A NEW RITE OF PASSAGE:

Four years ago I sat in my office contemplating how fraternity and sorority life could internally and proactively address sexual violence. I shared my thoughts with a student intern, who immediately came up with an idea to create a peer-to-peer, train-the-trainer program called “Greek Peer Advocates.” While about 70 individuals signed up for the pilot, engagement in the training sessions slowly dwindled over time. The loss of engagement was from fraternity men. This experience was the first time I was prompted to think about how to invite and engage fraternity men to facilitate, lead, and champion sexual violence prevention on college campuses. Now, when I plan and facilitate sexual violence prevention education programs, I always note how many male identifying individuals attend and am hopeful they are engaged in learning and discussion. Following programs, I often reflect upon how I can encourage and invite more men to attend sessions focused on topics related to sexual violence.

The vast majority of higher education institutions fail to target and engage men meaningfully in proactive prevention efforts. All-male organizations (i.e. fraternities, athletic teams, living communities) may view sexually violent behavior as normal because male peers encourage the same beliefs and actions. Fraternity men can be the champions, catalysts, and safe social norm creators of sexual violence prevention education on college campuses. With relevant and timely models for men’s engagement and sexual violence prevention frameworks, campus-based professionals and headquarters staff can provide comprehensive, holistic prevention education to the community and institution at-large by inviting and engaging men to lead.

While many campuses have sexual violence prevention educators — both students and staff — and centers or offices doing this work, fraternity and sorority offices and headquarters can serve the work of campus prevention, too. In this year’s third issue of Perspectives, I called attention to the belief fraternity and sorority advisors — and those who work in the industry at-large — are also prevention educators. We increasingly see communities create positions and hire individuals to specifically do health and safety programming for fraternity and sorority members and chapters. While this occurs, we must determine how to respond to fraternity members’ programmatic needs and what strategies we utilize to invite and inspire fraternity men to engage in sexual violence prevention initiatives.

27 Life Skills: Problem-Solving Skills; Conflict Management Skills; Decision-Making and Goal-Setting Skills; Career Awareness and Planning; Personal Health Care; Stress Management; Service Learning, Altruism, & Helping Others; Positive and Healthy Masculinity; Assertiveness Skills; Self-Control and Centering; Empathy Skills; Listening Skills; Competition; Courage and Resilience; Developing Integrity; Sensitivity to Social Justice; Emotional Awareness & Expression; Power in Relationships; Understanding Psychological Abuse; Masculinity Ideology; Patterns of Gender Role Conflict; Relationships With Girls and Women Relationships; With Boys and Men; Puberty Sexuality; Understanding Parents; Dealing With Loss

A critical first step in engaging fraternity men in sexual violence prevention work is to assess ways to invite and include men in programming and initiatives. Jim O’Neil, leading researcher and developer of Men’s Gender Role Conflict theory, created a model for responding to men’s programmatic needs. This model incorporates psychoeducational approaches. Psychoeducation infuses learning principles to promote emotional and intellectual development of students. Psychoeducational programming utilizes experiential learning, interactive learning, and opportunities for self-disclosure. O’Neil and Lujan developed Thematic Areas for Psychoeducational Programming focused on developing healthy masculinities within programs. Instead of labeling the programmatic areas as masculine ideology or gender role conflict issues, the researchers called them “life skills.” This research aimed to build a strategy centered on attracting men to life skills-based programs and positive aspects of being male. There are 27 life skills including problem solving, personal health care, decision making, self-control, centering, courage and resilience, competition, and empathy.

These life skills are opportunities to refocus and approach prevention education programs by beginning to engage fraternity men. Programs and trainings like “Bystander Intervention Training” may be immediately rejected by men, whereas “Making Courageous Decisions for Preventing Sexual Violence” might catch the curiosity of men. If your campus, community, or membership struggles to engage men in attending programs on health and safety, infusing the life skills into titles and program marketing can help attract men to these opportunities in a new way. These life skills also allow for more intentional building of learning outcomes and program assessment. For example, within a training on how to support a survivor/victim, men would experience and become educated on listening skills. Listening skills is one of the 27 life skills connected to positive formation of masculinities. Therefore, students would develop listening skills through the use of interactive and discussion-based survivorcentric support strategies. While O’Neil and Lujan’s Thematic Areas for Psychoeducational Programming could be adopted for an enumeration of program and training opportunities to increase male attention, these life skills applied to sexual violence prevention programming can also create and norm positive masculinities for fraternity men.

Organizing and engaging fraternity men to work alongside women and other genders to end violence can be seen as social justice ally building. This social justice work allows men to begin and continue to see oppression individuals experience and actions that contribute to sexual violence. A strategy Linder discusses in engaging individuals in sexual violence awareness, prevention, and response is recognizing the historical perspectives of oppressed groups. Helping men recognize systems of oppression (racism, sexism, homophobia, genderism and transphobia, classism, and ableism) can be rooted in historical examples and connected to today’s understanding of sexual violence. Casey and Smith produced a conceptual model of men’s pathways to anti-violence involvement. Within this model, social justice consciousness and changing world views are critical tenants. With this, men began to make new meanings for their masculinities and gender identities while leading anti-violence efforts. These new meanings could be discussed through incorporating O’Neill and Lujan’s life skills. These new meanings allowed them to feel connected, join others, and view violence prevention as relevant.

Helping men recognize systems of oppression (racism, sexism, homophobia, genderism and transphobia, classism, and ableism) can be rooted in historical examples and connected to today’s understanding of sexual violence.

Linder also discusses exposing individuals to selfawareness. Allowing fraternity men to navigate their dominant identities in contrast to those with non-dominant identities allows them to view sexual violence with a different perspective. In connection to developing a power-conscious model for sexual violence prevention is men’s awareness of their internalized violence. Men’s socialization can contribute to an inability to recognize their power structures over others with minoritized identities. Exposing men to programs where they explore selfawareness may help them come to the realization they have been socialized in a pro-violence culture. For college administrators, addressing student populations with risk factors for violence — namely within athletics and fraternities — requires direct confrontation of power. Campus-based professionals and headquarters staff are uniquely positioned to confront this power with fraternity men.

When building curriculum or selecting the best method by which fraternity men can engage with sexual violence prevention, it is imperative we find ways to introduce conversations and examples representative of oppressed groups. The continual use of heterosexual examples may lead men to believe sexual violence only occurs within these types of encounters, however, fraternity men can become more power-conscious if we discuss scenarios incorporating members of other communities.

Research in Action

It is important for campus-based and headquarters professionals to recognize how these models can be integrated into prevention work already being done when creating new opportunities. There is urgency in sexual violence prevention work, as we know fraternities are identified as creators of risk factors and enhancing environments tolerant of sexual violence perpetration. To ensure life skills for positive masculinities development and social justice ally building are part of sexual violence prevention, here are several important questions to consider.

• What is the purpose for fraternity men to attend this program and what should they learn?

• How does the marketing and strategy to invite fraternity men to this program invoke curiosity?

• What topics of this prevention education training/program/opportunity connect to men’s life skills and thematic areas?

• What is the style of learning by which fraternity men can best be engaged?

• How does the curriculum/discussion introduce concepts of oppression? Are examples/scenarios/research reflective of multiple identities and lived experiences?

• What is the call to action at the end of the program/initiative/opportunity?

These questions respond to characteristics of the shared research and models and serve as a guide when planning programs to increase fraternity men’s engagement. The 27 life skills and thematic areas are also a helpful way to challenge men to program for men’s development. Consider showing fraternity men the list and asking them to review the programs offered. Then, have them take the list and consider programming and marketing with these life skills to drive engagement.

In Practice

A theory-to-practice approach for the life skills can be adopted in a variety of ways with fraternity men. Utilization of life skills such as decision-making, courage, developing integrity, and helping others are beneficial in recruiting men to community leadership positions. When advising chapters, councils, and groups of men, these life skills are beneficial to bring up in conversations to challenge unhealthy behaviors and masculine ideologies not in line with organizational values, mission, and purpose. When inviting men to engage in sexual violence prevention education, I find myself ensuring learning outcomes of programs and marketing materials promote vocabulary and action related to these life skills. A strategy and goal to remember when focused on prevention is reducing risk factors associated with the problem at-large. Navigating conversations with men about smaller dimensions of risk factors can impact the larger issue of sexual violence prevention on campus. For example, when training male-identifying council officers, discuss dimensions of healthy relationships with other councils, student organizations, and departments. Talking about healthy relationships through organizational collaboration can impact how a male builds healthy relationships with peers socially and romantically.

Fraternity Men’s Call to Action

As a fraternity man, we have to show up, listen, participate, and become advocates for change around sexual violence on college campuses. Campus-based and headquarters professionals will continue their urgent priority to provide a healthy and safe membership experience through initiatives such as sexual violence prevention education. Incorporating social justice consciousness and men’s life skills to increase positive masculinities are ways fraternity men can be fully invited and engaged leaders of sexual violence prevention. We must stop asking why engaging fraternity men in sexual violence prevention is so difficult and begin asking what strategies exist for inviting and inspiring fraternity men to learn and lead sexual violence prevention and awareness.

Kevin Carey is the director of student involvement at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois. Kevin is currently pursuing his EdD in educational policy, organization, and leadership with a concentration in diversity and equity in education at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He is a member of Sigma Pi Fraternity.