Holding women and girls accountable for preventing sexual assault hasn’t worked and so long as men commit the majority of rapes, men need to be at the heart of our tactics for preventing them. Let’s stop teaching ‘how to avoid being a victim’ and instead, attack the culture that creates predators in the first place.
While I strongly agree that we need cultural change and to engage men in rape prevention, I think there is an important role for women’s empowerment in rape prevention. What do you think?
David S. Lee, MPH, is the Director of Prevention Services at the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CALCASA) where he provides training and technical assistance on prevention. David manages the national project Prevention Connection, an online community of violence against women prevention practitioners, funders, researchers and activists. For over 29 years David has worked in efforts to end domestic violence and sexual assault.
I think you’ll need to elaborate on what exactly you mean by “women’s empowerment in rape prevention” to create meaningful dialogue. Simply put: it’s easier for women to empower themselves without prevention campaigns designed to limit their freedom and pre-emptively victim-blame, which is what most prevention campaigns aimed at women have been known for doing. If you actually think from a victim’s perspective… before the victim was assaulted, the Rape Crisis Center told her that she should not drink or not ever be outside alone, etc. to make an effort to prevent her own assault. Then after she is assaulted they tell her that none of those things actually matter and that the rapist made a conscious decision to commit a crime. These are obviously conflicting messages that the prevention community has long perpetuated, ignoring the consequences for victims. I am glad that the prevention community is finally starting to think from the perspective of the clients they serve.
Thanks for the question. What I mean is programs where women are supported to create social change – by becoming activists and agents of change to, as Zerlina Maxwell says so well in her article, “attack the culture that creates predators in the first place.” Examples include efforts like Hollaback and SPARK Summit. There are many others.
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I think you’ll need to elaborate on what exactly you mean by “women’s empowerment in rape prevention” to create meaningful dialogue. Simply put: it’s easier for women to empower themselves without prevention campaigns designed to limit their freedom and pre-emptively victim-blame, which is what most prevention campaigns aimed at women have been known for doing. If you actually think from a victim’s perspective… before the victim was assaulted, the Rape Crisis Center told her that she should not drink or not ever be outside alone, etc. to make an effort to prevent her own assault. Then after she is assaulted they tell her that none of those things actually matter and that the rapist made a conscious decision to commit a crime. These are obviously conflicting messages that the prevention community has long perpetuated, ignoring the consequences for victims. I am glad that the prevention community is finally starting to think from the perspective of the clients they serve.
Thanks for the question. What I mean is programs where women are supported to create social change – by becoming activists and agents of change to, as Zerlina Maxwell says so well in her article, “attack the culture that creates predators in the first place.” Examples include efforts like Hollaback and SPARK Summit. There are many others.
Muchos Gracias for your blog.Thanks Again. Fantastic.