TED: Tony Porter 'A Call to Men'

In this short video via TED, community activist Tony Porter makes a call to men everywhere: Don't "act like a man." Telling powerful stories from his own life, he shows how this mentality, drummed into so many men and boys, can lead men to disrespect, mistreat and abuse women and each other. His solution: Break free of the "man box."

Tony Porter is the co-founder of the nonprofit A Call to Men: The National Association of Men and Women Committed to Ending Violence Against Women based in the United States.

Porter’s message of engagement and self-examination has connected powerfully with numerous domestic and sexual violence programs for such high-profile groups as the National Football League and the National Basketball Association, and colleges and universities around the country, including the US Military Academy at West Point and the US Naval Academy at Annapolis. Porter is also an international lecturer for the U.S. State Department, having done extensive work in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader.

You can find out more information about TED here. 

You can access Tony Porter's presentation via TED video online here. 

You can visit A Call to Men: The National Association of Men and Women Committed to Ending Violence Against Women's website here. 

Photo credit:  Istock Photo