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| Clara Porter Prevention Action Change |
Despite the deep efforts
of government, staff, faculty, and students over the last 8 to 10 years in the
U.S., changing rape culture on college campuses remains particularly
challenging.
·
While all can agree that
“rape is bad,” sexual violence is still normalized on college campuses
· Many still do not
see the common college scenario of someone targeting the drunkest girl at a
party, feeding her more alcohol, and taking her away from others and “having
sex with her” as rape… Even though that is clearly what it is.
· Compounding this
is the reality of the issue of victim blaming which is still prevalent. All too
often the person targeted is seen by their peers as at least partially responsible
for the assault – which in turn has a dampening effect on reporting.
Empowerment
Self Defense provides the most dramatic reduction in the incidence of rape and
attempted rape on college campuses. ESD produced a 50% reduction in attempted
and completed sexual assault (Senn 2015), meaning that a large percentage of
assaults are not even attempted.
ESD
graduates have the tools to recognize the precursors to sexual violence and
prevent it before it begins; training influences how people set boundaries and
express what they need, want, and feel in every aspect of their lives – which
has an impact on everyone around them. This shift sends ripples into their peer
groups, class and dorm-mates and supports other positive work on campus.
We
know that efforts to change campus culture need to be multi-pronged including:
campus wide messaging and awareness campaigns, education, policy and judicial
work, and empowerment self-defense.
Key
elements to the success of all these approaches are:
· Treating men as allies
The majority of
attacks are perpetrated by men but the majority of men will never perpetrate
sexual assault. This means that men have an important role to play as peers and
bystanders.
· Meet allies where they are
Maybe the best we
can get is that an ally finds a rape joke a little less funny or participates
in a TBTN Rally
· Building awareness of campus supports and develop a
shared language
A shared language
in the campus community around gender-based violence and consent will help make
it more possible to talk about sexual violence on campus and reduce
victim-blaming, making it easier for survivors to come forward.
All
of these have a role to play in changing campus climate and impacting campus
culture around rape. Of these approaches the research shows that the approach that
is most effective at dramatically and directly reducing the actual incidence of
rape is ESD.
Clara
Porter, MSW
NWMAF
and CAE Certified Self-Defense Instructor
Member
of Empowerment Self-Defense Alliance and ESD Global
Director,
Prevention Action, Change
Portland
Maine
Clara's presentation for an ESD Global webinar organized by IMPACT Chicago Instructor Martha Thompson: "Three Reasons for Feminists to Advocate for Empowerment Self-Defense." Clara addressed Reason #3: Challenge rape culture. Thank you to producer Yudit Sidikman. Look for an ESD-related blog the last Monday of the month.
