Men and Women as Allies against Sexual Violence

Throughout the course of Crystal Feimster’s Southern Horrors, Rebecca Felton’s stance on the most appropriate ways to protect and empower southern women changes. However, one constant was challenging the power of southern white men over the southern women: “White women’s acts of public protest and violent self-defense not only served as a political challenge to the image of he dependent and fragile southern belle, but also called into question southern white men’s ability to protect southern womanhood, a complaint that would carry over into the racial and sexual politics of Reconstruction and the New South” (Feimster, Southern Horrors, 27).  From class discussion and what I have observed in my personal life, I believe that this idea is still prominent in today’s conversations about rape. In both public and private life, young women are taught many different ways to protect themselves from sexual assault: wear conservative clothing, never walk alone at night, carry mace, and many more. It is still the woman’s responsibility to ensure that she is prepared to defend herself, rather than teaching men appropriate behaviors.

It was while reading the quote from page 27 that I remembered seeing a campaign online featuring men, usually in a bar, with a scenario of how they stood up for their female (and in other cases, male) friend, and “took a stand.” Upon further research I found the Men Can Stop Rape campaign, which began in 1997, but has found recent popularity. In the history section on their website they state: “Men Can Stop Rape continues to mentor male youth and successfully mobilize them to prevent men’s violence against women and other men; inspire young men to create their own positive definitions of masculinity, manhood, and strength; develop healthy relationships with others; embrace the concept of personal responsibility; work in partnership with female peers; and do their part to end violence and build safe communities” (http://www.mencanstoprape.org). Rather than engage in violence against men who rape, such as the lynching that occurred in the late 1800’s, men today are being taught to intelligently interfere with situations leading toward sexual assault. This mentality relates back to Felton’s approach to empowering southern women in the early 1900’s: “Although the issues surrounding rape and lynching remained crucial components of her political campaign for female protection and equal rights, she eventually gave up praising southern white men for lynching black men, and instead came to speak again of mob violence as an inadequate means of empowering white womanhood” (Feimster, 187). Over a century later, the idea that one of the most effective ways to empower women and stop sexual assault may be men and women working together without forms of violence is in effect.

            There are obviously a lot of differences between Rebecca Felton’s work and the Men Can Stop Rape campaign, but one fundamental change is the concept of empowering men with the means to protect women (and, as a result of today’s society, other men) rather than supplying women with a means of protecting themselves. Compared to the previous “don’t get raped” rather than “don’t rape” approach to sexual assault many of us are familiar with, this campaign reminds men that they have the ability to help a friend and stop a potentially bad situation. Also, the Men Can Stop Rape campaign encourages communication between both men and women as a means of controlling the situation rather than placing the responsibility on one or the other: “In 2009, Men Can Stop Rape successfully convened over three hundred professionals, advocates, and activists for a two-day national conference. “Men and Women as Allies: A National Conference on the Primary Prevention of Men’s Violence Against Women” was a first for the primary prevention field. High profile media coverage, as well as billboards in Times Square and Las Vegas, has also strengthened Men Can Stop Rape’s visibility and credibility” (http://www.mencanstoprape.org). The issues that Rebecca Felton was dealing with in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, such as gender equality, sexual violence, and protection are all issues that are still being dealt with today. Race issues are still also very prominent, but in relation to sexual assault and the Men Can Stop Rape campaign, they have been pushed aside in favor of cooperation between males and females to end sexual violence. Felton’s work toward ending mob violence against accused rapists, and empowering women to defend themselves has transformed into communication between men in women in order to protect women’s rights.

Example of the current Men Can Stop Rape campaign