- The risk of rape for 451 women randomly assigned to the program was about 5 percent, compared with nearly 10 percent among 442 women in a control group who were given brochures and a brief information session.
The idea that teaching women how to prevent being raped is "victim blaming" is silly. These classes aren't asking you to dress more conservatively or stay at home and not enjoy university social life, they are about how to effectively establish boundaries and maintain them against people who may not understand them, or in the worst case, against people who don't care about them. This sort of education would probably be good for men too. Instead of just teaching "don't rape" teach how to communicate sexual and personal boundaries more effectively, and how to interact with other people who also have defined those boundaries as well.
It's not so much that it's "silly", it's that it's putting the responsibility on the potential victims, instead of potential perpetrators. This is not a problem exclusive to female victims, either (though this study focuses on them). It sounds like something out of a joke, or a comic, but maybe we need to integrate a "How to effectively establish boundaries and maintain them against confrontational people, and how best to respect the boundaries of others" into Frosh weeks, and make them mandatory. Universities are going to have to do more, unfortunately - It's just another passing of the buck of the public high school system onto the university system.The idea that teaching women how to prevent being raped is "victim blaming" is silly.
The reason, historically, that that was a problem at all is because putting the responsibility on women always entailed restricting what women were allowed to do, which obviously doesn't work to stop rape because it disempowers women. This particular program is fundamentally different in that it seeks to empower women relative to men. It's no wonder that it has been a success.It's not so much that it's "silly", it's that it's putting the responsibility on the potential victims, instead of potential perpetrators.
I agree that this program is effective (it's been shown to be), and that it's a good idea,, but I don't think that it's a complete solution. A complete solution is going to have to involve education of the respect of boundaries of others, and how to actively seek consent, along with this program's goals. edit - well it looks like I double-posted.
I agree that this program is effective (it's been shown to be), and that it's a good idea,, but I don't think that it's a complete solution. A complete solution is going to have to involve education of the respect of boundaries of others, and how to actively seek consent, along with this program's goals.
Yeah, I wasn't trying to say that women are responsible for being raped, more that the idea preventing rape only by teaching men not to rape is certainly not going to be the best way to solve the problem. And I agree, I think a short course on establishing boundaries is what's needed to prevent these sort of preventable rapes from occurring, it simultaneously teaches people not to rape, and how to not get raped.