Hot Topics | Sexual Harassment on Campus by Jeff Perera
The public conversation around sexual assault and gender-based violence on campus elevated in the latter part of 2014. Several news-making events highlighted the importance of colleges & universities taking proactive steps to address misogyny and rape culture on campus. Efforts such as the recent Sexual Assault Round-table organized jointly by Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario, highlights the ramped-up effort in preventing and addressing the issue.
Today’s guest blog comes from the Community Engagement Manager at White Ribbon Campaign, Jeff Perera.
As young men enter the halls of academia to explore who they want to be in this world, we must address the question echoing in our campus hallways: What are the true traditions of manhood being passed down in our institutions, and what do we want them to be?
There is an urgent conversation that we must have with men on campuses about everyday pressures young men navigate to fit in, harmful actions toward and attitudes around roles for young women, as well as toxic ideas of what it means to ‘successfully be a man’: a success that can come at the expense of women’s inclusion, safety and lives.
The campus we study, work, live and learn in is the campus we help shape. It is time for men to recognize the impact they make, and decide on the impact they will make. Let’s motivate young men to consider consequences, and role model healthier ideas of masculinity amongst their peers.
We can inspire campus men to embrace the wide spectrum of roles they can take on towards change. We don’t need to accept a climate and culture where the sexual assault and harassment women face is the ‘norm’. It’s a conversation that impacts us all, and as men, we can do better. It’s time to engage our young men on how they can help be a part of change that affects people of all genders in our universities.
Together, we can instill a new tradition of manhood.
For more information on Jeff and how he can help raise the conversation for your campus or organization, visit his NSB Speaker Profile.
Be sure to check out our other Hot Topic speaker guest blogs looking at sexual harassment on campus, including:
Educator and co-founder of the White Ribbon Campaign, Michael Kaufman.