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

Hi All,
 
You are entitled to your critique of any program, but I think there is  
another way of looking at the Sex Signals program.  Not  being focused 
overtly on 
control and power can be strategic.  You have  to lay a foundation of 
education 
with students before they may be ready for  sophisticated dialogue of that 
nature.  And, I think that while Sex Signals  may not make those concepts 
overt, 
they are clearly there for those who are  sensitive to them, especially in 
the manner in which the male character is  particularly blind to clear 
disinterest from the woman.
 
Sex Signals does not, in my view, reduce sexual assault to  miscommunication. 
 It recognizes that failure of communication is an  element in some sexual 
assaults.  If most men who rape are serial offenders  (and they are), then 
your 
perspective only addresses them.  And most is not  all.  Some percentage of 
men, according to the research, rape only  once.  Even if they are not a 
majority, our programming cannot ignore  them.  We have a better chance at 
education 
with them than we ever will  with a sociopath.  
 
And, please keep in mind that the sex/power construct can put men on the  
defensive in educational efforts, so that they never hear the important 
points  
being made.  One of the best things that Sex Signals does, in my opinion,  is 
open men to a non-adversarial dialogue.  Once they are open, we ought to  
strategically follow-up with efforts at programming on gender  constructs, 
hypermasculinity and other contributing factors to rape.
 
Nothing is right for every campus, but I just wanted to add my two  cents.
 
Regards,

Brett A. Sokolow, JD
Special Counsel to  the President, Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Special Counsel for Student  Conduct Issues, Warren Wilson College
Special Advisor to the Dean of Campus  Life, Univ. of the Incarnate Word

President, The National Center for  
Higher Education Risk Management, Ltd.
"Best Practices for Student  Health and Safety"

(a not-for-profit  corporation)
20 Callery Way
Malvern, PA  19355-2969
Tel. (610) 993-0229
Fax (610)  993-0228
www.ncherm.org
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