Numbers out recently show Pennsylvania ranks high on a list for the rate at which men kill women. 

Locally, some are crafting a message for young boys and men in the hopes of curbing that violence.

The Violence Policy Center counts homicides throughout the U.S., and new numbers look at how many women died at the hands of men.  When the most recent totals for all states were in, Pennsylvania ranked 13th with 102 victims in 2009.

In the overwhelming majority of those murders, the study shows 96 percent of the women knew their killer.

In Berks County, one of the most gruesome cases involved Donald Williams, who was accused of breaking into the home of his ex-girlfriend, Maria Serrano, in June 2009 and setting her on fire.  Serrano later died.

"Male violence, whether it's male on male or male on female, it kills a tremendous number of people in our communities," said Paul Kivel, the author of several books focusing on the social pressures facing men.

Kivel said violence is often glamorized through movies, games and even simple interactions starting at a young age.

"Help boys really see this system of socialization and what we call the "Act Like a Man" box, the pressure to be acting like this all the time and how it's enforced in their lives," Kivel urged during a seminar held by Berks Women in Crisis on Thursday.

In extreme cases, Kivel and Christine Gilfillan of BWIC said trying to meet social pressures can become overwhelming.

"Often times, those behaviors lead to violence," Gilfillan said.  "Homicide is the ultimate act of control."

Kivel's message is at the opposite end of the spectrum.  It's about getting to the root of the problem and stopping violence before it starts.

"We have modeled a lot of our prevention programs after his work and his curricula," Gilfillan explained.

One of those programs is CAMPpeaceworks.  Berks Women in Crisis hosts the camp each year helping young men and women openly discuss the pressures they face.

After Thursday's seminar, they hope to have more mentors starting those discussions.

"We have to take this as the life threatening issue that it is," Kivel said.