Section Editor: Shelly Clevenger

In my Victimology and/or Sex Offender classes, I present this list to students to talk about how we can approach rape education differently. I have them read through the list and then facilitate a discussion about the ideas presented on this list. I ask them to provide examples of how these things could be achieved, as well as to provide new ideas in rape education for men.

Activity- Ways We Can Teach Men Not to Rape

  1. Teach young men about legal consent.  A woman who is drunk, unconscious or sleeping cannot give legal consent.  It is not about a woman simply saying “no,” it’s really about making certain she’s saying yes!
  2. Teach young men to see women’s humanity, instead of seeing them as sexual objects for male pleasure.
  3. Teach young men how to express healthy masculinity. The messages that men get around masculinity from a young age are too often about violence and about exerting power and control.  We need to challenge the definition of masculinity as inherently violent or aggressive.
  4. Teach young men to believe women and girls who come forward.  There is a misleading perception that many or most rape claims are false.  That is simply untrue.  When a victim comes forward, they are committing an act of extreme bravery, and we owe it to them, to support (leaving the criminal investigation to law enforcement) them and place blame directly and solely on the perpetrator.
  5. Teach males about bystander intervention.