“It’s Cool to Care about Sexual Violence”

Abstract

We explore the paths related to college men's involvement in all-male antirape prevention groups using in-depth interviews conducted with twenty-five male college students who are active members of such groups from eleven campuses located on the East Coast of the United States. Major themes deriving from analysis of the interviews were all related to the engagement of the participants with the programs on four different levels. These themes, which are developmentally related, are (1) a disclosure which makes sexual assault a personal issue at the same time that it reveals a lack of knowledge and skills on the part of the respondents, (2) the evaluation of the approach of individual programs, (3) the evaluation of the relative effectiveness of the approacher, and (4) the creation of a social context which the engagement facilitates. Overall, we find that when the men in our study were approached in a nonconfrontational, alliance-building fashion by other men, they reported that their knowledge related to sexual assault, their empathy toward sexual assault survivors, and their motivation to actively engage in the prevention of sexual violence all increased. Thus, we see evidence of a pathway to behavioral change represented by the recruitment and participation of men to these programs.

Rape Myth Acceptance among Adolescent Males – How to Integrate Components of Preventative Sexual Assault Programs into Sex Education

“…However, many authors theorize that attitude change is correlated to behavioral intentions and therefore can create shifts in behavior (Hayes, Abbott, & Cook, 2016). Piccigallo, Lilley, and Miller (2012) found that male participants in their study could identify specific changes that resulted from attending an intervention. These changes included combating sexist behavior and language of their peers and providing more support to victims of sexual assault.…”

“…Paul and Gray (2011) found that inducing survivor empathy using female victim's stories was less effective with men. However, when male participants of these programs were given an account of sexual victimization from a male victim's perspective, they showed greater increases in attitude change and a decreased probability of future potential to perpetrate (Piccigallo, Lilley, & Miller, 2012;Schewe & O'Donohue, 1993). Berkowitz et al, (1994) suggested that programs could enhance empathy by including both male and female perspectives of victimization.…”

“…Many researchers have found evidence to support that single-sex programs are more successful than mixed-sex programs (Anderson & Whiston, 2005;Berkowitz, Buckhart, and Bourg, 1994;Foubert & Marriott, 1997;Hayes, Abbott, & Cook, 2016;Paul & Gray, 2011;. Piccigallo, Lilley, and Miller, 2012;Proto-Campise, Blknap, & Wooldredge, 1998;Yeater & O'Donohue, 1999).…”

“…Single-sex programs addressed specific issues pertaining to the male participant's perceptions of sex role socialization and how it has affected their current attitudes towards sexual assault. Piccigallo, Lilley, and Miller (2012) asked participants in their study what they believed was ''the best way to get male students involved in the prevention of acquaintance rape'', many responded that discussing the topic with other men was the most effective approach. For true prevention to occur, men must be engaged and actively participating in the program.…”

“…Sexual attitudes are being formed earlier in development, leading many researchers to hypothesize about the positive effects of implementing intervention strategies with a younger age group (Klaw et al, 2005;Lonsway, 1996;Mulliken, 2006;Piccigallo, Lilley, & Miller, 2012). Mulliken (2006) reported that many of the beliefs about sexuality, gender roles and social attitudes are solidified before college.…”