Discussion List for campus-based and allied personnel working to end gender-based violence on campus.

["Ross A Wantland" <>]

Hey everyone (apologies for the cross-posting): 

 

I was asked by our University's Division of Intercollegiate Athletics if
I knew of a female speaker who could talk to the University athletes.
(All of them...at once...which is about 500+)  They would like a speaker
to talk about sexual assault.  I was wondering if y'all knew of a female
presenter - preferably a former/current college/professional athlete -
that you'd recommend as a speaker. 

 

If anyone pops to mind, please let me know.

Peace,

Ross

 

_____________________________________

Ross A. Wantland

Coordinator of Sexual Assault Education

300 Student Services Bldg. (MC-306)

610 E. John St.

Champaign, IL 61820

217-333-3137

________________________________

From: 

[mailto:]
 On Behalf Of Candice Mulder
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2005 10:15 AM
To: 

Subject: [menagainstviolence] men on a mission

 

--------------------
Men on a mission 
--------------------

By Kathryn Masterson
RedEye

September 22, 2005

Four guys are spending their first year after college road-tripping in
an RV
they've nicknamed "Bela." The quartet, all 22, is touring the country
with a
lofty goal: to end rape on college campuses.

They're not doling out safety tips to women--telling them to watch their
drinks
at parties or walk at night with a buddy.

They're not talking to women at all.

Instead, they're going to the source of most rapes--men.

"You can't prevent rape unless you talk to the people who are doing it,"
said
John Foubert, a professor at the College of William and Mary who created
the
program of which the RV guys are a part. The men's group is called One
in Four
because one in four college women report they've been victims of sexual
assault
or attempted assault, he said.

"Unless you're talking to the men, you're not going to decrease the
incidence of
rape," Foubert said.

Part of the National Organization of Men's Outreach for Rape Education,
One in
Four is part of an emerging group of new activists, male activists, in
the
anti-rape movement. Once thought of as mainly a women's issue (since
most rape
victims are women), sexual assault has now become a cause for men who
say they
have a role in fighting rapes.

The One in Four RV tour began last year with four men who visited 41
colleges in
23 states. This year, a new group of four expects to visit about 50
schools
speaking only to men. They also hope to start up One in Four chapters on
more
campuses; currently, more than a dozen schools have them.

Grant Schafer, one of the four guys on this year's RV tour, believes the
rape
prevention approaches of the past that didn't include men were
misguided. Only
through men speaking to men will anything change, he said.

"Men, in all honesty, are the problem here, but they're also the
solution," said
Schafer, a James Madison University graduate.

Although the RV guys said they're getting an enthusiastic response to
their
work, men haven't always found it easy to get involved.

Barbara Engel, a longtime victims advocate, ran rape centers in the
1970s and
'80s and said that, at the time, many women working in the field
believed
including men might further upset rape victims. In leaving men out, the
movement
missed a chance to confront the violence behind sexual assault, she
said.

"I think we made a really big mistake," Engel said. "We missed an
incredible
opportunity to enlist allies."

Rape Victim Advocates in Chicago had a heated debate five years ago
about
whether to allow men to act as advocates and volunteers, said Angela
Exson,
director of advocacy services for the group. Some people worried that
allowing
men into training sessions and counseling would prevent victims from
feeling
they had a "safe space" at RVA.

Ultimately, the group decided to include men, Exson said. Now, RVA has
eight
male medical advocates who visit rape victims in emergency rooms and
other men
who do outreach and education.

Scott Berkowitz, the president of the national group Rape Abuse and
Incest
National Network, or RAINN, said he encountered resistance when he
started the
organization 11 years ago, but he's seen a dramatic change in recent
years.
Almost all of the 1,100 rape crisis centers RAINN works with now allow
men to
volunteer, and about half of RAINN's donors and supporters are men.

"Men aren't the enemy," Berkowitz said. "The enemy is a tiny percentage
of men
who make the decision to commit a felony."

The One in Four guys said they're careful not to accuse men they speak
to or
talk to them as if they were potential rapists. They appeal to men's
empathy and
desire to help. Their presentation includes tips on how to help a friend
who is
a sexual assault survivor, including listening and believing someone
when she
says she's been raped.

They also discuss stereotypes about men and sex: that guys have to force
sex to
be a man; that if a drunk woman doesn't say no that means she wants sex;
that
most men think jokes about rape are funny.

They stress that rape is a violent crime that has nothing to do with
sex. The
point is to get men to think about sexual assault so they won't do it or
condone
it.

"The goal is to get them to think about it, to talk about it," said Matt
Thompson, a William and Mary grad from Virginia who is sharing the RV
with
Schafer, Dan McCool and Chris Renjilian. "It's not talked about enough."

The guys say they know many college students who have been sexually
assaulted.
They also know men who have sexually assaulted women.

They're not all bad guys, they say. Sometimes, they're simply ignorant
about
sexual assault and its effects on victims, or they've been socialized to
think
men are players and that forcing sex is part of the game.

One in Four aims to give men methods to avoid assault, including how to
get
permission from a partner before having sex.

"We have this idea that they're bad men," said Renjilian, a William and
Mary
grad from Maryland. "A lot of good men have committed rape without
knowing they
did anything wrong."

Exson, of RVA, sees value in helping men understand the concept of
consent and
when it has or hasn't been given, but she's not convinced that men who
rape
women don't know what they're doing.

"If you're sexually assaulting someone, you know what's going on," she
said.
"There's something that should be telling you this is something you
shouldn't be
doing."

That's what One in Four is trying to do.

"We're empowering guys to redefine masculinity," McCool said.

--

 

 



 





A feminist is a person who answers "yes" to the question, "Are women
human?" 
Feminism is not about whether women are better than, worse than or
identical with men.  And it's certainly not about trading personal
liberty--abortion, divorce, sexual self-expression--for social
protection as wives and mothers, as pro-life feminists propose.  It's
about justice, fairness, and access to the broad range of human
experience.  It's about women consulting their own 
well-being and being judged as individuals rather than as members of a
class with one personality, one social function, one road to happiness.
It's about 
women having intrinsic value as persons rather than contingent value as
a means to an end for others: fetuses, children, the "family,"
men.(Katha Pollitt) 

Feminism is the radical notion that women are human beings. (Cheris
Kramerae)

        
________________________________


        From: "Michael Flood" 
<>
        Reply-To: 

        To: 
<>,"Profem
 list (E-mail)"
<>
        Subject: [menagainstviolence] Re. 'big tent' approach and
involving faith-based communities
        Date: Thu, 22 Sep 2005 14:39:11 +1000

        Dear all,

         

        I'm involved in a White Ribbon Day campaign here in Australia.
(See http://www.whiteribbonday.org.au
<http://www.whiteribbonday.org.au/> .) We're considering approaching
men's groups and organisations and other groups such as Christian men's
groups, Muslim groups, and so on, to lend their support to the campaign.
Such groups have more ambivalent relationships to feminist campaigns on
violence against women. This embodies what Jackson Katz and Michael
Kaufman call a 'big tent' approach to violence prevention. (See here for
both short and long versions of Katz's discussion:
http://endabuse.org/bpi/discussion1.php.) My question for others on this
list is;

         

        First, what kinds of appeals, language, arguments, etc. can we
use in appealing to such groups and communities to support the cause of
ending violence against women? E.g., are there specific spiritual /
religious / ethical appeals one can use?

         

        Second, what are the practical and political issues involved in
such work? E.g,. in negotiating alliances with groups with whom we may
disagree on other issues?

        I welcome your thoughts.

        Best,

        michael flood.

         

         

        
________________________________


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