Sexual assault, abuse and gender equality were among the topics during a panel discussion on violence against women Thursday night hosted by the NT chapter of Men Against Violence.

The panel discussion marked the end of a week-long series of events called the White Ribbon Campaign, an effort by the organization to heighten the awareness of certain men's mistreatment of women.

"We as men need to step up and hold men accountable," said Mark Young, education coordinator for Denton County Friends of the Family.

"When men see women as people, things will change."

Young said that the first step to achieving gender equality is for men to be able to openly admit their mistreatment of women over the years.

"Men need to stand up and say 'Throughout history, we've treated women like crap.'"

Mark Sandel of the social work faculty blamed the traditional view of men as the more superior sex for acts of violence against women.

"The system of patriarchy is a cause of violence ... when women are subordinate to men," Sandel said.

"Therein lies the root of domestic violence."

Change can happen, but men first need to be more involved in ending patriarchy, Sandel said.

Sandel proposed changing the conventional views of masculinity in order to achieve change from the patriarchal perspective of sexes.

Society needs to move away from what it has meant traditionally to be a man, and move more towards humanity, Sandel said.

"What it means to be more human is to treat all people with respect," Sandel said.

Desoto senior Jaron Benjamin, vice president of Men Against Violence and sexual assault survivor, said male privilege is another major contributor to sexual violence.

Male privilege is when men feel they are entitled to a certain level of power and control, Benjamin said.

Benjamin discussed when men feel they are not in control or they are not being masculine, they can often resort to violence.

"Violence is a result of inequality," Benjamin said.

Some participants in the discussion spoke about women's portrayal in secular literature and how it is interpreted through religions.

"The subordination of women is scriptural," said Gretchen Dyer, women's studies professor. "It's in the Bible, the Quran and other religious texts."

Sandel responded saying that some men's subordinate view of women is what created the portrayal of women in the texts.

"The religion didn't create patriarchy, the patriarchy created the religion," Sandel said.

Some ways female students said they are confronting violence is by talking about it openly with their friends.

One student, Natalie [not her actual name] was physically assaulted by her boyfriend. She never reported the assault or spoke to anyone about it for fear of being criticized.

Only after the relationship ended did she discover that one of her friends who also dated the same boyfriend had been abused, as well.

"It's helpful to know you're not the only person this has happened to," Natalie said.

"Until you start talking about it, you don't know what to do."

news@ntdaily.com

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