Peer and gender violence in educational spaces is a worrying reality (1). Specifically, high schools are unsafe spaces for many students and members of the community, especially for vulnerable people, such as women or LGBTI+ youth, who suffer violence in very different forms. For instance, 25% of young women experienced digital violence in the past five years (2); and most LGBT cannot express themselves freely because they suffer more harassment (3). Ending this violence is a European and international priority, as the Fundamental Rights Agency and the Sustainable Development Goals 5 and 4 state.

For decades, a line of research on the eradication of gender-based violence has analysed three ideal models of masculinity. The first two belong to a traditional model: first, there are boys and men of Traditional Dominant Masculinities (DTM) attitudes and behaviours of disdain, taunt, dominance, superiority; among these DTM there are all those who perpetrate violence; second, and in a complementary way, there are those non-violent boys who nonetheless lack self-confidence and strength to step up to violence, following a model of Oppressed Traditional Masculinity (OTM). Research has found that there is a social dominant coercive discourse (4) that passes on the idea that dominant boys and men who follow a DTM model are exciting and fun, while, in parallel, pressures people so that egalitarian men are seen as boring. However, research also recognises the existence of a third model, New Alternative Masculinities (NAM): these are egalitarian, courageous, strong, confident and attractive boys and men, who have a transformative role in the prevention and eradication of gender-based violence because they are brave to stand up against injustice and besides desire and therefore create free, safe, and exciting relationships wherever they go (5). 

These NAM boys and egalitarian boys and people in general are promoted in dialogic educational spaces (6), where the type of person who is valued are those who help others and show solidarity. Dialogic gatherings is a Successful Educational Action identified by the INCLUD-ED project of the 6th European Framework program which consists in the previous reading of a text by each participant with the aim of sharing at least one paragraph with the group explaining why they have chosen it, after which an open dialogue is collectively created. Some impacts of dialogic gatherings include improvement in relationships or in academic results (7, 8). Among the different types of dialogic gatherings, the feminist or scientific dialogic gatherings differ in that the text provided needs to show scientific rigour (9, 10). 

Within this framework, the present research arose from the question: what impact can dialogic gatherings on New Alternative Masculinities and overcoming violence have on a group of boys and their environment? We found a gap in the literature about this educational action, which has never been investigated worldwide.

To this end, a high school teacher, along with a researcher, decided to start a voluntary dialogic gathering in a high school of Valencia, Spain, in which boys from Secondary Education (from 12 to 17 years old) participate. The moderator of the discussion group is this teacher, who is close to them and with scientific knowledge about dialogic gatherings, NAM, and preventive socialisation of gender violence. This group has met over two periods for the last year every 2-3 weeks to debate different texts related to NAM and the prevention of gender-based violence extracted from The Feminist Diary (El Diario Feminista) (11), whose articles always have a rigorous and scientific evaluation.

To research the impact of the intervention, the Communicative Methodology was followed (12), a research approach prioritised by the European Commission for its efficacy in social sciences research aimed at finding solutions to inequalities and injustice, such as gender-based violence (13). A communicative focus group was designed (14) as part of a larger study. This technique consists of a natural group of people who engage in dialogue around topics brought up by the researcher. A key element of this methodological approach is that the researcher also shares, within the conversation, the scientific evidence available regarding those topics, so that the participants can confront it with their personal experience. The objectives were: 1. To gather data on the impact that participation in the non-mixed NAM discussion group is having on themselves and their environment, and they think it may have in the future. 1.1. To identify which elements of the intervention are key to these impacts. 1.2. To know if there are impacts on NAM attitudes and positions. Some of the questions were the following: Do you remember any intervention by a peer of this group that you liked for its courageous, confident, attractive, egalitarian stance? In what way is being a boys-only space helping you? Have you had NAM behaviours that you think are motivated by this space? The group lasted 1:45h and 10 boys of ages 12 to 17 participated, as well as the moderator. Ethical aspects were taken into consideration. First of all, an Advisory council for the largest study validated the sense and approach of the investigation, the most relevant topics for reading and dialogue in the gatherings, and the questions for the communicative focus group. The analysis of the data showed several inspiring results. The boys highlighted that: the text provided and read before helped them direct the interactions to a common and more productive conversation. They state that the group is a safe space to share violent situations suffered or witnessed, and also to challenge one another to become upstanders in face of conflicts or violence. Participants also shared having signs and behaviours connected to NAM thanks to this space, such as being more self-confident, more egalitarian, and solving conflicts better. The boys express that other participants show New Alternative Masculinities’ (NAM) attitudes (5): they share this with the group and therefore contribute to increasing their social value.

The impacts of this intervention go beyond its participants. The boys expressed having shared the texts or conversations around the group with family and friends. Linked to that, participants who are friends outside of the gathering shared having continued the dialogues around the topics discussed. Dialogic gatherings of boys-only, around NAM, can be an alternative for boys’ and men’s socialisation that they enjoy, where values and goodness are combined with fun, freedom, and spontaneity. It can become a space where they can have these confident attitudes so that they will later come out more easily in difficult everyday situations. It also shows to be a space for learning about scientific evidence on the prevention of gender-based violence and on the actions that work to stop and prevent it. When this dialogic gathering is combined with more dialogic spaces, such as other dialogic literary gatherings, the impact on them is increased. These dialogic gatherings can be fostered in formal and non formal educational contexts, from schools to leisure time groups or youth organisations, and in all cultures and countries. The results presented will be deepened thanks to the individual interviews with boys who voluntarily ask for it, as well as with the insights from the moderator, to whom an interview is also scheduled. Furthermore, this research is not considered finished. More dialogic gatherings will take place during the next months and another focus group and interviews will be carried out four months from these ones, to better assess the longer-term impacts of the group. Some insights will be shared in that regard at the presentation of this paper in Glasgow.

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