Sandra Bloom

“Bearing witness is a concept that is of vital importance particularly, right now, for men. The violence in our culture is perpetrated largely by men on women, children, the environment, and other men. Man still dominate in every culture. Men still run the world. Males in our culture are systematically conditioned for war, whether that war is to be on the battlefield, in the boardroom, or in the bedroom. This is carefully done by an insistence on emotional inhibition and encouragement of the brutalization of self and others that begins in early childhood. My male violence is supported, condoned, admired, and encouraged…. This is a male problem that only men can fix. Just as women assumed responsibility for their own consciousness raising in the 1970s, so man must take responsibility for their unique problems and work to alter the behavior of and social norms for boys. As long as we continue to Focus exclusively on the victims of violence while ignoring the pervasive male perpetration that creates those victims, there will be an on ending stream of victims, as the testimony of the century bears out. from -Creating Sanctuary”
― Sandra Bloom