For Immediate Release
Can Fraternities Play a Pivotal Role in Sexual Violence Prevention?
Contact: Jennifer Gatti
914-740-2149
jgatti@liebertpub.com
New Rochelle, NY, September 14, 2016–On college campuses, while sexual assault is more commonly associated with fraternity-related activities and membership, targeting fraternity men for participation in effective sexual violence prevention programs may redefine their role from potential perpetrators to allies in creating change, according to a Review article published in the journal Violence and Gender, from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Violence and Gender website until October 14, 2016.
In "Fraternities and Campus Sexual Violence: Risk, Protection, and Prevention," coauthors Laurel Mazar and Anne Kirkner, University of Illinois Chicago, focus on fraternities as both a risk factor and a potential protective factor for sexual violence. The authors examine these factors in the context of the larger campus climate as it relates to party culture, traditional gender roles, and rape culture. Fraternity men who are viewed as leaders within their social peer group may be able to enhance the effectiveness of preventive strategies such as bystander intervention programs.
"Campus sexual violence is a great concern on campuses throughout the country. Colleges and universities are constantly looking for better ways to prevent sexual assault from happening, and to teach people about more effective intervention," says Editor-in-Chief Mary Ellen O'Toole, PhD, Forensic Behavioral Consultant and Senior FBI Profiler/Criminal Investigative Analyst (ret.) Director of the Forensic Sciences Program, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA. "The findings of this study give these institutes a tool that will allow them to target, embrace, and educate members of fraternities to become a part of the sexual assault intervention and prevention team through empathy-based education programs about sexual assault. Embracing fraternity members in this way allows the college and university to not only improve their bystander intervention programs, but gives fraternities the opportunity to assume leadership roles in rape prevention on their campus."
About the Journal
Violence and Gender is the only peer-reviewed journal focusing on the understanding, prediction, and prevention of acts of violence. Through research papers, roundtable discussions, case studies, and other original content, the Journal critically examines biological, genetic, behavioral, psychological, racial, ethnic, and cultural factors as they relate to the gender of perpetrators of violence. Led by Editor-in-Chief Mary Ellen O'Toole, PhD, Forensic Behavioral Consultant and Senior FBI Profiler/Criminal Investigative Analyst (ret.), Violence and Gender explores the difficult issues that are vital to threat assessment and prevention of the epidemic of violence. Violence and Gender is published quarterly online with Open Access options and in print, and is the official journal of The Avielle Foundation. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the Violence and Gender website.
About the Publisher
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking and Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology. Its biotechnology trade magazine, GEN (Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 80 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.