Rachel Blount: Violence against women should be addressed before it occurs

A violence prevention program created by Jackson Katz has been used by more than 100 colleges and universities and pro teams.

By Rachel Blount, Star Tribune

Last update: July 23, 2007 - 10:27 PM

The scenario: At a party, you see a male friend trying to get an obviously drunk woman to leave with him. She's not just buzzed; she's stumbling over her own feet. You know the woman, and she seems reluctant.

What should you do?

That question is posed to male college athletes participating in the MVP (Mentors in Violence Prevention) program. Creator Jackson Katz, a Boston native living in Los Angeles, teaches that they can help prevent violence against women -- and challenge negative stereotypes about athletes -- by using their status to stand up, speak out and do the right thing. Or they could do what three Gophers football players are alleged to have done when faced with similar circumstances: Invite a teammate over and make a cell-phone video of him having sex with the incapacitated woman.

Once they knew of that evidence, university officials took the appropriate action by kicking all four players off the team. But if coach Tim Brewster, athletic director Joel Maturi and President Robert Bruininks are serious about addressing the problem of violence against women, they will intensify efforts to prevent it.

"We need to implement prevention programs proactively, not reactively," said Katz, whose MVP program has been used by more than 100 colleges and universities as well as NFL and major league baseball teams. "That's the way to go, instead of lurching from one tragedy to the next and scrambling to do PR cover."

Katz added: "There is no excuse for not doing it. If more student-athletes challenged other men on sexist, abusive behavior toward women, they would provide leadership on this huge problem."

There has been surprisingly little research on whether athletes commit more sexual assaults than nonathletes. The most widely cited study, by Todd Crosset and Jeff Benedict, examined 10 Division I schools over three years and found that athletes represented 3.3 percent of the student body but were accused of 19 percent of reported sexual assaults on campus.

That study is 12 years old and has been criticized for its small sample size. But the anecdotal evidence paints a troubling picture. In the past several months, two football players at the State University of New York at Albany pleaded guilty to raping a female student in their dorm room. Shortly after quitting the team, Purdue linebacker Kyle Williams was convicted of beating two women and trying to rape one, and he is charged with another beating and sex assault. Three football players at Hibbing Community College and a former teammate were charged with raping an 18-year-old girl.

Donna Dunn, executive director of the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault, hopes the criminal sexual conduct charges against Dominic Jones and the ongoing investigation of three teammates will prompt the U to clarify its policy on such incidents -- and encourage more public discussion on the causes, nature and prevention of sexual violence.

"I would love for this to be an opportunity for the public to become more engaged in solving this problem," Dunn said. "There is a lot of work to be done to educate people about the crime of sexual violence. So many people draw conclusions based on mythology. I hope this can be a wake-up call."

The mythology, Dunn said, includes the belief that most rape reports are false. In reality, statistics show only a 2 percent rate of bogus reports, the same as for other crimes. There also is the tendency to blame the victim. Dunn received an anonymous letter Monday asserting that the woman who made the complaint against the Gophers players should have known what she was getting into by going to a party and drinking.

The dismissal of the four players and the legal aftermath will not change all of those longstanding beliefs. But perhaps it can force serious scrutiny of the cultural factors involved in sexual assault. Katz and Dunn both noted that all young men, not just athletes, are growing up in a society that desensitizes them to abusive behavior and sends mixed messages about how they should treat women.

Some might believe it's funny or macho or OK to have sex with an unconscious woman and make a video of it. It's a crime, plain and simple. As the U cleans up the mess, it should focus just as intently on the message, reminding its athletes that true strength and power come from doing the right thing.

Rachel Blount • rblount@startribune.com