Take Back the Night, a movement started by women for women survivors of sexual assault, is getting some help reaching out to the guys. Northwestern’s Men Against Rape and Sexual Assault will be attending their first Take Back the Night on Thursday, April 26. The event will consist of a march through campus and a survivor speak out afterwards. MARS will also be working with them to organize White Ribbon Campaign, an event where men sign pledges to actively combat sexual assault and wear white ribbons to show their support.
Three Sigma Chi fraternity brothers co-founded MARS three years ago with the mission to educate men on campus about consent, coercion and sexual assault through presentations at fraternities and dorms.
“It’s a difficult experience for men because it is commonly viewed as a women’s issue. But men are survivors too and they care about this issue. It’s important they are involved,” said Amanda Scherker, co-chair of Take Back the Night. According to Laura Stuart, the sexual health education and violence prevention coordinator at Northwestern University Health Service and adviser to MARS, men’s presence has been a growing as supporters as well as outspoken sexual assault survivors.
Elliott Sweeney, a Weinberg junior, got the idea from his brother, who was involved in a MARS group at Miami University of Ohio. With guidance from Stuart, Sweeney along with Rufus Urion and Akhilesh Pant, Weinberg juniors, co-founded a Northwestern chapter.
“Talking to my brother early on, I saw the value that could come from an all-guys space,” Sweeney said.
According to Pant, the vice president of training and recruitment, MARS currently has about 15 members. MARS members go through training four hours a week for a quarter before they are certified to give presentations. They currently give about 10 presentations a quarter.
“The central tenant to MARS is that it is arguably more a men’s issue if more men are committing the act. If you make it a women’s issue, you’re looking at how women protect themselves, but as a men’s issue it’s how you can prevent it,” Pant says.
In MARS’s efforts to facilitate discussion about consent and address cultural pressures for men to act a certain way, they are careful not to point fingers and alienate men.
“Most of the perpetrators are men, but only a small portion of men are committing assault. We definitely try to play down that idea that all men, or most men, are predisposed. Because that definitely scares people off,” said Sweeney.
Stuart sees MARS as a crucial development in sexual assault activism. She said they are defying the stereotype that men, especially men in fraternities, are the problem. MARS also has a unique role in sexual assault activism. Men who are likely to commit sexual assault are prone to be influenced by other men.
“If there was a student who was a perpetrator, his belief would be much influenced by other men’s opinion. I think it makes a big difference that men stand up and say we have to ask for consent, it’s OK to not want sex sometimes,” said Stuart.
MARS members say they’re not only addressing acts of sexual assault but also opening up a dialogue about masculine norms and sex.
“Most people haven’t raped anybody, but in our country, it expresses itself in ways you haven’t thought of before....There’s a lot of masculine images and norms about how men should be, guys being tough and not having feelings, and always wanting sex and always getting sex,” said Sweeney.
According to Pant, presentations engage men in conversations about communicating with sexual partners, obtaining consent and challenging masculine norms around sexuality.
Scherker and Stuart both agree that the presence of MARS in Take Back the Night will be a powerful example for other men.
“We’re showing other guys that it’s okay to be a guy and want to be involved and deal with it,” said Sweeney.
In joining the conversation, MARS hopes to create a space for men to be involved in what traditionally has been stereotyped as a women’s issue. Scherker also says that the issues addressed in Take Back the Night affect the greater community. “The fact of the matter is that it affect the way we live our lives and how safe we feel, it’s not just an issue for victims. It’s a chance for everybody to feel they have control over their own bodies and no one has the right to make them feel endangered,” said Scherker.