Starting the Conversation

We spoke to over 50 young men in Auckland about sexism, gender roles, and sending nudes. Some of them suggested these aren’t conversations guys would usually have, but they are important. So how do we start?

“We don’t usually speak about that sort of thing, no. We don’t.” – Name, 16, Maori/Pakeha

“I think there isn’t any encouragement from society to talk about these things and make them clear as it is a, you know, a bad topic to talk about. Like it’s a taboo topic.” – Name, 16, Pakeha

“These conversations made me think a lot about what I say uh online offline wherever, yeah” – Name, 16, Maori/Pakeha

“You’re not gonna solve anything if- if you keep it taboo. You need to actually I guess you make it- make it open, make it an open topic that anyone can talk about.” – Name, 16, NZ Chinese

“You already know that a teacher’s gonna tell you not to do that… hearing it from someone your own age is a lot different because you actually like think that, okay, well, he- he’s my age, he knows what I’m like. … So, I think that definitely makes a difference.” – Unknown source

“It’s finding that- that where you can like talk them out of it but not like tell them not to do it. Like make them see why they shouldn’t do it.” – Name, 16, Pakeha

“If you get in like small groups it’s like more effective than like one person just, yelling in front of the whole assembly, no one would like listen” – Name, 15, NZ Indian/Niuean/Fijian

“You’re more likely to listen from your friends rather than someone you’ve never met before.” – Name, 17, Pakeha