Men Organize to Stop Sexual Assault

by Anna Stanley, Publications Intern

This summer, four students from Central Michigan University will be walking across the country to increase the nation’s awareness of sexual assault. Michael "Charb" Charbonneau, Pat Hanlin, Steve McCallister and Joseph McCarty are members of One-in-Four, a group dedicated to educating men about their role in sexual assault.

"The scope of this problem is probably the biggest myth," member Joseph McCarthy observed. "People have no idea that rape is something that can happen to them and has happened to people close to them. Just getting people to realize [that one in four women will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime] is an enormous task."

The One-in-Four members were extensively trained and are Sexual Assault Peer Advocates (SAPA) at CMU. They present programs to men's groups on and off college campuses. "The Men's Program: How to Help a Sexual Assault Survivor, What a Man Can Do," consists of five parts: a definition of sexual assault, presentation of a police training video that describes male-on-male sexual assault, consideration of parallels between male-on-male sexual assault and male-on-female sexual assault, suggestions for how men can help a sexual assault survivor and discussion of ways to eliminate some causal effects of rape, such as sexism and apathy.

The four members of CMU's One-in-Four are marching across the country to educate male students that men commit 99 percent of the rapes in this country and that men are responsible for the change in behavior that will end rape. One-in-Four will be speaking whenever possible during their march, but because they are unsure of their walking rate, they have scheduled no specific dates. They invite anyone interested in eliminating sexual assault to join them on their walk. Information on how to join the walk can be found on their Web site: www.oneinfour.com.

CMU's One-in-Four organization is one of four in the country. University of Virginia, University of Maryland and James Madison also have chapters.