Rape Prevention Through Education: If It Doesn't Work, It's More Dangerous Than Just Wasting Resources

Vancouver's "Don't Be That Guy" ad campaign was credited for a 10% drop in reported sexual assaults for 2011 after its inception that summer. This begs the question, though, of how exactly the campaign's effectiveness could be measured, whether there is both causation as well as correlation, and, if so, what worked?I have doubts about the ability of education to reduce sexual violence on the part of offenders, simply because I believe that most men don't need it and the relatively few who do won't respond to it. This isn't just some intuition I claim through experience. As I've written before, recent and replicated research on the most common type of rapist by far does not dovetail with the idea that we can teach the instinct to sexually offend out of a rapist- or even a boy who hasn't yet offended, but likely will for a yet unknown reason. That's part of the problem. We don't know what causes boys, usually in adolescence, to begin viewing sexuality so pathologically. Our assumptions, like victimization in their childhood, have been revealed as dubious at best by psychologists like Anna Salter and others. It's frightening and frustrating, but believing myths simply because they are comforting only makes predators more powerful and elusive.Of course I can't state with certainty that early intervention on the nature of consent or appropriate sexual interaction won't lead to the better development of a potential offender. I also can't say that a detected offender couldn't be shown the error of his ways or benefit from whatever form of education his own detection might produce (investigation, prosecution, public repudiation). But I wouldn't bet on either scenario. Reasonable people can argue limitlessly what works, what doesn't, and what we're dealing with. But we might as well begin with what we know. There has been some excellent study on acquaintance rape in the last 15 years, and, at bottom, here's what it's mined:1. Most men who rape do so over and over again until they are detected, and very few are.2. Rape is usually a planned, pre-mediated attack, not an honest mistake by a socially inept person.Remember: There's more at stake here than just wasting resources if education doesn't work, or work well enough. If we believe that an act of rape is caused by a lack of some crucial, social education, we will be more likely to forgive it as such and demand less accountability.  Acquaintance rape in particular is already committed far too often with impunity. The rapists are often socially accepted in their environments or at least non-threatening in appearance. So when we believe the rapist, already nicely ensconced within the environment, is really just misguided (a bumbling oaf, perhaps who just "didn't understand consent" and "ended up" committing a rape), we go down a very dangerous path.Imagine what follows: We believe a rape occurred. We even understand what a life-altering, traumatic event it was for the victim, male or female. But we also believe it was committed not by a serial predator but an "unenlightened" guy in need of intervention. We think he's been "scared straight" by the system or otherwise, perhaps, at least now better educated. So how much will we want to punish him? And how likely, now that he's been "taught," is he to reoffend? Take this view, and the answers will boil down to 1) not much, if at all; and 2) not likely.  Zerlina Maxwell's appeal to education to reduce sexual violence seems to be more targeted toward boys who have not yet offended. I'd love to believe there is purchase there, and maybe there is more than I understand. I absolutely agree, in any event, with teaching boys non-patriarchal respect and decency toward women. This is desperately needed, but it's also constantly undermined by the "sex sells," deeply objectifying culture we live in. Still, I believe naturally, non-offending males can embolden each other as peers to stop rape by acting as bystanders and intervening before attacks can be planned or executed (women can do so as well). My point? If there was a real effect with the Vancouver campaign, I'm willing to bet that was a bigger part of it.   

Comments on the Jordan Johnson Rape Case: The Way We Still Think

Below are a handful of comments from one single Montana Missoulian news story on the Jordan Johnson rape case which concluded with an acquittal this week. The overwhelming majority of commenters sided with the defendant based on the type of ignorance, myth and misinformation seen below. In one case a survivor of rape while in college claimed that "Jane Doe" (complainant) wasn't a valid victim because Doe's reactions weren't the same as those she had.If this sample of the commenting, news-reading public was reflective of the jury pool that decided the case, the prosecution never had a chance.“If he had man handled her the way she says, she would have had clear bruising on her torso, and if it penetrated her where she said, the rape kit would definitely have shown massive trauma. The facts just don't add up.”“If a girl doesn't want to risk getting raped, then don't put yourself in a dicey situation. She knew he was possibly drunk, then picked him up and hung out by themselves. What would THAT tell any guy?” “Bottom line: Two stupid people” “I must have missed something. I would like to know how you can claim rape when you have two male roommates, whom you should trust, next door and you don't scream. They must be making the walls in rental houses more sound proff than they used to. When I was in college my roommates would have had their water glass plastered against the wall so they wouldn't miss the action.” “If a woman/girl does not want to 'invite' trouble, you do NOT make a conscious effort to pick up a drunk guy and then take him back to your place to be together. Any guy would definitely call that a direct invitation to do more, not too mention nobody knows what their prior history is either. There's always been PLENTY of ditzy, stupid, girls trying to 'bag' the hot sports jock as well. Lesson to be learned: some people have to STOP putting themselves in bad situations in the first place. Both of these idiots made the same bad decision under a jointly dumb circumstance. He wasn't her boyfriend, they weren't dating, he was clearly cheating, and she didn't care that he was intoxicated. Case closed.” “I think these people [advocates, medical personnel, police] "pushed" her into bringing this to court. What started out as a young lady feeling "jilted" or "used" telling a small fib, quickly snowballed. These "advocates" had an agenda. They believed that football players got special treatment, and felt "privileged". They wanted to put a stop to that.” “I am a 64 year old grandma I would not want my grandaughter raped and I would not want my grandson falsely accused of rape. I can say from my perspective he did not commit rape according to Montana law. He did commit stupidity. Please let this young man go and make something of his life. Ms Doe just own up and take responsibility.” “Based on the testimony that I have read thus far, I would characterize the events of that evening as a "BAD DATE" for both parties.” “I hope this is a lesson for all you guys out there. Make the gals sign a contract before going on too bigger and better things. Don't complicate your life.”Indeed, "gals." Maybe a contract will stop you from being raped. Maybe "better behavior."Failing that, if you are raped, your body had better showcase it in terms of "massive trauma" that we all know always manifests itself. And you'd better react the way the world around you damn well believes you should. If you don't, we'll call you stupid, jilted, bitter, foolish, greedy, crazy. A liar.Yeah, that's right. You're better off keeping quiet.

Viciousness and Ignorance From the Bench Doesn't Mean One is Removed From the Bench

The verbatim (from the Latin "word for word") record that is made in most felony level criminal cases in the US can haunt everyone involved, including the judge. In the case of a remarkably vicious rapist named Matin Gurel from Orange County, California, a judge was apparently and justly haunted by remarks he made at a sentencing that spared the rapist a decade in prison.Gurel had threatened to mutilate his victim's face, and to burn her vagina with a heated screwdriver. The Orange County District Attorney's Office asked for 16 years. The judge, a man still on the bench named Derek G. Johnson, gave him six. His reasoning, in his words: "I’m not a gynecologist, but I can tell you something. If someone doesn’t want to have sexual intercourse, the body shuts down. The body will not permit that to happen unless a lot of damage in inflicted, and we heard nothing about that in this case. That tells me that the victim in this case, although she wasn’t necessarily willing, she didn’t put up a fight."Judge Johnson, we can agree on one thing. You are most definitely not a gynecologist. Nor are you fit to sit in legal judgment of a parking ticket. The California Commission on Judicial Performance was right to publicly admonish you, but their sanction falls far short of what you deserve, which is banishment from the honor of the robe and the power that comes with it.