PARC is very excited to welcome a brand new member to our team - our 2014 / 2015 Intern! Take a moment to meet Sarah and learn all about her passion and drive. We're super glad to have her on the team!
----------

My name is Sarah and I live in a small farming town in the central valley of California.

I am currently at my local community college, having recently graduated high school a year early in the top 10% of my class. One of the top reasons I left school was because I was bullied throughout high school. That ultimately led me to want to stand up for myself and others.

I am a communications major studying to be a journalist. I am a full time college student and also work in a restaurant as a busser. I also am a Christian. I enjoy reading, especially Stephen King books. I play about twelve musical instruments, speak French, and I am on the road to learning sign language.

I found PARC while preparing a presentation for a public speaking class. Our assignment was to deliver a speech on a topic about which we are passionate. I immediately thought of the injustice rape victims face and found the term rape culture. From there i found PARC, saw that they were looking for an intern and immediately applied.

I got involved with PARC because of their mission to stand up to rape culture. It really made sense to me, this idea of a culture where it is the victim’s fault and the rapists rarely get jail time. I joined because this culture perpetuates the idea that women are objects and men are mindless and animalistic - and I want to change that!

I will be helping PARC by writing articles focusing on the perspective of a college student. I will also be running the PARC tumblr page. I’m really excited to be sharing and also learning more from others. I am excited to be a part of an organization that is making a difference.

I want to help change this culture for my two little sisters, who are being taught that spaghetti straps are a distraction to boys’ learning. That they will be looked at inappropriately, and that it should be a compliment. They will be taught to tolerate harassment from boys and men, because that’s just how it is. They will be taught that if they wear a short skirt, or show skin they are putting themselves at risk for an attack. That if the go to a party and get drugged they should have watched their drink. That they will probably be harassed or discriminated against in school if they were to come out as gay or bisexual. 

I want people to know that if someone says no, it doesn’t mean let me convince you. I believe our society does have a rape culture, but I also believe nothing is broken beyond repair. I want to be a part of the change, for my friends, my sisters and ultimately for generations to come.
---------
Welcome aboard, Sarah! Check out her latest work at PARC's tumblr page.

By Ashley Medley
Just before college students filed into the dorms this fall, Congress (spearheaded by Senator Claire McCaskill) introduced the Campus Accountability and Safety Act or “CASA” .

There are two laws that, up until now, dictated how educational institutions dealt with cases of sexual assault - the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, known as the “Cleary Act” and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.

There is a lot to like about CASA. There hasn’t been any major updates to sexual assault legislation among academic institutions since 1990. Here’s what has happened since then…

• Prior to 2012, the federal definition of rape had not been altered since 1927. It stated that “forcible rape [was] the carnal knowledge of a female, forcibly and against her will.” This definition excluded a long list of sexual offenses and crimes, including oral and anal penetration and penetration with objects, as well as rapes of males. The current, updated federal definition of rape is, “The penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.” This definition was effective January 1, 2013.
  
• The Violence Against Women Act was passed in 1994, with reauthorizations passing ever since.
  
• The Hillory J. Farias and Samantha Reid Date-Rape Drug Prohibition Act was passed in 2000.
  
• The Department of Justice conducted a Campus Sexual Assault Study in 2007
  
• The Bureau of Justice Statistics’ National Crime Victimization Survey was conducted in 2010. 

So it might be time to reevaluate whether our laws reflect the society in which we now live.

Unfortunately, CASA isn’t as comprehensive as we hoped. Many colleges and university judicial systems claim that Senator McCaskill’s proposed legislation reads as though she did not take to heart the feedback from her three Capitol Hill roundtable discussions this summer. One of the most common refrains heard from folks actually dealing with these cases at schools is the conflicting guidance between Cleary and Title IX. Many hoped that Senator McCaskill’s anticipated legislation would clarify what were intended to be basic instructions for administrators, campus police and other actors in the chain of responding and reporting to these. In the eyes of many people close to the issue, this legislation falls short of its intended goal - and it hasn’t even passed yet.

And does it even have a chance of passage?

This legislation was announced practically moments before both houses of Congress left on August recess. There hasn’t been much journalism on this bill. This was understandable in August, as the shooting of Michael Brown in McCaskill’s home state of Missouri occurred just days after the introduction of CASA. Introduction of CASA was timed for the back-to-school season, with the vote open to occur at any time while Congress is in session. Since then, our news media has turned its attention to Airstrikes in Syria, ISIS, the Ebola outbreak - all leading up to a November off-year election dominated by the Republican party. The chances of a CASA passage are looking pretty low.

Meanwhile, on the state-level, we have an example of what strong legislation looks like that addresses prevention of sexual assault. The hotly discussed California “Yes means Yes” law that passed last month applies to colleges that receive state funding. We’re fans of this law at PARC, and give it our enthusiastic consent! (wink) The law calls for "affirmative, conscious and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity" that is "ongoing throughout a sexual activity and can be revoked at any time." That is, a law that approaches campus sexual assault and rape at the prevention level and is focused on educating college students on the difference between consensual sex and sexual assault. With one law, the fault and blame shifted from the accusing to the accused.

So here are my questions: why does CASA address just colleges? Some say the best defense for this law is that this will get a conversation going about what consent is and what a crime is - whether it’s worthy of expulsion from your university or criminal punishment by the state. We, at PARC, want to help guide this conversation. But why stop just in California? Why couldn’t Sen. McCaskill's bill have been more like Yes Means Yes?

 by Liz Puloka

#YesAllWomen quickly became a movement beyond the hashtag that elicited enormous and widespread response validating the omnipresent dangers of street harassment, sexual assault, and victim blaming that the vast majority of women face daily. The response from #NotAllMen challenging that reality was a chorus of earnest voices chiming in about their innocence, claiming unawareness and doubt about the pervasiveness of gender-based harassment and violence that women face. Needless to say, this was unappreciated for how it re-centered the conversation around a guy needing to validate his innocence while invalidating the lived experiences of women, and also because that kind of conversation does nothing to change or ameliorate hostile environments women live in. My feeling is along the lines of: 'You're not that type of guy? That's great. What do you do to show that to people? What's that? Not speak up when someone is being catcalled on the street? Not step in when some lecher is creeping in on a girl on the metro? Not tell your friend who won't stop bothering me at the bar that he should lay off? Got it.'

Here's the gig: I'm sure there are some women out there who think all men are harassers, and my guess is that would be because they face harassment from the males in their lives. However, I and probably every woman I know knows that not all men are like that. But they probably also know that not all men will let other guys know that by calling out and challenging abusive behavior and harassment. In fact, very few men will. In my many years of walking the streets, taking the metro, socializing and just generally existing in the world, never, NEVER, has a guy stepped up and interrupted a guy making inappropriate or abusive comments or behaviors to me. But a whole lot of guys have averted their eyes, buried their faces in their paper, turned away, or just generally tried to ignore it. And I get it, I do. Stepping in to challenge someone being aggressive risks having that attention turned towards you and that can be unpleasant and scary. But sitting there and thinking 'I'm not like that guy' is doing nothing to show the target of the harassment and the other people around you that you aren't like that guy. In fact, what it looks more like is like you are ok with that behavior. So if the only way you are showing women you are not like those other guys is to interrupt their testimonies to absolve yourself and not by enacting this benevolence in ways that actually help women and show other men you are not like that, then that sucks and you should really be quiet. Oops, got a little fresh there. But I'm serious. Enacting #NotAllMen does nothing to change the pervasive acceptance of harassment that women face, and instead channels energy and attention into making sure you don't look or feel bad. Which is a poor way to listen to the plight of others, and comes off as whiny and petulant. So! What's a modern man to do if he wants people to know that he is a man who respects women and doesn't stand for their abuse and harassment? You act it. You go public. You speak up and out.

In this series we are going to highlight men who speak up and act to fight violence against women, be they athletes, actors, politicians, or men in our communities. We do this not in the vein of some of the praise for male feminists and allies, because really treating other people like human beings should be a given. We do this to highlight these men as examples because it's rare for men to speak out like this, and we should acknowledge the ones that do and feature them as models and mentors for others. Particularly young boys who look to examples in their worlds to figure out how to treat other people. And what better example of dominant masculinity than football players? Let's start there.

After the Ray Rice scandal, lots of people and players were challenging the trending conversations that were coupling football players and violence, big dominant men and abuse towards women and the like, saying that scandal and bad behavior lead to more headlines than the alternative, of which they argue there is plenty in NFL players. And they're right. Guys like William Gay with the Steelers and Jason Witten with the Dallas Cowboys are two such examples that we'd like to highlight.

Both of these guys grew up feeling the harsh effects of domestic violence early on. Witten talks about his mother having the courage to leave his abusive father and move her kids back to her parents' place in Tennessee, where Witten's grandfather was able to be a positive male role model for his grandson. Today the Cowboys tight end looks back at his journey and sees where he is now and understands that he is in a great position to help other families affected by domestic violence. His SCORE foundation has launched several initiatives to help women and children affected by domestic violence. His SCOREkeepers program puts trained male mentors into shelters to be positive male role models for kids in an effort to help break the cycle of violence that so many kids experience and learn, and his Coaching Boys Into Men program launched in 2010 to train coaches to educate their players about dating violence.

Similarly, William Gay grew up to be a survivor of domestic abuse. At age 7, his stepfather fatally shot his mother before taking his own life, leaving Gay and his siblings without parents and with a lot of pain and questions. He talks about his evolution as an angry kid to quiet football player to a man who speaks up when domestic violence is the topic. In a piece he wrote to open about his experience and work with domestic violence, he touches upon the silence that often enshrouds domestic violence and allows it to go unchecked.

“Last year, I was with a couple teammates and the issue of domestic violence came up. Someone said, “What if you found out your teammate or your friend was beating up his wife or girlfriend? Would you intervene?” The answers were mixed. Some said yes, but others said no—that it should be none of our business, stay out of other people’s personal lives. That’s the problem. Answers like that are why domestic violence is still an issue. I told everyone, “Look, I don’t care who you are, if I find out you are hurting a woman, I’m going to say something to you and I’m going to do something about it.” In our society, grown men are taught to mind their own business and that it’s not OK to get involved. We need to figure out a way to fix that trend.

He goes on to say that the league should be stepping up to help players like Ray Rice with programs and support for healthy relationships before anyone gets hurt, let alone killed. In a wise and compassionate turn he diverges from the stance that many of his league cohort have and instead says he would like to reach out to Rice because what abusers need is education and training, a more effective way to fight domestic violence than to be condemned and cast out and forgotten about.

Men off the field have chimed in as well, with CBS anchor James Brown and ESPN's Keith Olbermann delivering searing criticism of not only Rice but the silence and inaction by others that enables abusers. Indeed part of why their speeches were so stirring is the relative rarity of hearing men make such calls to action from other men, demanding change on a cultural level so that women are not disregarded so easily, thereby making their value and wellness easy to discount.

Not all men have the courage and compassion to speak up against discrimination and violence against women, but these ones do. These guys show their strength by standing up and speaking out as powerful and compelling role models, and they have some great things to say about how real men treat others.

On a hot and sunny September afternoon in DC, a fraternity at American University hosted a fundraising event to raise awareness around rape culture and contribute support and partnership in the fight against campus sexual assault. Reflecting recent initiatives taken by 7 other fraternities nationwide, Lambda Chi Alpha invited PARC to speak and participate in the day's event which rallied a raucous crowd of fellow fraternity and sorority members to carve, roll, toss, and eventually slip-n-slide in a whole lotta watermelon. All totaled, the day raised $1500 for PARC, and immeasurable fun and community building as we spent the afternoon connecting with young and engaged college students who are taking seriously the call to all of us to fight rape and sexual assault on campus. College campuses are a hotbed of sexual assault, and the more students join together as peers and allies to create cultures of respect and consent the further we come in our efforts to dismantle rape cultures and encourage healthy relationships and lives. A huge thank you to the event coordinators, and to all who came out to participate!  

Fraternities are often front and center in discussions of campus sexual assault, with countless stories of assaults taking place at hosted parties and often by fraternity members. And it’s little wonder; if rape and sexual assault thrive in cultures that silence and shame victims, prize male heterosexual domination and encourage a double standard when it comes to sexual activity, then the frat house makes sense as a locus of high risk for many young college women looking to socialize alongside their peers. While not surprising, this reality stands in stark contrast to the language and the missions of many of these fraternal organizations, formed ostensibly as social clubs meant to enrich and nurture young men to be contributing and meaningful members of their communities, full of leadership and integrity. Thankfully, amongst the milieu of fraternities acting badly and ex-presidents speaking delusionally, there are some voices calling for that leadership and integrity and change from within.

Recent high-profile tragedies have brought Greek life into the same ignominious limelight the NFL is squirming under now, with enough public outcry from concerned and bereft parents, funders, and community members spurring big changes in how fraternities address safety. The Fraternal Health and Safety Initiative was recently launched as a consortium of eight prestigious national fraternities pledging to come together to change the way greek life contributes to sexual assault, binge drinking, and hazing. Just last week 21 fraternities at the University of Indiana released poignant and encouraging statements against sexual assault, and in just a few days, a fraternity at American University will be making a similar, if not messier, statement about how seriously they take campus sexual assault and the particular importance of their leadership and participation as fraternity members.

We at PARC were pleasantly surprised and thoroughly excited to have American University senior Colin Scott reach out to us on behalf of his chapter of Lambda Chi Alpha, to see if we would be interested in being beneficiary’s of their annual fund raising event. Lambda Chi Alpha is one of the fraternities to have recently joined the Fraternal Health and Safety Initiative, and Colin Scott and his brothers are walking that talk by organizing a fun event this saturday September 27th at American University designed to raise awareness, encourage responsibility and accountability, and support community efforts to fight campus sexual assault. At a time when the vast majority of news coming out of campus sexual assault is rife with victim-blaming, trauma and hate, it is refreshing and critical to hear stories like this of young men on college campuses talking about responsibility and engaging their peers to join them in creating cultures of respect and consent. Read on for an interview with Colin Scott and his brothers talking about why sexual assault is important to them and what they are doing about it.


PARC: Rape and sexual assault have really come to the fore of national public attention in the past few years, with key populations and institutions being revealed as likely spaces of cultures that harbor frighteningly high rates of sexual violence. Being that the ‘campus’ is one of these hot spots for sexual assault, and fraternities and their parties especially implicated, we were both surprised and excited to have you as a representative of your fraternity reach out to us for a fundraising event. Can you tell us how and why you decided to approach us as an organization?
Colin: Fraternities as a whole have carried the reputation of being hotbeds for rape culture for years, and frighteningly, it is not simply a stereotype. On campuses across the country, fraternities share the values of respect, duty and integrity, and if they are true to these values, then fraternity houses should be one of the safest places on campus for a woman to go to – but that is not the case. Instead, fraternity houses are one of the most dangerous places for a woman to go to. This is indicative of a systemic flaw in Greek culture, and it needs to be addressed.

It is not our intention to sit here and condemn other Greek organizations of being part of the problem, because up until now, my own organization was content to sit on the sideline and take the “Well, we’re not like that” approach. I wanted to redirect the focus of our philanthropy toward this cause, but I wanted to find the right organization before really pushing the idea on the rest of the chapter.

I looked through dozens of organizations both on the national and local level, and finally settled on PARC, because I think that it is working to address the root of the problem. There are many other organizations out there that are doing amazing work for survivors of sexual assault, but I was really drawn by the idea of this education program having a ripple effect, and stopping sexual violence before it ever happens. Once I decided on PARC, I introduced it to the chapter and they were fully onboard with it – they are so excited to put on this event and support an organization that is making a positive impact on the world.


PARC: As college students and members of the Greek system, you are perfectly positioned to observe rape culture on campus, and it’s various manifestations. How do you approach this culture and it’s discourses? How does Lambda Chi Alpha discuss and approach sexual assault and rape culture?
Colin: As a group, we take our values and teachings very seriously. Respect is one of our seven core values, and we hold each other accountable. Our teachings are not geared specifically toward fighting rape culture, but when we hold education sessions, that is always a topic that is discussed, especially in regards to respect.


PARC: Some key messages around rape and sexual assault involve things like consent, bystander intervention, victim­-blaming, and responsibility. How are these messages filtering down to you and your cohort? That is, what is the general interpretation(s) or response to these messages, and do you see areas for improvement?
Colin: Even before the recent events on our campus last semester, I, and the rest of my brothers, took all of these seriously. Before freshmen are eligible to rush, they are given multiple lectures during orientation about sexual assault prevention. I would never expect to hear about any problems from our members when it comes to consent and victim-blaming. Any kind of incident that might occur where it’s clear that a brother did not listen to these messages would be grounds for an investigation into the matter and formal punishments laid down from the Executive Committee, with immediate dismissal on the table. All of our brothers know that a breach like that would be a metaphorical middle finger to all of the values we stand for, and we would not associate ourselves with that criminal behavior.

Bystander intervention and responsibility are trickier beasts. Our values and expectations are clear when it comes to consent and victim blaming, but these other two subjects are a bit harder to lecture about and discuss in a focused manner. Much of it can be common sense– keeping a watchful eye on your friends and others when you are out, helping out those who may be unable to help themselves, etc. Those are obvious and I can confidently (and proudly) say that all of our members would do the right thing in a situation where it was clear someone intervening could make a difference. However, I also think that we, myself included, need more help. We still have work to do in a number of areas, whether it’s keeping a better lookout, talking about it in the right ways and caring for any survivors.

To help with this, we are arranging for experts and trainers to come in and conduct Safespace training for the chapter. Hopefully, we can learn more about nonoffensive language on the subject (so we aren’t unintentionally offending people or sending the wrong messages), how to talk to survivors that may approach us as friends, how to confront offenders or somebody who may be about to commit an assault, etc. All of our members mean well, and hopefully a session like this can give them a chance to learn and ask questions from people who have dealt with these issues for years.


PARC: What do you think are some of the better ways students and especially fraternity members can do to foster communication and cultures of respect to uproot cultures that trivialize, naturalize, and excuse rape?
Colin: We know we are small fish in a big ocean, but that should not be discouraging. On a college campus, we are in a unique situation where we can easily reach out to people on a peer-to-peer level. Events like this are great for raising awareness, but they are ineffective unless people can take away from the event that this is a serious problem that we need to be sensitive about. If you can reach out to your friend group and really imprint on them that this kind of culture is toxic and shameful, then that can be a step in a chain-reaction that marginalizes those who continue to perpetuate this culture.

Ignoring the problem like you would a dog that’s acting up isn’t going to change anything, but screaming at somebody who might be cracking jokes on the quiet floor of the library won’t help the cause either. The people you are best-poised to impact are your friends around you who respect your opinions and care about what you have to say – start with them.

By Charlotte Stasio

Nerd culture has become mainstream culture. What was once pejoratively thought of as the domain of a few basement-dwelling social outcasts has risen over the past several decades to become a major influence over our society and a huge economic driver. Many of top grossing movies in the past five years have been based on superhero comics, video games are now a $100 billion industry worldwide, and the sales of fantasy literature such as Harry Potter made a billionaire out of author JK Rowling. The public’s insatiable appetite for all things nerdy drives this incredible financial growth; as a result of this demand, scores of fan conventions, expos, meetups and other gatherings have sprung up to celebrate every facet of geekdom. However, the darker elements of nerd culture hamper the inclusive potential of these events - ultimately turning away fans and leaving money on the table for artists and organizers.

These sort of conventions serve as massive gathering places for die-hard fans and feature celebrity guest speakers, merchandise booths, and elaborate home made costumes (known as cosplay). These events are huge opportunities for authors, artists, game designers, publishers, and film studios to present their work to a receptive audience. Conventions are also profitable for event organizers and local economies, as thousands of merchandise-seeking fans descend upon cities the world over for a chance to attend. Online event organizer Eventbrite estimated that fan conventions earn about $650 million in ticket sales alone every year. And how much do fans buy when at these conventions? Over 50% of attendees spend $100-$500 and about ⅓ spend over their planned budgets, according to an Eventbrite survey of over 2,500 fan convention ticket purchasers.

You could spend the better part of a lifetime attending all the fan conventions out there, but some of the biggest events include:

• Comic-Con International
  
• Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3)
  
• WonderCon
  
• The Official Star Trek Convention
  
• DragonCon
  

So where is the dark side of nerd culture when it comes to fan conventions? Despite the egalitarian leanings of such fantasy worlds as Star Trek, these conventions can be hostile to certain populations. Many women who enjoy cosplay have experienced extreme harassment at conventions in the form of unwanted touching and / or intrusive photographs (such as upskirting) from other attendees. Geeks for CONsent, an organization dedicated to “creating a more inclusive convention culture,” recently reported a particularly egregious example of such an incident where a female convention attendee was intentionally punched simply for telling a male attendee not to grope her. In another disconcerting example at the Eurogamer Expo 2013 event, a transgender video game journalist was mocked and humiliated on stage by a presenter representing Microsoft.

The following video from anti-street harassment organization HOLLABACKPhilly, shows just how widespread the problem of harassment is at fan conventions:

The incidents listed above and described in the video are anecdotal and do not represent the behavior of the majority of people at fan conventions, but events like these create an atmosphere of hostility for would-be attendees. If someone thinks they will be harassed or attacked at one of these events just for who they are or what they choose to wear, they won’t go. Organizers, working in cooperation with artists, filmmakers, publishers or other content creators, need to ensure that these conventions are safe spaces for all attendees. Geeks for CONsent suggests several methods for creating a welcoming atmosphere, including anti-harassment policies, sensitivity training for convention staff, and stepping in as a bystander if you spot harassment (as long as it is safe to do so). Organizers also need to promptly investigate any report of inappropriate behavior.

Nerd culture is too big to ignore. If we want to welcome everyone to this burgeoning world and increase opportunities for artists and organizers, we need to create an inclusive, safe and accepting atmosphere at conventions!
-----
This piece originally appeared on LinkedIn.

intro image by PopCultureGeek.com, modified by author

1 in 5 is a lie.

I think of people in my life who had this happen to them. I think about all the women who've come up to me after teaching a class on relationships or consent. I think about all of the anonymous questions. They all sound the same, "x and x happened, did he rape me?" 

I think about me. It just doesn't add up.

1 in 5 is a lie.

It's a lie because society talks us out of what we know deep down is....that thing...that thing we just can't name.

It's a lie because society makes us think, "well I shouldn't have done x thing." Even if you know better. You can't help but wonder what steps you could have changed in your day to avoid that thing.  Maybe I should have worn that nail polish. Is it going to tell me if a man is going to treat me with like a human who deserves respect, dignity, and autonomy? 

"I should have just given in like all the other times then I wouldn't have to be here. I don't know what I was trying to prove." That's when I realized it was a lie. When I thought to myself, "why didn't i just give in like all the other times..."

It’s a lie because people don’t know how to be there for you. I know what I need to do. I know what steps to take. I know why it was wrong. I know. Believe me. No one knows this better than me. But what you don’t know is that I need to feel like I’m in control of something. Pushing me to do what you think is right is not the way to give me that control.

It's a lie because he talks you out of it.

"Calm down. You know how much trouble you can get me into? You're making it sound like I raped you or something."

"Rapists are monsters! I'm not a monster!"

"I feel you slipping from me. I wanted that connection back."

"You're just making it worse for yourself by calling it rape."

It's a lie because you want to hate him so bad. But you can't. You can't stop wondering where society failed him. Why does he think what happened was anything other than what it was?  Where did I fail him as a woman? Where did I fail him as his lover? Where did I fail him as his best friend?

It's a lie because of the police.

"Did you report it? Why not?"

I can think about a million reasons. The most important ones being:
1. No one would believe me.
2. I don't feel like having my life torn apart and ridiculed and judged by men armed with guns, and even worse, misogyny.

It's a lie because we silence people. It's a lie because we refuse to believe that rape culture is real. It's a lie because we refuse to teach men that they are not entitled to women's bodies. It's a lie because we judge. It's a lie because we don't trust women. It's a lie because we don’t talk to our friends, sisters, mom, grandma, aunts, cousins, etc, etc, about what consent is and isn’t.

It’s a lie because you don’t make the space for us to tell you the truth.