How training bystanders can stop rape and sexual violence on campus
Green Dot reduced victimization, harassment and stalking on US campuses
Rates of sexual violence fell by 17% on American campuses that trained bystanders to prevent or intervene in an assault. Green Dot shifts the focus from victim and perpetrator by teaching students how to distract, delegate or directly intervene to prevent violence. With programs for schools, universities and the armed forces, Green Dot has garnered praise from the CDC, WHO and even the White House.
Results & Impact
The number of students who fell victim to physical or sexual violence fell 17% on campuses where Green Dot ran. The rate of perpetration of interpersonal violence also fell, by around 7%. The rate of sexual harassment, stalking and dating violence were also lower in intervention compared to control.
Key Parties
Green Dot, universities, schools, Armed Forces
How
Green Dot trains students to be proactive bystanders in order to prevent assault and sexual violence. Trainers go into schools and summarise key themes in a one-hour speech, covering topics such as recognising risk, understanding the factors that can prevent you from intervening, and what a realistic intervention looks like. The core content, delivered to students identified as influential in their peer groups, is delivered over five one-hour workshops. By empowering influential class members, Green Dot attempts to shift the culture around sexual violence on campus.
Where
USA
Target Group
Students, women and children, men and boys
Cost & Value
Costing estimates vary according to the size of the intervention, but bringing Green Dot to a college campus costs in the region of $15,000, not including travel and teaching materials.
Stage
Running since 2007
Hurdles
Any discussion of sexual violence risks alienating students—men in particular—who construe the program as implying that they are rapists in the making. Green Dot trainers are equipped with a range of tactics to overcome student resistance, framing the project as a way to change violent norms and take a practical stand against sexual violence.
Replication
Green Dot is in different stages of replication in schools, campuses and communities across the United States. Green Dot is also the primary program used to in sexual violence awareness courses for the armed forces.
The Story
Rates of stalking, victimization, harassment and dating violence fell across US colleges where bystanders were trained to recognise risk and prevent sexual assault.
Some 11.3% of college students experience rape or sexual assault through physical force, violence, or incapacitation during their studies. The figure soars to 23.1% for female undergraduates. Despite ongoing controversy over sexual violence on campus, Green Dot has steadily expanded across the US since 2007.
Green Dot reframes sexual violence beyond the victim-perpetrator relationship. Born at the University of Kentucky, the program empowers “bystanders”—third parties in the peer group—to prevent violence in a variety of ways.
The project starts with a school- or faculty-wide speech covering the core tenets of the program. In a one-hour session, certified instructors whizz through topics such as recognising risk, understanding the personal barriers that can stop bystanders from intervening, what a realistic intervention looks like, and how participants can proactively change the culture around sexual violence on their campus.
In a second stage, a variety of students deemed influential in their peer group are selected for intensive training. Five one-hour long workshops are delivered by certified instructors, usually drawn from the school or university’s staff. The course revolves around “three Ds”: distraction, delegation, and direct intervention.
Distraction can be as simple as ordering a cab or creating a diversion in a tense situation. Delegation recruits other people to stop violence, whether a nearby police officer or a passer-by. Direct intervention, perhaps the most difficult of the techniques, instead involves actively removing someone from harm’s way or incapacitating an attacker. Techniques for each tactic are extensively covered in training sessions.
“Green Dot was really born of failure,” explains Dorothy Edwards, the developer of the program.
“I had done prevention work around sexual assault, stalking and domestic violence for over a decade, but I wasn’t seeing reductions in highest risk populations.
“All of our strategies were focused on telling men, ‘Don’t rape!” and telling women, ‘Don’t get raped’.”
“That caused defensiveness,” she recalls. Men objected to the implication that they were rapists, while women resorting to victim blaming: holding survivors responsible for the assault they had endured.
The strength of Green Dot, according to Edwards, is it’s targeted focus.
“In a lot of work around sexual violence, the messaging is so broad. In previous projects, we drew links between rape and the norms in our culture—be they sexist language, jokes, and all forms of inequality.”
Whereas Edwards hoped that broadening the scope of what is considered violence might energise students to take action against “milder” forms of sexism, the opposite happened.
“When it comes to language, and jokes, there isn’t the same consensus as there is on rape. People thought we were accusing them, or that we couldn’t take a joke.”
Green Dot instead focuses squarely on incremental behavioural change to stop violence.
“It’s all about working in increments and understanding people’s personal barriers to intervening. The reality is that there isn’t a pep talk or a guilt trip that can make barriers disappear, so we help people to develop strategies that work within their limits.”
The approach has won high-profile backers: Green Dot works extensively with the US Department of Defence in training military personnel to identify and prevent violence in the armed forces. Each year, more schools universities and states reach out to bring Green Dot to their neighbourhoods.
For Edwards, the conversation is moving in the right direction: “When I first started this work 20 years ago, it would take forever to get into a school. Now the process is so much simpler.”
The change, Edwards hopes, is only the beginning of a much larger move against cultural norms that encourage or permit sexual violence.
(Picture credit: Alteristic)
Edward Siddons
edward.siddons@apolitical.co
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