Men?

I think it's safe to say that the only males that have read more than a single post in this blog is my boyfriend and my father. Given that I have no brothers, and my guy friends are still confused about when, where, and how I managed to turn into a feminist (I once wrote a paper for a high school history class about how feminists should shut up and accept their female roles in society...), the only male figures in my life with feminist loyalties is the bf and dad.

Which is akin to attempting to spread the word of god by talking to a convent.

It's impossible for the feminist movement (or any egalitarian movement) to gain any ground if the only audience it reaches is the victimized group. How can we get men to join the fight towards female autonomy, and a safer society when it's they who don't want to identify themselves with the perpetrators of crimes?

How can we better use sexual assault prevention programs already in place at Universities and in Fraternities? Most research shows that while these current programs help reduce rape myth acceptance immediately following the session, long term effects are minimal. I would think that having coed educational groups on this subject would be more productive, as fraternities especially are notorious for their dangerous male group mentality. A female voice or even simple presence could provide a sort of reminder that such programs are not jokes nor a boring waste of time.

Oddly enough, my theory is unsound. In order to affect change among our male counterparts, studies show that all-male peer education groups provide the greatest long term changes in the rape myth acceptance. Even more telling is the way such programs are advertised.

Nobody enjoys being blamed, especially not for another's crimes. When it comes to sexual assault, men especially don't want to hear about how their entire gender is ignorant and responsible. Men want to feel like protectors, not violent criminals (well for the most part anyway). So programs aimed at supporting rape victims as opposed to stopping rape actually do more to educate males on both subjects. Furthermore, using an example of a male rape victim instead of a female helps men to identify more with the victim.

When men know better how to help a friend who was sexually assaulted, they can incorporate that knowledge into everyday lives. By better understanding the emotional distress of victims, it becomes easier to learn how to prevent that distress from occurring in the first place.

My father obviously has lived with my mother, my two sisters, and I for decades, and my boyfriend is not only a cop who deals with domestic violence on a daily basis but clearly dating a feminist. These are not the audiences I want or need to reach. While I appreciate their support in the fight, it is more important to reach those men who won't ever read this.

So how can we reach them?

(studies mentioned in this post are from John D. Foubert and Kenneth A Marriott's report "Effects of sexual assault peer education program on men's belief in rape myths from Sex Roles, Volume 36 Issue 3, 1997)