Change will occur if we each accept personal responsibility to make sure it happens. As men who care about the women in our lives, we can take responsibility to help make sure women live free from fear and violence. Each year, men around the world are wearing a white ribbon from November 25, the International Day for the Eradication of Violence Against Women, for one or two weeks. (In Canada, we wear the ribbon until December 6, the anniversary of the 1989 massacre of 14 women in Montreal.) Wearing a white ribbon is your personal pledge never to commit violence against women. It is a personal pledge not to condone acts of violence, not to make excuses for perpetrators of violence, and not to think that any woman "asks for it." It is a pledge not to remain silent. It is a pledge to challenge the men around us to act to end violence. Wearing a ribbon provokes discussion, debate, and soul-searching among the men around us. The ribbon is a catalyst for discussion. It is a catalyst for change.