[143] MTSU spotlights men in Domestic Violence Awareness Month event Oct. 21

MURFREESBORO — MTSU will observe Domestic Violence Awareness Month with a special emphasis on the role men can play in stemming the problem.

Tony Porter, co-founder and co-director of “A Call to Men: The Next Generation of Manhood,” will deliver an address on the subject at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 21, in the Tennessee Room of the James Union Building on campus.

This event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the MTSU Distinguished Lecture Fund and the June Anderson Center for Women and Nontraditional Students.

A parking map is available at http://tinyurl.com/MTSUParkingMap14-15. A small reception will precede the presentation at 5:30 p.m. A second presentation for fraternities and sororities only is slated for 8 p.m.

“A Call to Men” is a “national violence prevention organization” with the goal of shifting “social norms that negatively impact our culture and promote a more healthy and respectful definition of manhood,” according to www.acalltomen.org.

For the past 10 years, Porter has been a life skills trainer and consultant for the National Football League. The professional sports organization has been beset with a spate of domestic violence scandals involving its players this year, bringing both its corporate culture and its punishment procedures into question.

In addition to the NFL, Porter has worked with the U.S. Military Academy, the U.S. Naval Academy and the National Basketball Association. He also has been a guest presenter to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.

“For years, we have heard the victim’s voice when it comes to violence and, to be honest, if women could have ended violence against women, we would have done just that years ago,” said Barbara Scales, director of the June Anderson Center.

Porter is the author of “Well Meaning Men … Breaking Out of the Man Box, Ending Violence Against Women.”

Scales said while both men and women are welcome, the center is making a special effort to encourage men to attend.

“The fact is with men being the number one perpetrator of violence against women, we need men to join us in ending violence against women,” said Scales. “Tony Porter’s presentation will provide so much needed insight. Both men and women are welcome.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 1.3 million women are physically assaulted by an intimate partner each year. The U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics states that women between the ages of 20 and 24 are at the greatest risk for nonfatal intimate partner violence.

The event is part of MTSU’s ongoing efforts to raise awareness about domestic and sexual violence and create a safer environment for all members of the campus and surrounding communities.

For more information, contact the June Anderson Center at 615-898-5812 or jacwns@mtsu.edu.