Men Can Stop Rape:

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Men Can Stop Rape

• The Strength Campaign

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Community Profile Washington, DC, USA

• Population 572,059
• 60 African-American
• 28 Non-Hispanic/Latino White
• 8 Hispanic/Latino
• 3 Asian/PI
• Teen Birth Rate
• DC 80.7 per 1000
• USA 48.5 per 1000
• Youth
• 50 graduation rate
• 36 live in poverty

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Vital Statistics for Young Men in DC

• 14 of high school-age girls in DC have been
  physically forced to have sexual intercourse when
  they did not want to
• 84 of high school-age girls in DC have
  experienced sexual harassment.
• 80 of boys ages 11-18 see violence as an
  important challenge in their lives.
• Young men in DC report intense pressure to be a
  player and have sex with many girls. They also
  state a reluctance to use family planning
  services because they are too female.

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MEN CAN STOP RAPE (MCSR)

• Mobilizes male youth to end mens violence
  against women.
• Challenges traditional masculinity and celebrates
  alternative models of strength.
• Empowers young men as allies with women and girls
  to foster equitable and safe relationships and
  communities.

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MCSRs ApproachThe Strength Training Program

• Awareness-to-Action Workshops
• Men of Strength (MOST) Clubs and Community
  Strength Projects
• RYM (Real Young Men)
• Training and Technical Assistance with
  Professionals
• The Strength Campaign

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The Strength Campaign

• Original media and youth-education effort
• Target Population
• Approx. 13,000 male youth, ages 13-18, in DC
  public high schools
• Location and Duration
• 1 month-long effort in 18 DC public high schools
  and surrounding communities
• Funding Summit Fund, BIL Charitable Trust
  Individual Donors Product Sales

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The Strength Campaign GOALS

• Educate male youth about their role in preventing
  dating violence
• Highlight nonviolent models of male strength
• Mobilize young men as allies with women in
  fostering relationships based on respect, equity,
  and compassion

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The Strength Campaign Components
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Posters and Bus Ads
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REP Magazine
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Handbook for Faculty and Staff
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Safe and Strong Workshops

• Series of 3 interactive workshops in select
  schools
• Focused on
• exploring masculinity in popular culture
• building empathy with survivors
• teaching nonviolent strategies for challenging
  rape-supporting attitudes and behaviors

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The Strength Campaign Evaluation

• Pre and Post-Test design
• Measured impact of workshops and overall campaign
  on youth and school influencers (e.g., faculty
  and staff)
• Focus on recall, attitudes, behavior, and
  self-efficacy

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Recall and Relevance

• The percentage of students who recalled seeing or
  hearing something about dating violence over the
  past month increased from 10 at pre-test to 59
  at post-test.
• The vast majority (85) of students agreed that
  the Campaign presented information that was
  important to them.

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Self-Efficacy

• The vast majority of students agreed
  (strongly/somewhat) that
• The workshops made them confident that they can
  play a role in preventing dating violence (83).
• The workshops taught them new ways to have
  healthy relationships (82).

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The Strength Campaign Obstacles and Strategies
for Success

• Getting into the schools
• Active participation of school personnel in
  design and launch
• Endorsement from Superintendent
• 2 year history of work in the schools
• Overcoming traditional masculinity
• Positive focus on mens strength
• Emphasis on mens capacity as allies
• Capturing young peoples attention
• Sexy, slick images
• Partnership with DC United

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The Strength Campaign Lessons Learned

• Engage men as allies, not just perpetrators
• Use traditional masculinity in redefining it
• Focus on strength
• Focus on what men can do
• Involve men, including youth, from the start
• Broad partnerships are crucial
• Integrate media campaigns into a more
  comprehensive, sustainable effort
• Long-term exposure is necessary to change
  attitudes and behaviors

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The Strength Campaign The Demand Beyond DC

• Strength Campaign materials now appear in all 50
  states and 10 countries.
• Numerous requests to run local Strength
  Campaigns.
• Virginia Department of Health has licensed the
  Campaign for statewide use beginning in the fall
  of 2003.

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The Strength Campaign National Expansion

• Focus on raising awareness, youth-organizing, and
  capacity-building
• Phase I (ongoing)
• Expanded poster series with new images and
  messages
• Building diverse national and local partnerships
• Phase II
• Tool kit for communities to create local
  campaigns
• Broader media effort (e.g., TV, radio, etc.)
• On-the-ground youth organizing
• Interactive website for young people

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To think after all these years, we thought we
were in the real world, but we were in our own
little dream world. I knew what a real man was.
I was wrong, my father was wrong, my uncle was
wrong, and the world is wrong. Im starting to
understand what it means to be a real man. What
I knew all my life was a lie. Men Can Stop Rape
speaks the truth. Male youth - Age 17
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Contact Information for Men Can Stop RapeP.O.
Box 57144Washington, DC 20037U.S.A.202-265-6530
(ofc)202-265-4362 (fax)info_at_mencanstoprape.org
www.mencanstoprape.org