The third pillar
Teach.
Change doesn't happen in a moment — it happens in every conversation, every classroom, every locker room. The minds and hearts of men must change. Never stop learning and sharing.
Why teaching is the multiplier.
Believing and Acting are personal commitments. Teaching is how those commitments scale. When you share what you know — with your son, your friend, your colleague, your team — you multiply your impact beyond what any one person can do alone.
Most men who cause harm were never taught differently. They absorbed what culture gave them — jokes that demean, silence that normalizes, systems that protect perpetrators. The antidote to that education is a better one. And men are uniquely positioned to deliver it to other men.
Teaching doesn't require a podium or a curriculum. It requires honesty, consistency, and the willingness to have uncomfortable conversations in the spaces where you already have influence.
Who you can reach.
Your sons
The most powerful classroom is your home. Boys who grow up watching men treat women with dignity, who hear their fathers name and challenge harmful behavior, who are taught to listen and believe — those boys become different men.
- Talk about consent early and often — not as a legal concept, but as basic respect.
- Model how to handle rejection with grace. Show them what it looks like to hear "no" and move on.
- When they repeat something harmful they heard at school, address it directly rather than letting it pass.
Your friends
Male friendships are where norms are reinforced or challenged. The locker room, the group chat, the bar — these are the spaces where culture is made. You have more influence over your friends than any campaign or policy ever will.
- Don't let harmful comments slide in private that you'd challenge in public.
- Share what you're learning — an article, a conversation, a book. Normalize men talking about this.
- When a friend is struggling with a relationship, be honest with him — not just supportive of whatever he wants to hear.
Your workplace
Workplaces are where harassment is most commonly reported — and most commonly ignored. Men in professional settings have the ability to reshape what is tolerated, what is rewarded, and what is named as unacceptable.
- Advocate for clear, enforced policies on harassment and reporting.
- Mentor junior colleagues — especially women — and use your position to open doors.
- When you're in a hiring or promotion conversation, name bias when you see it.
Your community
Coaches, faith leaders, coaches, teachers, coaches — men in community roles shape the values of the next generation. If you have a platform, use it. If you have a role, let it stand for something.
- Bring this conversation into spaces where it hasn't been before.
- Partner with organizations doing this work and amplify their message.
- Be willing to be the first man in the room to say something — others will follow.
The long game
Teaching requires being a student first.
You cannot teach what you haven't learned. The most effective men in this movement are the ones who approach it with humility — who read, listen, ask questions, and stay open to being wrong. This is not a one-time education. Culture shifts, language evolves, and the women in your life will teach you things no book can. Stay curious. Stay uncomfortable. Keep going.
84%
of men say they would intervene if they witnessed harassment — but only 16% actually do. The gap is education, practice, and community.
Source: Promundo
How to start teaching today.
Have one conversation this week.
Pick one person in your life — a son, a friend, a colleague — and bring up one thing you've learned. You don't need a plan. You just need to start.
Share this movement.
Send someone the BAT 4 Women pledge. Post it. Talk about it. Every person you bring into this conversation is a multiplier.
Read and listen.
There is no shortage of books, podcasts, and research on gender-based violence, allyship, and culture change. Commit to ongoing learning — not a one-time crash course.
Normalize the conversation among men.
The more men talk about this openly — without shame, without defensiveness — the more it becomes part of what men do. You are not the exception. You are the standard.
Hold yourself accountable.
Teaching others means being willing to be taught. When you get it wrong — and you will — own it, correct it, and keep going. Accountability is not weakness. It is the whole point.