Ideally, you're absolutely right

missbritt — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 07:28:01 -0500

I think you're right that the most powerful influence on a boy is how his father treats his mother. I also think they learn from how their mother interacts with their father, etc. - it shapes their opinion of women as well.

It's funny because I have a husband/father to my children now. But sometimes I forget about his role. My mother and I raised my two brothers. And boy can you tell they were influenced by two very strong women. :-)

Miss Britt

http://www.miss-britt.com

"Dignity is Overrated"

Fathers more than mothers...to sons

zuramchik — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 19:47:36 -0500

I think this article was great and touched the REAL points on trying to prevent sexual assault rather than dealing with the aftermath. I think more than mothers, fathers have to be the real educators on teaching the sons on how to be a real man. I truly believe actions speak louder than words and it starts at home, with the closest of people. If a father physically, verbally, and emotionally abuses the child's mother, it affects the boy more strongly than any television show or pop culture female exploitation. Fathers need to set the example and the foundation of this kind of knowledge, and mothers need to teach their children how to properly communicate, "handle", and respect women and girls.

Teaching our daughters... and our sons.

Liz Rizzo — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 12:29:16 -0500

Thank you so much for posting this on BlogHer, Britt. Truly such an important topic and you make excellent points.

Liz Rizzo

I blog at Everyday Goddess.

Right!

Denise — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:28:05 -0500

This is a point Eve Ensler was making when she talked about the men who are participating in VDay events.

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings

The Key To Preventing Rape: Our Sons

missbritt — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 06:36:26 -0500

Do you ever notice that when you talk about rape or abuse or sexual assault, people come out in droves to tell you that they’ve been through something similar?

And no one is surprised.

And why should they be? We’ve all heard the statistics. 1 in 6 women
(and 1 in 33 men) will be sexually assaulted. 60% are not reported to
the police. Every 2 minutes, someone in the US is sexually assaulted.
Approximately 73% of rape victims know their assailants.

It is alarming how often women are used and abused, seen as nothing
more than a means to an end. Or at least, it sure as hell should be
alarming.

Although, if you turn on the TV or sit through a modern day film,
you’re probably not at all surprised to see women exploited and
objectified over and over again. Hell, you may not even notice it
anymore.

So, what do we do?

We can donate money. We can counsel survivors. We can listen to
people tell their stories and we can even try and tell our own. We can
do everything we can to help these victims heal and get on with their
lives.

After the fact.

But is that enough? Shouldn’t we be trying to prevent this from happening in the first place?

I thought about this on Wednesday as I watched the comments come in.
I watched as person after person shared that they knew the pain
intimately, and I wished that it wasn’t so easy for so many people to
relate. I wondered what we could do to make a difference - what could I do to stop this from happening over and over again?

We can teach our daughters about safety. We can talk about dangerous
situations and teach them self defense. We can build them up so that
they know they deserve better than that. And to some degree, I think
that helps.

Except for the 73% of rape victims who are attacked by someone they know, and in most cases trust.

It occurred to me that perhaps the fatal flaw in our efforts is in
our focus on the women who so rightly evoke our compassion and sympathy.

The problem is not inherent in the victims and would-be victims. The
problem is inherent in the attackers and would-be rapists. The problem
is in the men and boys who grow up seeing women as objects to be
controlled and dominated.

In as much as it is our daughters who are most likely to become
victims, it is our sons who are most likely to become victimizers.

And that’s who needs to hear your story.

Your brothers. Your friends. Your nephews. And especially, your sons.

They need to know that “boys will be boys” is not an excuse. They
need to hear that the same morals and ethics and sexual standards that
we apply to our daughters apply to our sons. They need to know that
every woman they encounter, no matter how she’s dressed or how she
dances or how much she has had to drink, is someone’s daughter. Or
sister. Or mother.

They need to know that you don’t have to be better than a woman to be a real man.

They need to be told that “you’re such a girl” is not an acceptable insult.

They need to be taught that it is not tolerable to leer at a woman
and strip away her humanity so that you can get a better view of her
tits and ass, simply because you don’t know her.

And they need to hear it from us. They need to hear when we shut off
the radio and turn the channel on the TV as a reminder that
exploitation is never “normal”. They need to hear it from their fathers
who refrain from objectifying women in the name of male bonding.

If the statistics and climate of sexual assault is going to change,
it is our sons as much as our daughters who need to hear our stories.
And they need to hear it from you.

BlogHer - The Key To Preventing Rape: Our Sons - Comments

Ideally, you're absolutely right

Fathers more than mothers...to sons

Teaching our daughters... and our sons.

Right!

The Key To Preventing Rape: Our Sons