Rules of the Masculine Game

In the international project Caring Masculinities in Action (CarMiA) we developed an educational online game Rules of the Masculine Game that raises awareness and informs young people about masculinity and gender based violence through examples of their everyday experiences.

Based on focus groups with secondary school students, we identified six themes that address norms of masculinity in relation to violence. These themes are Body, Emotions, Sexuality, Exclusion of women*, Homophobia and Antifeminism. For each of the themes, we developed a concrete situation from young people’s everyday lives and challenged them – What would you do in this situation? Would you act violently or non-violently? Or would you retreat into neutrality?

Although the play is primarily aimed at secondary school students, it is also universal. Therefore we invite you to try the game and share it.

The CarMiA project developed and tested innovative approaches to gender-based violence prevention. Using a peer-to-peer change agent approach, we promoted critical (self)reflection on the privileges and costs of masculinity and gender based violence in secondary schools and youth clubs.