The topic for my contemporary dialectic will
be bystander intervention in sexual assault prevention. Basically, this is a relatively new approach
being taken in the field and it attempts to shift the “rape culture.” Instead of preventative efforts being aimed
solely at helping people (mostly women, because most prevention measures are
aimed toward female audiences) avoid becoming victims or even strategies that
seek to dispel rape myths, bystander intervention strategies seek to engage a
broader collective audience in preventing rape and sexual assault. For example, this Make Your Move
campaign has been heavily promoted and replicated nationwide with images
such as this:
The copy on the above ad reads: "I could tell she was asking for it . . . to stop. So I stepped in and told my buddy that was not way to treat a lady. And he backed off."
Especially on college campuses, stakeholders have become increasingly concerned with efficacious prevention strategies and several high-profile efforts have been launched, which I believe mark a significant shift in societal response to the issue. (See Not Alone: The First Report of the White House Task Force to Protect Students From Sexual Assault and this PSA by male celebrities.)
I’m still contemplating how I will present
this as a dialectic in terms of what argument I will construct. I believe I will pursue a line of reasoning
that considers who is the appropriate target/audience for sexual assault prevention
messaging (potential victim vs. bystanders). Within this line of
reasoning, I would invoke Perelman and, in particular, address the universal
vs. particular audience, as well as the notions of convincing vs.
persuading.
I like this very much! I've seen this approach in my military career - usually in the form of "be a good Wingman" - as in, watch out for all your fellow Airmen. And considering what happened at Lackland AFB, and continues to happen in the war zones, I'd say there's a strong case for emphasizing that intervention could help prevent sexual assault.
ReplyDeleteI like that you are tackling this topic. It is perhaps one of the most important topics you could take on here. In class we talked about if I make your move or other like campaigns are available on campuses. They are, actually, but getting people to be engaged and very meaningful and sincere ways is difficult to do. Perhaps it's because like all things that we find related to statistics only until they happen to us, you have good ideas about how to engage others so that they take the topic of rape more seriously.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a great approach toward prevention of rape. I think if people feel comfortable enough to stand up for other people and step out of the grain, a lot less rapes will occur. As far as a dialectic I definitely think it would be interesting to have a bystander as one of the voices. I wonder what kind of thoughts go through their head and how they would be convinced to act. Could you do almost like an internal self-conflict? Have the bystander's thoughts be the voices of both sides, one for helping and one afraid to help. You could then go through how they convinced themselves to help. You could then describe what they see as a bystander and what kind of reactions occur. I don't know, it's just an idea, but I'm sure you have your own approach already figured out.
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