change work.

Men's violence against women makes a devastating impact on their partners, families, and community, and it is a serious crime in our society. Each year 2 to 4 million women are beaten by their partners or ex-partner, and over 1,400 women are killed by a partner or former partner. Domestic violence is the second leading cause of injuries to women 15 to 44 years old.

The ManKind Program is based on three major principles:

1) Men's violence against women is learned behavior that can be unlearned. By doing so, men will be freed of destructive belief systems that have also harmed them.

2) Men must be accountable for their violence.

3) Community beliefs which support and encourage men's violent behavior must be changed to end abuse, and men have a key role to play in changing those beliefs.

Marin Abused Women's Services initiated the development of the curriculum used in the ManKind Program. The manalive curriculum was developed by Hamish Sinclair for MAWS, and after evaluation became the ManKind Program, which utilizes a peer education approach to teach men to stop their violence.

The ManKind Program classes, under the direction of a trained class facilitator, provide a supportive environment in which men explore how they have come to adopt a belief system (known as the Male-Role-Belief System) in which they expect to have authority over and services from their partners, and how this belief system has led them to violent behavior. The program teaches that men use physical, verbal, emotional, and sexual violence to enforce their superiority over their partners, i.e., get what they want when they want it. Men have the opportunity to learn how they have confused their sense of self-worth, character, and personality with the authoritative male stereotype. Participants are given the tools to replace the false and destructive Male-Role-Belief System with a belief in equality, which leads to intimacy with their partners and supports justice for women and children in the community.

The ManKind Program is comprised of 52 two-hour reeducation classes using the manalive curriculum. Men are taught: to recognize that the Male-Role-Belief System is the source of their violence; how to stop their physical, verbal, emotional; and sexual abuse; to replace their perception of superiority over women with a belief system of equality; and to achieve self-fulfillment without being controlling and violent.

After completing the program, class participants may be trained to participate as Community Advocates. Community outreach and education opportunities include: working on the 24-hour Men's Hotline, facilitating the reeducation classes, and joining a Community Action Team to educate and activate the community to make social and institutional changes that support safety and justice for women and girls as well as for men and boys.