Workshop promotes awareness

Freshmen participated in an interactive presentation on rape awareness Sunday at the McNutt Quad Flame Room. The presentation showed a male student slip drugs into a female partygoer's drink. Then, a couple discussed unprotected sex. The audience saw one girl tell her resident assistant she'd been raped. All before the first week of classes.\nFor 45 minutes, these students were part of a program subsidized by the Commission on Personal Safety.\n"Surviving the Best Four Years of Your Life," the scenario-based presentation, focused primarily on personal choices and responsibilities and their effect on situational outcomes.\nThe skit began with headlines from past editions of the IDS detailing incidents of date rape, drug and alcohol abuse and sexually transmitted diseases. After the video portion, students enacted scenarios covering such topics as binge drinking, date rape and sexual assault, illegal substances, sexually transmitted diseases and relationship violence. \nThese issues hit close to home for presenter Matt Donovan, who has worked in rape awareness since 1989.\nDonovan remembers listening to two female guest speakers at a fraternity house as an IU freshman. While he recognized the importance of rape prevention, Donovan felt the women's method of presentation wasn't very effective.\n"They were basically telling an audience of all men that they were the cause of rape and only they could stop it," Donovan said. "The message was off. Men need to understand they're part of the problem and part of the solution and there are proactive ways to educate them about that."\nAfter each scene, presenter Sharlene Toney and Donovan raised the question of responsibility, challenging the audience to decide who was at fault in each situation.\nIn a scenario depicting relationship violence, Toney advised students to understand how to handle a potentially volatile relationship.\n"The moment violence enters a relationship, it's unhealthy," Toney said. "It's a cycle of violence."\nThat cycle begins with "tension building," in which a small incident provokes anger, ending ultimately in a violent act. The incident is then followed with reconciliation, in which the victim denies the fault of her assailant. Upon reaching this "calm point," Toney said, the victim often thinks the situation will never repeat itself. But more than 30 percent of Americans will experience relationship violence either verbally or physically, and many of those cases will go unreported, she said.\nThe program also focused explicitly on rape prevention. While the rapist is ultimately at fault in assault situations, men must also assume responsibility for their male friends, Toney said. Often, one man's perceptions of women directly influence the perspectives of his friends.\nAnd, she stressed, "it's never a woman's fault when she is raped -- period."\nAn estimated one in four women is raped or sexually assaulted in her lifetime, according to Toney. \nThree out of four women are the victims of attempted assault. \nOf those assaults, 84 percent are date and acquaintance rapes, meaning the victim knew her assailant, Donovan said. One in 10 women will report the assault. \nProgram coordinator Debbie Melloan-Ruiz said the number of women reporting rape and sexual assault has not increased significantly during the past decade. Her program is presented in hopes of raising awareness of responsibility and the role of individual attitudes in shaping outcomes. Melloan-Ruiz has worked with the Sexual Assault Crisis Center as well as the Commission on Personal Safety for the past 11 years.\n"We hope this program will send the message that IU takes these issues seriously," Melloan-Ruiz said. "We want students to know this is a safe place where they can see action taken."\nDonovan also presented options for students whose friends may have been the victims of sexual assault. \n"Check yourself first," Donovan advised. "You need to know if you can handle the situation."\nThen, the friend must "listen without judgment," remembering the rape was never the victim's fault. After listening to the account of the situation, friends can provide resources for professional help, but the decision to seek those resources or legal retribution ultimately rests with the victim.\n"Rape is a power crime acted upon in a sexual venue," Donovan said. "If you make the decision for the victim, you're taking the power from her -- just as the rapist did."\nCathy Brucker, a student who lives in Foster Quad, came to the meeting with a few girls from her floor. She felt the message was relevant, although a few issues were a bit redundant.\n"A lot of the stuff I already knew," Brucker said, "but it was definitely a good reminder"