Colombia-Target Machismo

 

Target: Machismo

COLOMBIA

Colombia’s capital, Bogota, has introduced a new hotline to help men struggling with issues around machismo while challenging long-held beliefs about masculinity, a move aimed at fighting domestic abuse and violence against women by putting men front and center, the New York Times reported.

Known as the Calm Line, the hotline has dozens of psychologists who respond to male callers about issues such as jealousy, control and fear – including instances when they hurt their partner. The line is open to all men, regardless of sexuality, relationship status or whether they are cisgender and transgender.

Introduced in September, the line is a project by Bogota’s liberal and openly gay mayor, Claudia López, who has made stopping violence against women a priority. She believes that the root causes such as machismo – the ingrained belief that men must be dominant – must be addressed to alleviate the problem.

Analysts said that the line is hoped to inspire significant cultural change in Colombia, where a woman is sexually assaulted every 34 minutes, according to government data.

Supporters of the line noted that punishing abusers through the criminal justice system does not always address the root cause of the problem the way prevention and education do.

To get the word out about the Calm Line, the government is using the media and social media but also a television miniseries about four male friends supporting each other as they struggle with anger and control issues.

The creation of the line comes as women in Latin America are increasingly demanding the dissolution of societal norms that have limited their personal and professional lives even as they make strides in higher education, business and politics, the newspaper wrote.