On a Saturday in Bern, hundreds of men stood outside the Swiss parliament and said, in effect, that silence and passivity are themselves part of the problem. Their rally, led by men and aimed at other men, arrived as a society-wide anxiety about young males drifting into online currents of misogyny took clearer shape. Behind it lies a sober survey finding that half of young Swiss men hold a dominance-based picture of masculinity, and a government minister now speaks in the same register. The question the moment leaves open is whether this public reckoning with what it means to be a man will mo
Hundreds of Men March in Bern Against Violence Against Women, Calling for Active Role
"It is not all men. But it is almost always men."
Mark
Why does it matter that the men organised this themselves?
Mimi
Because the message is directed at other men. Christoph Gosteli said men are part of the problem and want to be part of the solution. That's different from men showing up to support a women's march.
Luke
Worth noting the report gives us one rally, described only as hundreds of men. No firm headcount.
Mark
What's driving the concern about young men?
Mimi
The manosphere, a network of online forums and influencers promoting male supremacy and hostility to feminism. The report says they were emboldened after Trump's election win.
Luke
That link is the report's framing. It doesn't show how those influencers reached Swiss young men specifically.
Mark
And the survey?
Mimi
Zurich University and MenCare found half of men aged 18 to 24 held a restrictive, dominance-based view of masculinity, and worried real men are being marginalised.
Luke
That's one survey, released in June. We aren't told the sample size or how the questions were put, so I'd hold the half figure loosely.
Mark
What did Justice Minister Beat Jans add?
Mimi
He said men commit four-fifths of violent crimes and up to 99 percent of rapes, but stressed it isn't all men. He said violence starts with a disparaging remark.
Luke
Those are his figures from a speech. The report doesn't say what data they rest on.
The Pulse
- Hundreds of men marched outside Swiss parliament, turning the spotlight on their own role in violence against women.
- A June survey found half of Swiss men aged 18 to 24 hold a restrictive, dominance-based view of masculinity, a figure that alarmed organisers and officials alike.
- Online 'manosphere' influencers, emboldened by Donald Trump's US election win, are seen as pushing young men toward misogynistic derision and threats.
- Organisers say men must stop being part of the problem, while Justice Minister Beat Jans warns that violence begins with a disparaging remark, not a blow.
- The next move is a national debate on masculinity, and the rally's organisers and the minister both want it to start in schools.
On a Saturday in Bern, hundreds of men stood outside the Swiss parliament and said, in effect, that silence and passivity are themselves part of the problem. Their rally, led by men and aimed at other men, arrived as a society-wide anxiety about young males drifting into online currents of misogyny took clearer shape. Behind it lies a sober survey finding that half of young Swiss men hold a dominance-based picture of masculinity, and a government minister now speaks in the same register. The question the moment leaves open is whether this public reckoning with what it means to be a man will move from the street and the statistics into classrooms.
On Saturday, hundreds of men gathered outside the Swiss parliament in Bern under a plain banner: Men Against Violence Against Women. They led the demonstration themselves, and their words were meant for other men. They argued that men must confront misogyny and the violence it feeds more actively than they have.
The worry behind the rally is that misogyny spreads freely online among teenage boys and young men, and that too few men are offering a counter-story. Much of that content traces to the so-called manosphere, a loose web of forums and influencers promoting male supremacy and hostility to feminism. Reporting suggests these voices grew bolder after Donald Trump's US presidential victory.
Christoph Gosteli, a 42-year-old social worker, co-organised the event with a group called maenner. He spoke bluntly: "We men are part of the problem," he said, naming violence against women and queer people as the harm. For him, standing up publicly is a way of saying men no longer want to be part of the problem.
A June survey by the University of Zurich and MenCare, an umbrella of Swiss men's and fathers' groups, gave the concern its numbers. Half of male respondents aged 18 to 24 held a restrictive, dominance-based view of masculinity, and many worried that real men were being pushed to the margins. The researchers called for a systematic debate on masculinity that promotes violence, beginning in schools.
Justice Minister Beat Jans echoed this at a conference earlier this month and in a November 2 speech. Men, he said, commit four-fifths of violent crimes, and up to 99 percent of rapes. He was careful: "It is not all men," but it is almost always men. He placed the origin of violence early, in a disparaging remark rather than the first blow. "We men all have a duty."
The rally and the minister's words point to the same next step the study proposed: a broad public conversation about masculinity, starting in classrooms. Whether that conversation truly takes root is what will matter next.
On Saturday, hundreds of men gathered outside the Swiss parliament in Bern for a rally with a blunt name: Men Against Violence Against Women. The men led the demonstration themselves, and their message was aimed at other men. They argued that men need to take a more effective role in confronting misogyny and the violence that follows from it.
The rally comes amid ongoing worry that misogyny circulates too freely online among teenage boys and young men, and that too few men are building a stronger counter-narrative. Much of that content comes from the so-called manosphere, a loose network of online forums and influencers that promote male supremacy and hostility to feminism. According to the reporting, these influencers were emboldened after Donald Trump won the US presidential election, and used the moment to justify and amplify misogynistic derision and threats online.
Christoph Gosteli, a 42-year-old social worker, co-organised the rally with a group called maenner. He did not soften his framing. "We men are part of the problem," he said, describing the problem as violence against women and queer people. Taking a public stand, he said, is a way of saying that men no longer want to be part of the problem and want to be part of the solution.
The numbers behind that concern came from a survey released in June by the University of Zurich and MenCare, an umbrella group of Swiss men's and fathers' organisations. It found that half of male respondents aged 18 to 24 held what the researchers called a restrictive and dominance-based view of masculinity. Those respondents also expressed concern that real men are increasingly marginalised in society. The study called for a systematic, society-wide debate about ideals of masculinity that promote violence, and said it should begin in schools.
The government has been speaking in similar terms. Swiss Justice Minister Beat Jans attended a conference earlier this month on the dangers of violent online abuse of women. In a speech on November 2, he said men commit four-fifths of violent crimes, and that in rape cases the share is as high as 99 percent.
Jans was careful about what he was and was not claiming. "It is not all men," he said, but he added that it is almost always men. He also located the start of violence well before physical harm: it begins, he said, with a disparaging remark, not with the first blow. "We men all have a duty," he said.
The rally and the minister's speech point toward the same next step the Zurich study set out: a broad public conversation about masculinity, starting in schools. Whether that debate takes shape is the thing to watch.
Notable Quotes
We men are part of the problem – the problem being violence against women and queer people.— Christoph Gosteli, social worker and rally co-organiser
Violence by men does not begin with the first blow; it begins with a disparaging remark.— Beat Jans, Swiss Justice Minister
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