Ways to Combat Rape-Prone Attitudes


  • Bring it Home: the victim could be you, your sister, your brother, your mother - We don't understand and can't relate to rape victims until it happens to someone close to us, such as our daughter or mother. The most effective prevention is to demonstrate that rape can happen to anyone, men , women, children and adults. Once we see how we would feel were we raped, we can develop understanding and compassion for those among us who really have been assaulted.

  • "Diversity" training, including sexual stereotypes: specific tools to belief in equality - To change our culture, we must create awareness of myths and stereotypical attitudes that affect peoples' understanding concerning rape. 

  • How to turn peer pressure into a positive force - Society needs to be made aware of what old thinking is established. Then this thinking needs to be challenged by highlighting the negative outcomes of wrong behavior. People will then be motivated to use the same pressure that reinforces inappropriate behavior and poor choices and reverse it so that it instead reinforces appropriate behavior and good choices. Peer pressure can be used, instead of fueling the rape culture, to get rid of it and inspire new ways of thinking. It can place responsibility on the rapist, so that he is held accountable. As long as we place responsibility on the victim, the rapists will not be rehabilitated and there will be no change.

  • Clear communication skills; willingness to not only hear, but respond appropriately with language and actions - NO MEANS NO. Anything but "YES" is a NO. If a person is under the influence of drugs and alcohol, they are incapable of giving consent, or a "YES".

  • Individual norms - what do you believe? - Regardless of individual beliefs, we all have a responsibility to follow the law. Rape is a crime.