To listen to victims of sexual assault, to believe them and to get them professional help are the most important actions men can take when someone they know is assaulted. This advice comes from a group of men touring campuses to speak with college men about sexual assault.
Representatives from one of the 16 chapters of the 1 in 4 sexual assault group, who go on tour and visit college campuses around the country, came to Cabrini on Oct. 12 and explained to the men in attendance the seriousness of rape and how to respond to it.
A group of about 40 male Cabrini students exited through the doors of Grace Hall on that evening with a brain full of ways to help deal with females who have been sexually assaulted.
Chris, Dan, Matt and Grant, the four young men who are members of the National Organization of Men’s Outrage for Rape Education, which is a non-profit organization and heads the 1 in 4 group, explained to students over the course of an hour how to deal with rape when it has happened to someone they know or love and also how to prevent themselves from getting into a similar situation.
“We want to help make Cabrini a safer place,” the 1 in 4 group said. “We want to prevent these types of situations from happening and if they do happen, we want people to know how to help and handle them.”
Rape, which is sexual intercourse with another person against that person’s will, is a serious and repetitive problem through out the country and on college campuses especially.
Most of the time, males are the ones being accused due in large part to the fact that they do not know what is categorized as rape and that is why these kinds of groups tour campuses nation wide. They provide males with a program that is filled with loads of valuable information that is for men by men. One in four women have survived rape or have experienced rape in one way or another and this program is designed to help lower those numbers.
Scott Bordigon, a sophomore exercise science major, said, “I learned a lot from this program. The most important thing I am bringing from this is how to deal with the situation if someone I know has been sexually assaulted.”
“I learned the views of a person associated with the assault, the bystander, and how to deal with the situation,” George Walter, a sophomore criminal justice major, said.
The 1 in 4 group hopes that the males that were in attendance can become mentally aware of these scenarios and know exactly what to do when presented with these horrible situations.
They stressed the idea of listening to the victims, believing their stories, and seeking professional help.
“We just hope that these guys can become male leaders on campus,” the group said.
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Posted to the web by Shane Evans