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"The Bystander Moment is a powerful call to action for men and women to speak up against the everyday attitudes and behaviours which feed into sexual violence and relationship abuse. Jackson Katz, the world’s foremost educator and thought leader on men’s roles in ending violence against women, provides an eloquent, passionate, and accessible account of how to transform the culture that produces abusive behaviour. [The film] is an invaluable teaching tool for work to prevent violence and build gender equality, rich with contemporary examples, points for discussion, and evidence-based insight … grounded in the best scholarship and practice in the field."
— Michael Flood, Ph.D. | Author of Engaging Men and Boys in Violence Prevention
"I'm so thankful this movie exists. This film should be required viewing for all genders and all ages. Jackson Katz has been talking about the way we raise boys long before it became a trending conversation. His approach is the key to redefining masculinity. Katz delivers a convincing case for a small fix that could fundamentally change our society in more ways than we can imagine. This conversation about men is long overdue. The world is better with Jackson Katz in it."
— Liz Plank | Journalist & Executive Producer, Divided States of Women
"Once again, Jackson Katz is fully in step with the historical moment, illuminating the challenges and the hopeful possibilities created by decades of feminist activism and the recent #MeToo movement. The Bystander Moment is more than an analysis of the causes and consequences of sexual assault; it is a wise and passionate beacon for engaged activism in colleges, sports, the military and workplaces to end the longstanding partnership of gender inequality and gender-based violence."
— Michael A. Messner, Ph.D. | University of Southern California | Co-author, Some Men: Feminist Allies and the Movement to End Violence Against Women
"#MeToo has made it clear that no one – parents, teachers, co-workers, women or men, young or old – can stay silent about what we know about how ubiquitous sexual harassment and abuse are. The Bystander Moment tells us how to intervene. It’s not just speaking up once in the heat of the moment. It’s about speaking up all the time against a culture that perpetuates ideas of harmful masculinity. The Bystander Moment lays out what works, why it works and why we all need to be part of the solution. It should be mandatory viewing for teachers, coaches, parents, and in the workplace."
— Gary Barker, Ph.D. | President and CEO, Promundo-US
"The Bystander Moment is a terrific, timely, and necessary video. Longtime pro-feminist activist and cultural critic Jackson Katz powerfully demonstrates that silence is a form of complicity, and passionately and expertly illustrates how and why we must transform rape culture. This video needs to be screened in classrooms and communities far and wide."
— Jean Kilbourne, Ed.D., creator of the award-winning Killing Us Softly video series
"The Bystander Moment is a must-see documentary. Urgent and timely, Jackson Katz take a deep dive into what we must do in this moment to move towards gender equality. We owe a huge debt to Jackson for using his voice, intellectual firepower and cutting-edge cultural critique to offer us real tools to transform rape culture at its roots. I’ve screened it in my class at Harvard Law, and intend to show it every semester moving forward!"
— Diane L. Rosenfeld, JD, LLM | Lecturer on Law | Director, Gender Violence Program at Harvard Law School
"At a time when our nation and the world are witnessing unprecedented levels of courageous women willing to share their stories of victimization and increasingly expose the prevalance of gender violence in societies, The Bystander Moment: Transforming Rape Culture at its Roots, offers us hope and a path forward. Jackson Katz's challenge for all of us to operationalize our own leadership and influence within known peer groups to confront abusive situations before they occur is no simple or easy task. At times, leading to prevent can include falling short of our desired outcomes. Thankfully, the bystander approach makes us stronger in this moment together."
— Alan Heisterkamp, Ed.D. | Director, Center for Violence Prevention, University of Northern Iowa
"The Bystander Moment sets itself apart in its honest approach and its commitment to tackling the root causes of violence. It moves away from the ‘rape whistle’ style of prevention education, which only teaches skills to intervene right before an act of violence occurs, and seeks to stop violence at its core by addressing problematic cultural norms. The advocates and educators we work with will benefit immensely from this resource."
— Amanda Grady Sexton | Director of Public Affairs for the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence
"Rape culture isn’t going to disappear on its own. Resistance takes courage, thought, and practice. The Bystander Moment invites us to dig into the social roots of sexual and domestic violence and to consider what each of us can do to challenge the words and behaviors that normalize oppression. This film is an empowering contribution to the conversation about where #MeToo can take us."
— Kristin L. Anderson, Ph.D. | Professor of Sociology at Western Washington University
"The Bystander Moment is a great documentary film that builds on the momentum of the #MeToo movement and sheds light on what is needed to prevent gender-based violence. It unpacks how we are all bystanders, and often silent observers/contributors, to the pervasive culture of rape in our society. With examples of various sectors taking action, from sports to military, the film emphasizes that we all have a role to play in reshaping social norms in our communities."
— Alisha Somji, MPH | Associate Program Manager at the Prevention Institute
"True sexual violence prevention is not just one method, and this documentary gives a glimpse into why approaches should be layered. An amazing video!"
— Krystal George, MPA, CHES | Interim Director of the Women's Center at Duke University
"The Bystander Moment is a great tool for all of us working with men and boys to overcome a culture of violence and misogyny that translates into violence against women and girls. I will use it in our training as we implement our new Sexual Harassment Policy."
— Oswaldo Montoya | MenEngage Alliance
"The real benefit of the The Bystander Moment is how effectively it reinforces the message that we all, at every moment, have the opportunity – and responsibility – to help dismantle the rape culture we live in. The work of preventing men's violence against women and girls needs to happen every day, in all of our social environments and interactions, not just during the “moment" of an assault... and we need more male-identified folks to take up this work urgently in ways that are accountable to women and girls."
— Brian P. Heilman | Senior Research Officer at Promundo
"What we are witnessing when young men stand by silent as their friends and teammates sexually harass, degrade or otherwise objectify young women are not bad young men who hold sexist views. Rather, as Jackson Katz tells us [in The Bystander Moment], this is a dynamic fueled by masculine fears. By encouraging young men to think critically about the messages they have been sent about what it means to be a man, Katz suggests that young men can change their own behavior and encourage their friends to do the same. Like the #MeToo movement, The Bystander Moment is a movement whose time has come."
— C.J. Pascoe, Ph.D. | Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Oregon
"In this most recent powerful piece, Jackson Katz pushes audiences to grapple with the pervasiveness of gender based violence on our campuses and in our lives. Katz encourages us to rethink and reframe how we understand bystander intervention in a way that advocates not merely for intervening when situations occur, but rather, pushing us to shift the culture because it is the foundations of abuse that are getting neglected. He offers us a solution that is focused on encouraging a shift in both the focus and power of peer culture that does not rely solely on potential abusers. Katz is using this current social moment amidst high profile cases of gender based violence and advocacy to encourage us all to redefine how we see strength, masculinity, and the nature of our social interactions. He is challenging us to do better and to make visible the silence that surrounds these environments of complicity. Like his previous work, The Bystander Moment sheds light on how we have come to this place and provides tangible solutions as to how to move forward. It is really excellent."
— Sarah Prior, Ph.D. | Assistant Professor of Sociology at Michigan State University
"In The Bystander Moment, Jackston Katz skillfully synthesizes the variety of approaches to working with bystanders, some of which are more effective than others. Acknowledging that there is no 'one size fits all' solution, Katz demonstrates that those which are most effective emphasize intervention not at the point of attack but rather address the underlying attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors that serve as the foundation of gendered violence. In doing so, this film arms us all with the understanding, background, and knowledge needed to break our complicit silence."
— Amy Blackstone, Ph.D. | Professor of Sociology & Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center at the University of Maine
"Feminists have long asked men not only to listen to women, but also to not be afraid to challenge other men’s sexism. The Bystander Moment: Transforming Rape Culture at its Roots is a great example of how we can do just that. As many men look for guidance to transcend patriarchy, Jackson Katz helps us understand how the "good men"—men who don’t harass or rape women—have a crucial role to play in holding other men accountable for abuse. Katz’s analysis embraces the best of contemporary critique of power and violence, and his suggestions for how men can rise to the challenges in this #MeToo moment can be put into action immediately. Hats off, once again, to the Media Education Foundation for making another film that speaks to our struggle to create a safer and saner world."
— Robert Jensen, Ph.D. | Emeritus Professor of Journalism, University of Texas at Austin | Author of The End of Patriarchy: Radical Feminism for Men
"The Bystander Moment is a tremendous addition to our current dialogue on gender equality and gender-based violence. The film clearly, accurately, and powerfully explains why it is imperative that we address peer-group and cultural norms if we want to prevent sexual harassment and sexual assault. Hopefully this will quickly become a go-to resource for higher education, sports, and military audiences."
— Kevin Swartout | Associate Professor of Psychology and Public Health, Georgia State University
"The Bystander Moment demonstrates how the bystander approach averts and thwarts sexual violence and re-embodies masculinity by upending forms of masculinity that underpin sexual violence—bystander intervention peacefully constructs masculinity in a new and affirmative way. The film is perfect for classroom use as it provides an example of practicing dissident politics within a particular personalized and positive masculine practice. Another superb achievement by Jackson Katz!"
— James W. Messerschmidt | Distinguished University Professor of Sociology, University of Southern Maine | Author of Hegemonic Masculinity: Formulation, Reformulation, and Amplification
"How did we get to #MeToo? What were the steps we followed as a society to nurture and feed a culture of violence and sexism? The Bystander Moment provides a critical insights into these questions. The spotlight is placed where it must be: men. We are encouraged to look beyond the individual actions and the reactive work of each of us should do, especially men. It creates an opportunity to reflect critically on the systems, the cultural norms and the role they play into justifying, minimizing and celebrating the use of male violence against women, other men and gender and sexual minorities. This is a moment that should become a movement. Jackson Katz brings a sense of urgency and action that is needed, timely and founded on decades of experience challenging men’s violence against women."
— Sebastián Molano | Founder of Defying Gender Roles
"This video offers critical insights into the bystander phenomenon relative to rape and sexual assault. In the typical style and quality that we have come to expect from Jackson Katz, it is extensively documented with events and images from past decades (1970s and 1980s) to the present. Most men (and boys) do not rape but many “good men” do little to stop other men from doing so. Katz addresses the reasons behind this failure pointing out that fear of “social disapproval” from one’s peers is a powerful deterrent. The video also addresses the many different ways that women are harmed by the failure on the part of good men to call out and challenge the few men who do engage in assaultive behavior. In Katz’s view, being willing to step up and stop an instance of sexual misconduct, while important, is not going to solve the problem. Rather, societal norms must be changed. For real change to occur, the sexist attitudes and beliefs that people have about men, women, and sexual encounters must be exposed and challenged. If active bystanders challenge those basic attitudes and beliefs, improve behavior will follow suit."
— Patricia Yancey Martin | Daisy Parker Flory Emerita Professor of Sociology at Florida State University
"Katz challenges us to focus on the foundation of rape culture, which is the attitudes and behaviors that we encounter on a daily basis. He pushes us to be bystanders everyday, and warns us about the danger of ignoring the role masculinity plays in rape culture. Through this film, Katz is calling on everyone to infuse concepts related to masculinity norms in sexual assault and bystander prevention work. I plan to use this film in my campus sexual assault course in order to energize students and help them recognize the immense power they have in their day-to-day lives to shift rape culture. A broad range of audiences will benefit from this film, as the use of real-life examples are relatable and inclusive of issues relating to race/ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. Katz reminds us that not only is it possible to change social norms, but that norms have continuously shifted over time in this country. None of this is set in stone. Katz leaves us feeling inspired for social change, and helps us to see that the change we long for starts within ourselves."
— Victoria Burns, Ph.D. | Lecturer in Women's and Gender Studies at Florida International University | Chair of the Committee on Violence Against Women for the American Psychological Association
"The Bystander Moment is timely, powerful, and accessible, while rooted in both research and practice. Jackson Katz insists that men have to be leaders in the movement to challenge and resist the norms surrounding both rape culture and toxic conceptions of masculinity. This is the only way real change will occur. This is a message that we do not hear often enough, especially from men. Everyone should see this important film."
— Amy Leisenring, Ph.D. | Sociologists for Women in Society
