A new poster campaign sponsored by several campus offices and Dane County highlights the role of men in preventing sexual assaults.
The posters, which will appear on Madison Metro buses and around campus, show four male UW-Madison students with the slogan \We Have the Power"" and the text ""Sexual assault is not just a women's issue. Men are working together to make our campus safe. Join us.""
""As men, we have a unique role to play in ending sexual assault,"" said Austin King, a UW-Madison senior and member of Men Opposing Sexual Assault. ""Insofar as men commit the overwhelming majority of assaults, it is incumbent upon us to take leadership roles in educating our brothers about sexual assault, sexual harassment and sexism in general.""
MOSA, founded by UW-Madison senior Angela Bartucci in April 2001, is specifically aimed at providing an ""outlet"" for men who want to work to prevent sexual assault, according to Bartucci. Members of MOSA work closely with Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment, another student group founded by Bartucci.
Lori Henn, violence prevention coordinator for campus community partnerships at University Health Services, one of the campaign's main sponsors along with Dane County, said the ideas for the posters came in part from a project by journalism students for a class in fall 2000.
The current poster is the second in a three-part series. The first appeared in October and highlighted the statistic that one in eight senior women at UW-Madison report being sexually assaulted during their time here. The final poster, emphasizing how men and women can work together for prevention, will appear in April.
The current posters emphasize the sometimes-overlooked role of men in sexual assault prevention.
""The concept is to encourage men to be more outspoken about sexual assault,"" said Henn.
According to Henn, the poster campaign fits in with the university's goal of making students more aware about sexual assault on campus, and specifically the prevalence of unwanted sexual advances, which may not be classified as assaults but contribute to an overall climate in which some students may feel unsafe.
She said another goal of the campaign is to encourage students, especially men, to ""find a way to get involved.""
""Male involvement in this movement is essential,"" said Bartucci, who said she has broader goals in mind.
""I really feel like, societally, we need to redefine masculinity,"" she said. ""It's not about bragging to your friends about the sexual conquest that you had, it's about respect.""
King said he hoped the posters and the work of MOSA would encourage men to ""stand up both to the crime of sexual assault and the culture that facilitates and sometimes excuses it.""
""This is a crime that affects all of us, men and women,"" he said. ""The first step toward ending sexual assault must always be getting people to talk about it.""
The PAVE/MOSA kickoff meeting is Feb. 12 at 7:30 p.m. in the Pyle Center.
