A new podcast series launched by mental health charity Elmore Community Services is raising awareness about how men can help to tackle violence against women.
Launched to mark International Women’s Day yesterday, the series is co-hosted by actor Luke Jerdy and the domestic abuse lead for Oxford City Council Liz Jones.
The series is also accompanied by a spoken word performance by Luke about ending misogyny and violence against women and girls across the UK.
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Mr Jerdy is known for his portrayal of Jesse Donovan in Channel 4’s Hollyoaks from 2016 to 2020. Ms Jones has worked in the Violence against Women and Girls field for 16 years and has facilitated and developed programmes for men who choose to be abusive and violent towards partners. Liz is also a trustee at Elmore Community Services, the mental health, complex needs, and domestic abuse charity. With the podcast’s encouragement to ‘pass it on’ to other men, ‘Flipping the Narrative’ aims to show men that they can help each other to sit up, become aware, and take important action to challenge men who perpetrate harmful behaviours. The podcast’s hosts are calling on men to pass the series along to friends, families, and colleagues in order to start conversations, take new perspectives, and support each other and women to build an equitable society and healthy environment for everyone’s children to grow up feeling safe and cared for.
The podcast series intends to support more men to learn that it’s not enough to tell themselves they are not misogynistic, they need to take an active role, however small, in being part of the solution to end violence against females and the impact that it has on their children.
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The podcast series launches with three episodes, with episodes being shared on a weekly basis. Mr Jerdy said: “This podcast is exactly the kind of work I want to be involved in - work with a clear message and impact. I’ve explored my own issues with masculinity, particularly my problems with anger and what that can lead to. We’re all searching for answers and sometimes they aren’t clear.
“I hope the conversations we have in Flipping the Narrative can provide a bit of clarity in our chaotic, uncertain world.”
Liz Jones, Co-host of Flipping the Narrative and Elmore Trustee, said: “The common response to abuse and violence towards women is to tell the women what they should do to prevent and stop it.
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"We want to flip this narrative and talk to men about being part of the solution to prevent and stop the violence and abuse that impacts, to a greater or lesser extent on all the females in their lives.
"The podcast series explores issues relevant to men; what it means to be a male, addiction, anger, parenting, banter, and sex.”
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