For those of you who keep up on current events you've probably heard of Steubenville by now. The case has been given a lot of media attention and I think this is a perfect opportunity to examine Steubenville as a case-study for rape culture. We've touched on the concept of rape culture (also known as rape-supportive culture, or RSC) but this week we'll deepen our understanding of the concept and see how it operates in "real life".
Just so folks know what we're talking about, Steubenville is a small town in Ohio where in August of 2012 members of the high school football team raped a young woman. Two of the men were charged with rape and will be spending a minimum of 1 year in juvinile jail.
Sounds pretty straight-forward right? Well if you google "Steubenville" you'll quickly see that the case has been surrounded in controversy because of attempts to minimize the act, cover it up, protect the perps, victim blame, sympathize with the accused, and villify the victim.
We've got a lot to talk about!! Check out this video where a guy recaps the case, then talks about how rape culture enables, and defends the acts:
This week we'll have Mitch Trebesh who currently works at Front Range Community College and has worked at The Sexual Assault Victim Advocate center (SAVA) as an educator for highschool guys. He is a really awesome guy and has done a TON of work around these issues.
Today we'll be focusing on consent. So in theory, consent is a pretty straight-forward concept but as we saw last week, there are times when it's not so clear. We'll spend this week exploring what consent actually is, how it makes sexual experiences better, and brainstorm ways to make asking and communication part of the sexual process.
Hey Fellas! So we have a TON to talk about this week! We'll be going over 2 main sections:
1.) Sexual Assault 101 -We'll explore some of the statistics, dynamics, and nuances of sexual assault.
2.) Who are the Perpetrators -We'll explore the profile of a "typical" college perpetrator which will open up lots of questions about male culture, socialization (learned behavior), and our role in ending these forms of violence.
This article is by David Lisak, who has done a lot of work profiling perpetrators and advocating against sexual violence. Check out at least the first 3 pages of this article, it's really really informative and worth the whole read.
