#ActionsInformCulture Newsletter (09.11.19)

Actions Inform Culture is an activation focused on ending sexual harassment and assault. Policies and laws alone will not solve these violent problems; the onus rests on individuals and societies to end rape culture and violence.

In 2018, FiveThirtyEight released a study that indicates Toxic Masculinity and the Bystander Effect are more to blame for sexual assualt than alcohol itself. While there is still an intense prevalence of alcohol in relation to sexual assault - half of all sexual assaults involve alcohol consumption - both men who reported committing fewer and more assaults over time reported drinking less as they got older. 

The men who committed fewer assaults over time also reported falling rates of impulsivity, hostility toward women, and beliefs that supported rape. The men whose rates of assault were going up, in contrast, reported a growing sense of peer support for forced sex, peer pressure, pornography use, and hostility toward women.

So, what can we do? In one study, researchers randomly assigned college men to participate in a program that combined bystander intervention training with other kinds of education about consent and sexual violence. Six months later, after administering follow-up surveys, researchers found the odds of committing sexual assault were 73% lower for men who had completed the training. The lesson is clear: don't be a passive bystander. If you see something, say something.

Research shows that 90% of sexual assaults are committed by repeat offenders, and statistics show that 99% of them will get away with it. By stopping repeat offenders alone, we can prevent 59% of all sexual assault on college campuses.
Today, we repeat words that we have said before: only "yes" means yes.  It is up to all of us to step in if something doesn't look right. 

As Chanel Miller wrote near the end of her testimony in 2016:

"Most importantly, thank you to the two men who saved me, who I have yet to meet. I sleep with two bicycles that I drew taped above my bed to remind myself there are heroes in this story. That we are looking out for one another. To have known all of these people, to have felt their protection and love, is something I will never forget."