10 Things Anyone Can Do To Help Prevent Rape and Sexual Assault
A violence prevention program from UB.
Take a Stand, Join the Good Guys
1. Be aware of language. Words are powerful, especially when spoken by people with power. When we see people as inferior, it becomes easier to treat them with less respect, disregard their rights, and ignore their well-being.
2. Communicate. Sexual violence often goes hand in hand with poor communication. Our discomfort with talking honestly and openly about sex dramatically raises the risk of rape. State your desires clearly, listen to your partner, and ask when the situation is unclear - you can make sex safer for yourself and others.
3. Speak Up. You will probably never see a rape in progress, but you will see and hear attitudes and behaviors that degrade and promote rape. When you hear a joke about rape, speak up. When you read an article that blames a rape survivor, write a letter to the editor. Do anything but remain silent.
4. Support survivors of rape. Rape will not be taken seriously until everyone knows how common it is. By learning to sensitively support survivors in their lives, we can help both women and men feel safer to speak out about being raped and let the world know how serious a problem rape is.
5. Contribute Your Time or Money. Donate time or money to an organization working to prevent violence against women in our community.
6. Organize. Join an organization dedicated to stopping violence against women, like The Men's Group here at UB. Men's Anti-Rape groups are powerful in the fight to end sexual violence.
7. Talk with women... about how the risk of being raped affects their daily lives; about how they want to be supported if it has happened to them; about what they think men can do to prevent sexual violence. If you're willing to listen, you can learn a lot from women about the impact of rape and how to stop it.
8. Talk with men... about how it feels to be seen as a potential rapist; about the fact that 1 in 6 males will be sexually abused in their lifetimes; about whether they know someone who's been raped. Learn how sexual violence touches the lives of men and what we can do to stop it.
9. Work to end ALL oppressions. Rape feeds off of prejudices like racism, homophobia, and religious discrimination. Speaking out against beliefs or behaviors (like rape) that promote one group of people as superior to another and deny other groups their full humanity, you support everyone's equality.
10. Always make sure it's consensual. If you're going to have sex, make sure it's consensual. Consensual sex is when both partners freely and willingly agree to whatever sexual activity is occurring. Consent cannot be given legally when an individual is intoxicated. Consent is an active process, you cannot assume you have consent - you need to ask.
