Advocacy for Today and Tomorrow:

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Advocacy for Today and Tomorrow

• Sexual Violence on Campus
• Claire Robbins and Mollie Monahan-Kreishman
• National Conference for College Women Student
  Leaders
• University of Maryland, College Park
• June 5, 2009

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Introductions

• Claire Robbins
• Doctoral Student
• College Student Personnel Program
• University of Maryland, College Park
• Mollie Monahan-Kreishman
• Doctoral Candidate
• College Student Personnel Program
• University of Maryland, College Park

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Who are you?
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Ground Rules

• Everyones experience is important wed like to
  hear from all of you.
• We would like this to be a safe space to talk
  about the issue of sexual violence on campus.
• Recognize the interconnected nature of sexual
  violence with racism, sexism, homophobia,
  classism, ableism
• I statements
• Confidentiality what happens in this room stays
  in this room
• Support resources www.rainn.org

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Goals

• A Tool
• A Paradigm Shift
• A Mission
• A Network

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Sexual Violence on Campus

• 1 out of every 6 American women have been the
  victims of an attempted or completed rape in
  their lifetime (14.8 completed rape 2.8
  attempted rape) (Tjaden Thoennes, 1998).
• Women ages 16-24 are four times more likely to
  experience rape than the general female
  population (Humphrey Kahn, 2000).
• College students are most vulnerable to rape
  during the first few weeks of the freshman and
  sophomore years (Ostrander Schwartz, 1994
  Schwartz DeKeseredy, 1997).
• Of surveyed college women, about 90 of rape and
  sexual assault victims knew their attacker prior
  to the assault (Fisher, Cullen Turner, 2000).
• For every 1,000 women attending a college or
  university, there may be about 35 incidents of
  rape reported every academic year (Fisher et al.,
  2000).
• Sexual assault is the most underreported violent
  crime in the United States. Depending on the
  study, as few as 1 in ten sexual assaults will be
  reported.

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The Problem Sexual Assault on College Campuses

• High rates of sexual assault among women
  throughout lifetime
• College women are at risk
• Beginning of freshman and sophomore years are
  risky times
• Most victims know their attackers
• Rape is underreported

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What else do you know about sexual assault?

• Who do you see most represented in your examples?
  Who seems to be missing?

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What is the REAL problem?

• Weve considered the way information on sexual
  assault is presented.
• Weve begun to question the absence of the
  perpetrator in these conversations.
• Weve noticed that these conversations instead
  seem to focus solely on the victim.
• Who do we, as a society, tend to blame for sexual
  assault?
• Does the way information about sexual assault is
  presented to college students set people up to
  understand the issue in a certain way?

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So

• what IS the real problem?

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Victim Blaming

• Victim blaming is holding a victim of a crime
  responsible for the criminals actions.
• Sexual Violence Prevention A History
• Blaming women (not the answer)
• Blaming men (not the answer)
• Bystander Intervention
• People often victim blame with good intentions.
  What do I mean by that? What are some examples?

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Victim Blaming Problem Tree Analysis

• Break into small groups
• CAUSES
• What are the causes of victim blaming? Why do
  people do it? What are some examples?
• EFFECTS
• What are the effects of victim blaming? Why is
  it so harmful? What are some examples?

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Problem Tree Analysis

• EFFECTS
• What are the effects of victim blaming? Why is
  it so harmful? What are some examples?
• ?
• ?
• CAUSES
• What are the causes of victim blaming? Why do
  people do it? What are some examples?

The Problem VICTIM BLAMING

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Victim Blaming

• What does it look like on your campus?
• Between friends?
• Campus resources?
• Programs?
• What can you do to decrease victim blaming on
  your campus?

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So what will you take home?

• A Tool
• The Problem Tree Analysis is a great way to help
  a group or organization think through a problem
  as a first step toward solving it.
• A Paradigm Shift
• Why do we spend all of our time pointing the
  finger at victims and survivors (even when we
  have the best of intentions)?
• A Mission
• Who really makes rape happen?
• Who needs this information on your campus? How
  will you get it to them?
• A Network
• Youve met a room full of students who can serve
  as resources for you were all here for each
  other.

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Engaging Men A Movement

• Men Can Stop Rape
• Men Ending Rape
• Jackson Katz
• Michael Kimmel
• Byron Hurt
• David Lisak
• Ten Man Plan Ten Woman Plan (University of
  Maryland)
• Lots and lots of others

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Whats happening on your campus?

• Share programs and ideas that might transfer well
  to other campuses

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Keep in Touch!

• Claire Robbins
• crobbins_at_umd.edu
• Mollie Monahan-Kreishman
• mmonahan_at_umd.edu

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References

• Fisher, B. S., Cullen, F. T., Turner, M. G.
  (2000). The sexual victimization of college
  women. Washington, D.C. U. S. Department of
  Justice (US), National Institute of Justice.
  Publication No. NCJ 182369.
• Available from URL www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/nij/18
  2369.pdf or www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/ascii/svcw.t
  xt
• Humphrey, S. E., Kahn, A. S. (2000).
  Fraternities, athletic teams, and rape
  Importance of identification with a risky group.
  Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 15, 1313-1322.
  
• Ostrander, C., Schwartz, J. (1994). Crime at
  college The student guide to personal safety.
  Ithaca, N.Y. New Strategist Publications.
• Schwartz, M. D., DeKeseredy, W. S. (1997).
  Sexual assault on the college campus The role of
  male peer support. Thousand Oaks, CA Sage.
• Tjaden, P., Thoennes, N. (1998, November).
  Prevalence, incidence, and consequences of
  violence against women Findings from the
  National Violence against Women Survey.
  Washington, D.C. U.S. Department of Justice,
  Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of
  Justice Centers for Disease Control and
  Prevention.