Utah men's group holding event to speak out against intimate partner violence

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The Men's Anti-violence Network of Utah (MAN) — a coalition of men and women dedicated to ending domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse — is holding an event on Wednesday afternoon in Salt Lake City to speak out against intimate partner violence.

The event is to be held at 4 p.m. at the Salt Lake County North Office Building, Room N2800, 2001 South State Street.

Speakers include Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams, KTVX – Good4Utah evening anchor Kim Fischer, Marty Liccardo from the Utah Department of Health, Teresa Betzer, Intentional Injury Prevention Coordinator, VIPP, Utah Department of Health, and Steve Reiher, the co-founder of MAN.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and MAN believes all relationship violence is unjustified and must be stopped, according to a news release.

One in three U.S. women are directly affected by relationship violence in their lifetime and nearly every American is affected indirectly. MAN is focused on preventing future 'relationship violence' from happening by defining appropriate relationship behaviors for men and holding them accountable for their actions.

To help accomplish this goal, MAN has recently partnered with KTVX to produce the first of several "No More" public service announcements. These PSAs will feature well known Utahans challenging fellow citizens to live violence-free. This is the first time these PSAs have been created on a local level, the news release said.

MAN has also received a grant from the White House Office of Violence Against Women to conduct the first-ever "Utah Survey of Male Attitudes Regarding Violence Against Women." This survey will involve more than 2,000 Utahans and will include high school and college age students. The results of this survey will be made public in 2017.

MAN believes that domestic violence is a "man's issue" and more men need to become engaged and speak out against this violence.

"It is important that men actively participate in the efforts to challenge, intervene, and prevent interpersonal violence in our communities," said Liccardo, men's engagement specialist with Utah Department of Health and co-founder of MAN. "When men become educated, engaged, and proactive within their own communities and serve as role models and mentors of healthy, violence free masculinity, that's when it will become an everyday conversation."

Anyone interested in becoming a member of MAN can sign the MAN Pledge found on the organization's website. More information about the organization and upcoming events can also be found on MAN's Facebook page, or at http://www.manutah.com.

— The MAN Pledge: "I promise to never commit, condone or remain silent about domestic violence rape and sexual assault, child abuse or other forms of violence against women, men and children.

"I will encourage men and mentor boys to live violence free, and I will work together with other men and women to end all interpersonal violence."