ASU faculty and students are taking a new approach to reducing sexual violence on campus - men working with men to prevent rape and sexism before it starts.
Men Advocating Awareness of Rape and Sexism is a peer education program that works with male students and staff to change sexist attitudes in order to prevent sexual violence.
Kyle Fray, Residential Life community coordinator, helped found a MARS program at Eastern Kentucky University in 2004 and is starting to bring a similar program to ASU.
"Men have a role in preventing and educating against sexual assault," Fray said.
MARS was started in collaboration with Home Safe, an ASU program that offers information to sexual assault victims, said Dena Hester, program coordinator.
In 2005, 19 sexual offenses took place on ASU's Tempe Campus, according to ASU Police.
But most sexual assaults aren't reported, Hester said.
In 2004, a national survey found one out of 20 collegiate women reported being the victim of an attempted or actual sexual assault within the previous year, she said.
"MARS will be an effective approach to prevent sexual assaults by changing mindsets rather than reacting after an assault happened," Hester said.
Fray agrees education on the front end is the key.
"If we can help educate men, then we can eliminate the violence that goes on," Fray said.
Home Safe and Fray are starting the program along with UA and NAU in order to pool resources and share ideas, Hester said.
ASU and NAU MARS members had their first training session on Saturday.
Daryl Fort, a consultant who led the all-day training, has spoken to all-male groups for about seven years to help change institutional sexist attitudes and behaviors against women.
In one exercise, Fort had the group write the number of daily precautions men and women take to prevent sexual assault.
The goal was to show the significant differences of how women protect themselves against sexual assaults compared to men.
The group listed 18 daily precautions taken by women, such as walking in groups and carrying keys in your hand.
There was only one listed precaution for men. One man said walking in well-lit areas was a precaution he took.
Fort said this illustrated the lengths women go to in order to stay safe.
"I'd be pretty pissed off if I had to live like this," Fort said as he pointed to the women's list of precautions and the room fell silent. "It's exhausting. It's a form of second-class citizenship in my eyes."
Political science sophomore Matt Davis volunteered and attended the all-day training and said he came away more informed.
Women from ASU, NAU and Home Safe also participated in the training.
Although MARS is geared toward men educating other men, it's important to work with other groups, like Home Safe, that are already involved in the anti-violence movement, Fray said.
NAU math junior Gia Bloomstrands hopes to recruit some of her classmates as male mentors to the MARS program when she goes back to Flagstaff, she said.
"I will spread the word [to the men] in my math classes," she said.
Reach the reporter at Jeffrey.Mitchell@asu.edu.
