Welcome to The Pixel Project’s “30 For 30″ Father’s Day Campaign 2016! In honour of Father’s Day, we created this campaign:
- To acknowledge the vital role dads play in families, cultures and communities worldwide.
- To showcase men from different walks of life who are fabulous positive non-violent and non-sexist male role models.
- To provide dads worldwide a positive platform to share ideas about stopping sexism, misogyny, and violence against women and girls.
This is our 5th annual 30 For 30 campaign and through it we will be publishing a short interview with a different Dad on each day of the month of June.
Our twelfth “30 For 30″ 2016 Dad is Vikraman Kalia Purumal from Malaysia.
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The Dad Bio
I am a central bank employee with two post-graduate qualifications in Finance. I have two sons, whom I’ll not name, but their names translated, mean “Sun” and “Stars”. My boys literally are my Sun and Stars. They are the most important things in the world to me and what I really want to do is be a full-time dad, but our finances just don’t allow for that right now. I love books, movies, music, dancing and acting (not too many opportunities to do any them recently though).
1. What is the best thing about being a dad?
The best thing about being a dad is definitely the chance to form a person. It’s the opportunities to take what’s best from your childhood, add in your unique insights and your approach to parenting, then give it to your children to make their own.
The satisfaction I derive from creating and nurturing another human being is unparalleled and my only hope is that the cycle continues with them when they become dads someday.
2. A dad is usually the first male role model in a person’s life and fathers do have a significant impact on their sons’ attitude towards women and girls. How has your father influenced the way you see and treat women and girls?
I have two sisters and no brothers. My father made no distinction when it came to gender but focused on where both genders have commonality, i.e. if a girl can pick up a mop, so can a boy.
He did, however, make it my responsibility to take care of my sisters when it came to physical protection. He never articulated it, but I think the essence of his thinking was that if you have greater physical strength, it is your responsibility to use it to protect those less strong. So I developed a protective instinct for all women.
I’m not sure of the relevance of being “protective” in this day and age. To a certain extent it could come across as condescending. What I do understand is that both genders have relative strengths and weaknesses and to ensure a level playing field for everyone, neither gender should exploit these factors.
3. Communities and activists worldwide are starting to recognise that violence against women is not a “women’s issue” but a human rights issue and that men play a role in stopping the violence. How do you think fathers and other male role models can help get young men and boys to take an interest in and step up to help prevent and stop violence against women?
Violence against women, as an extension of violence of any form, should be especially abhorred. To successfully tackle violence against women, taking an interest in preventing violence is a fundamental tenet that must be inculcated in all human beings. Once this principle is embedded in the psyche of all mankind, it follows naturally that violence against women will cease.