“At the beginning of the year, I noticed a MOSA (Men Opposing Sexual Assault) poster on the wall of a male neighbor’s apartment when he was showing me around after we first met,” University of Wisconsin sophomore Abby Schuh remembered. “I was pleasantly surprised until he said, ‘Yeah, I thought that was funny, so I stole it from a dorm and hung it up.'”
The founders of the student group pictured in the poster, later renamed Men Making a Difference, believe sexual assault is viewed all too often as just a women’s issue.
“We want to draw attention to the fact that men can take an active roll in ending sexual assault,” co-chair Dave Corkle said.
The group will raise awareness with an activity called “These Hands Are Not For Hurting” Thursday on Library Mall as part of Sexual Assault Awareness Month. According to Corkle, the group will encourage men to dip their hands in paint and put their prints on a giant sheet to symbolize their “personal commitments to nonviolence and support for sexual-assault survivors.”
The group’s main goals include educating men about sexual violence and promoting definitions of masculinity that are less likely to encourage violent behavior. Members speak to classes, dormitories and fraternities about sexual assault and masculinity.
“A lot of the guys have never thought about the issue before. There’s a lot of fear around changing the way we see masculinity because men are so busy proving they’re not gay,” Corkle said.
MMD co-chairwoman and Promoting Awareness Victim Empowerment education outreach coordinator Heather Logghe said such groups give men a comfortable environment to talk about abuse.
“At the same time, I think a lot of men are relieved they can finally talk about it,” Logghe said.
Typically, two male members of MMD speak with two female members of PAVE, a more female- and victim-oriented organization dedicated to ending sexual assault. The groups work closely together.
“I like to call us a brother organization,” Corkle said. “Men presenting makes it easier for men to think about their own behavior.”
Logghe expressed similar thoughts.
“For them to hear what it really feels like from a survivor, what the emotional consequences are, it’s really powerful,” Logghe said.
MMD and PAVE demonstrate how male and female groups can form a partnership. “Both groups are working to end sexual violence. PAVE is demonstrating the need to make a change, and MMD is presenting a method of creating the change,” Logghe said. “Women’s groups have done a great job creating awareness, but we need to join the women’s movement with a men’s movement,” she added.
MMD began two years ago, but men’s movements to end sexual violence have been around for decades.
The National Organization of Men Against Sexism, which has chapters in seven states, began in the 1970s. Men Stopping Violence began in Georgia in 1982. Men Can Stop Rape began in Washington, D.C., in 1987. The White Ribbon Campaign, now an international movement, began in Canada in 1991.
The Madison-based Men Stopping Rape began in 1983 after one founder went to a men’s conference and saw feminist activist Andrea Dworkin speak.
“She challenged men to create a truce in men’s war on women,” said president and 17-year member Joe Weinberg.
“I would say the way most men practice sex is not good. At the very least it’s devious, ranging into dishonest, ranging into coercive, ranging into assaultive,” Weinberg said.
“There’s no pressure on men from other men to change. That’s where the problem is. There are hundreds of men’s groups around the country, but there aren’t tens of thousands like there should be.”
