Directly engage men student-athletes in sexual assault prevention efforts, advocates say
Dive Temporary:
- Males student-athletes say they lack the information and abilities to function lively bystanders relating to stopping sexual assault, regardless of having the need to take action, according to a new report from It’s On Us, a company devoted to stopping campus sexual assault. Surveyed athletes additionally stated they do not think about their faculties’ consciousness and prevention applications to be efficient.
- It is On Us recommends faculties provide prevention training that features statistics on and examples of the spectrum of wholesome to unhealthy relationships, in addition to of abusive behaviors.
- Placing gender-inclusive examples into prevention applications is pivotal to combating the stereotype that males should not inclined to sexual and home violence, the report stated. Programming also needs to spotlight a university’s reporting procedures and help sources for survivors who’re males, in addition to how athletes can help teammates who expertise sexual misconduct or home abuse.
Dive Perception:
Research shows as many as 1 in 4 undergraduate ladies and 1 in 20 undergraduate males report sexual misconduct.
However It’s On Us discovered {that a} majority of surveyed males athletes do not know their faculty’s coverage for responding to sexual misconduct. And people who have been accustomed to it stated they did not belief the faculty’s responses, based mostly on conversations that they had had with survivors who reported assaults.
Between November 2022 and January 2023, It’s On Us held focus teams for 710 males athletes on membership groups, group faculty groups, and all NCAA divisions. Simply over 2 in 5 athletes stated somebody had disclosed an incident of sexual assault or home violence to them, the report stated.
Males student-athletes have been more likely to imagine and help survivors who disclosed assaults on to them, the report stated. However the athletes have been additionally involved that sexual assault allegations and the repercussions might be used in opposition to them or their teammates. Analysis reveals lower than 4.5% of sexual assault and home violence accusations are false, based on the report.
School prevention trainings ought to share this info and work to undo dangerous stereotypes about people who make sexual assault allegations, the report stated.
And as an alternative of specializing in what males student-athletes should not do, It is On Us beneficial reframing prevention applications by way of the lens of what these males ought to do, equivalent to asking for consent. This lens is very productive for teams like sports activities groups which have shared identities or experiences, based on the report.
