‘Real men don’t rape’. With these words South Africa’s president Mbeki echoed the slogan of a rally against rape, late 2002 in Johannesburg.
Now a handful of ‘real men’ have turned activists, trying to prevent rape and to reform rapists.

These men are black, and though they are heralded as ‘Real Men’ or welcomed as ‘New Men’, they more often hear themselves labeled as ‘sissies’. They fight an uphill battle against the male stereotype that allows South African men to abuse women on a grand scale.The documentary depicts the key proponents in this struggle for change, all of them in the Johannesburg township of Alexandra.

Director: Karen de Bok
Research: Sylvia Brens and Gijs Meijer Swantee
Producer: Mariska Schneider
Editors in chief: Roel van Broekhoven, Doke Romeijn and Frank Wiering

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