As mass shootings, domestic violence and sexual abuse scandals continue to dominate headlines, feminist advocates and pro-feminist men argue that confronting misogyny demands dismantling the culture of male silence, protection and complicity that allows violence to persist.
This is a call to action for men. How can so many of us stay silent in the face of an ongoing crisis of men’s sexual and domestic assaults against women—including rape? Enough is enough. We have to do better.
In just the past month, the U.S. has seen a relentless drumbeat of male-perpetrated violence: mass shootings at social gatherings, a string of urban gun deaths, and one of the deadliest incidents in years: A Louisiana man killed eight children—including seven of his own—and wounded their mothers in a domestic violence massacre.
Then there’s the multi-year investigation into sexual assault allegations involving United Farm Workers cofounder César Chávez, along with the political fallout surrounding former U.S. Reps. Tony Gonzales and Eric Swalwell.
The list is long—and shows no sign of abating: Over the past two decades at least 53 allegations of workplace sexual harassment have been made against more than 30 members of Congress.
Consider a small sampling of perpetrators from the early years of the #MeToo movement: Roger Ailes, Mario Batali, Louis C.K., Andrew Cuomo, Matt Gaetz, Matt Lauer, Conor McGregor, Bill O’Reilly, Charlie Rose, Russell Simmons, Kevin Spacey, Mike Tyson and Harvey Weinstein.
Here’s a sampling from the Epstein files: Former Prince Andrew, Jean-Luc Brunel, Deepak Chopra, Alan Dershowitz, Glenn Dubin, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Marvin Minsky and Les Wexner. The files reveal not simply individual depravity, but vast networks of male power, access and protection.
And these are the incidents that make headlines.
Nearly a decade after #MeToo emerged, reports of abuse by powerful men continue to surface at alarming rates. Today, such cases are more likely to be documented and sometimes prosecuted. Yet a deeper truth persists: The behavior has not fundamentally changed, only its visibility.
For decades, feminist thinkers have named exactly what we are witnessing. bell hooks described patriarchy as a system that trains men into dominance. Gloria Steinem linked personal violation to political power. Robin Morgan, Gail Dines, Jennifer Pozner, Liz Plank and V (Eve Ensler) have each exposed how misogyny is normalized through culture and institutions.
These aren’t isolated incidents. They are manifestations of a system.
One way to understand—and change—that system is to look at the often-overlooked work of feminist men. For more than half a century, in the United States, Canada and beyond, these men have challenged sexism and male violence, working to transform masculinity from dominance toward accountability and care.
Emerging after women’s consciousness-raising movements of the 1970s, this work continues today through organizations such as MenEngage Alliance, Equimundo, MVP Strategies, Next Gen Men and A Call to Men, among many others. Yet their efforts remain largely invisible in mainstream media, which prefers the spectacle of abuse over the substance of change.
There’s something deeply wrong with a media ecosystem that amplifies the “manosphere” while ignoring decades of profeminist, antisexist men’s work. Why haven’t any MS NOW’s hosts—many of whom recently began regularly invoking the “manosphere”—ever meaningfully covered men working for gender justice?
Since 2020, reports of sexual misconduct have surged. Donald Trump has been found liable for sexual abuse. Sean “Diddy” Combs was also convicted and faces multiple lawsuits. NFL quarterback Deshaun Watson has been accused by more than 20 women. Actor Danny Masterson has been convicted of rape.
And still, too many men remain silent.
This is where educator-author Jackson Katz offers indispensable insight. In his Substack, In the Arena, reflecting on Swalwell, Katz argues that the issue is not only individual perpetrators, but the systems and peer cultures that enable them. The “bystander approach,” he writes, is not about isolated acts of courage—it is about transforming the norms of entire communities.
Men often know, or suspect. Or, they hear rumors, but they don’t act.
Katz, author of Every Man: Why Violence Against Women Is a Men’s Issue, has long argued that true leadership requires men to challenge other men. Silence equals complicity. Bystander intervention means interrupting harmful behavior early, questioning abusive dynamics, and refusing to normalize misogyny.
Which brings us to the unwritten rules of male culture: loyalty, silence and protecting status. Speaking out risks exclusion, backlash, even professional consequences. So men stay quiet.
Silence is also not passive; it’s enforced.
Breaking that code is essential. It means men calling each other out in locker rooms, workplaces, offices and private conversations. It means redefining loyalty not as protecting other men, but as protecting those harmed.
The DOJ is refusing to release two-and-a-half million Epstein files. Donald Trump’s name appears more than anyone. What are they hiding? Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie cannot carry this burden alone.
Is it a pandemic without a vaccine? Katz says no. There is a vaccine: cultural transformation rooted in accountability. A long-term strategy involving education, peer leadership, institutional reform and men willing to break ranks.
For years, pro-feminist men—myself included—have spoken of “redefining” masculinity. But this moment makes clear: Masculinity, as currently constructed, is a system—of power, reinforcement, and silence.
It cannot simply be rebranded. It must be overhauled.
And that overhaul begins with men—speaking up, intervening, refusing complicity, and standing with the women who have been naming this reality all along.
The question is no longer whether we understand the problem. The question is whether we men are finally willing to confront it in ourselves.
