Prevention

Tips for "preventing" violence against women have historically focused on the behavior of the victims and have ignored the behavior of perpetrators. Women (who represent over 90% of the victims of sexual assault, stalking, and domestic violence) have been warned of the dangers of overalls, ponytails, cell phones, alleyways, and nighttime, while men (who represent over 90% of the perpetrators of these crimes) have been either lectured about jail or ignored altogether. For too long there has been a dangerous assumption that "boys will be boys" and women will have to adjust their freedoms to protect themselves from perpetrators. This antiquated notion fails to hold men who perpetuate violence accountable for their actions. It not only threatens the rights of women, but harms men as well by implying that the majority of men are rapists, or batterers, or stalkers, when in fact, the majority of men are not.

Certainly, there are some common-sense things that all of us can do to attempt to guard our community from predators. It also makes sense for women to learn how to defend themselves against attacks since we are socialized to submit, to appease, to surrender. However, it is important to keep in mind that the majority of assaults against women are perpetrated by someone known to them, not a masked stranger hiding in a bush.

Women are not raped, battered, or stalked because of anything they do or fail to do, but because of something the perpetrator chooses to do. Thus, prevention messages must be focused on potential perpetrators, not on potential victims. So, when we talk about prevention, we are talking about ending violence by challenging the cultural values that perpetuate it and holding accountable the individuals who perpetrate it. Our prevention efforts focus on working with men to challenge their peers and to be role models for others. We work to raise awareness about the devaluation of women through language, media, and policy.

The Rape Reduction Education and Training Program’s prevention messages target the culture that supports violence, not the victims of the violence.