The Million Dollar Question

     In my last post, I merely speculated that traditional gender roles are what lead to sexual assault. However, an article by Rutgers Student Affairs all but confirms this. The article elaborates on gender roles in sexual assault, making clear that offenders take advantage of their more powerful role to abuse women. Even though their actions are ill-intended and can leave their victims psychologically damaged, the article still claims "a man who pressures a woman for sex is often perceived as behaving acceptably" (Rutgers par. 3) The offenders also take advantage of alcohol or drugs, whether by forcing them on their targets or simply waiting for them to get drunk, to put them in an even more submissive state. Although it is not a direct cause of sexual assault, many tend to blame the victim rather than the abuser, therefore enabling the abuser to continue doing what they do.

     Refer back to the essay by Jessica Bauer from my past post, Roles and Rejection. Bauer was a P.E.E.R. (Peer Educators for an Environment free of Rape and Sexual Exploitation) educator for the University of Pittsburgh. (Bauer par. 1) During her time at the University of Pittsburgh, a group of frat boys gang raped a drunken freshman during a party. The incident spread like wildfire across campus, yet nobody from the fraternity came forward about what their bretheren did. The freshman finally made the brave choice of coming forward herself, which is very hard for assault victims to do considering the shame that follows. The outcome? The freshman was ridiculed by her fellow students, who refused to believe she had actually been assaulted. Meanwhile, the fraternity only revoked their privileges to accept pledges during the semester. The freshman, a "broken women" at that point, attempted to continue her education but ultimately dropped out.

     Sound familiar? That was every point of the Rutgers article in action. The girl was intoxicated, the fraternity had the power position when they assaulted her, and the victim ended up taking the brunt of the shame rather than the abusers. I'm sure the author of the Rutgers article would understand the causes of the case in Bauer's article. Teaching women to protect themselves is valuable, but we could just as easily apply those principles to those with more power.

     Which brings us to our million dollar question. How do we teach men not to assault women?

A student designs a T-shirt as a band performs in the background at a Take Back The Night event at Front Range Community College's Boulder County Campus. These events are run all over the country to bring awareness to sexual assault and ways to prevent it. Photo by Cliff Grassmick of the Longmont Times Call.

     Rather, where do we begin? Upheaving gender roles that have been rooted in our society for centuries is no easy undertaking. However, it's just as important to take small steps toward the ultimate goal. Ujamaa Africa, a non-profit organization centered around empowering the vulnerable, runs a program called "Your Moment Of Truth" in Kenya. 1 out of every 4 school girls experience sexual abuse in Kenya, a testament to how rampant rape runs in their country. Your Moment Of Truth teaches young men and boys about the slow normalization of male-on-female abuse in their country and how to effectively counteract it. Building confidence, learning when to say no, and making hard choices are key elements of the course. The course has been very successful; the rate of boys who took the course and believed no meant maybe decreased from 58.5% to 22.8% ("Reducing Rape" par. 3). Additionally, 70% of those who took the course and later witnessed a sexual assault were successfully able to intervene and stop it before it could escalate ("Reducing Rape" par. 3). If men are the ones who hold power, they need to use it for good.

     In other words, boys shouldn't be boys. We should be men.

     In my very first blog post, I brought up a study by RAINN and mentioned the harrowing statistics it utilized. An American is sexually assaulted almost every half minute ("Scope Of The Problem" sec. 3). That's a little over a minute and a half. This leads to 321,500 Americans over the age of 12 being assaulted every year ("Scope Of The Problem" sec. 2). Of these victims, 90% of them are female ("Scope Of The Problem" sec. 3), and 55% of them are assaulted at or near their home ("Scope Of The Problem" sec. 4). Despite these massive numbers, however, sexual assault has actually declined from 1993 to 2016 ("Scope Of The Problem" sec. 1), and it's largely in part to the efforts we've taken to curb sexual assault as much as we can.

     This concludes my research for now. I wholeheartedly believe we need to focus on teaching men about the effects of sexual assault and how they, the ones who are most likely to commit such crimes, can prevent themselves and others from doing it. Will the rate of sexual abuse continue to go down over time? Only time will tell.

Works Cited

“Why Does Sexual Violence Occur?” Violence Prevention and Victim Assistance, vpva.rutgers.edu/sexual-violence/why-does-sexual-violence-occur/.

Bauer, Jessica. "Campus Culture Allows Rape to Go Unpunished." Date Rape, edited by Mary E. Williams, Greenhaven Press, 1998. At Issue. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, http://link.galegroup.com.frccwc.idm.oclc.org/apps/doc/EJ3010008235/OVIC?u=west59484&sid=OVIC&xid=1a4a8c79. Accessed 10 July 2019. Originally published as "Duke Rape Case Hits Raw Nerve," ReadingEagle.com, 2006.

“Reducing Rape and Sexual Assault through the Education of Adolescent Boys.” New Tactics in Human Rights, www.newtactics.org/tactic/reducing-rape-and-sexual-assault-through-education-adolescent-boys.

“Scope of the Problem: Statistics.” RAINN, www.rainn.org/statistics/scope-problem.