Exploring male university students’ perspectives of sexual violence prevention

Abstract

Emerging anti-violence work has focused on the importance of engaging men in primary prevention efforts, especially on postsecondary campuses, due to the statistical reality that men are overrepresented as perpetrators of sexual violence (Black et al, 2011; Piccigallo, Lilley, & Miller, 2012; Flood, 2019). This study sought to build upon this existing body of literature by inviting male university students into discussions around their perspectives of sexual violence prevention efforts on campus to better understand how prevention programming can be improved to elicit male student engagement. Six participants were recruited from McMaster University to participate in focus groups. Focus groups begun with the facilitation of a common activity used in anti-violence programming, titled “the gender boxes,” to contextualize the discussion around exploring the social construction of gender as it intersects with violence against women. The ensuing discussion revealed the following themes: (1) cisheteropatriarchal masculinity demands men perform gender in ways that recreate sexual scripts and traditional gender roles, as evidenced by their reflections on “the gender boxes” activity, (2) traditional masculinity intentionally obscures the dynamics of negotiating sex and consent, which subsequently create the potential for sexual violence to occur, (3) participants described feeling disengaged from existing prevention efforts, and (4) participants imagined potential improvements to engage men in sexual violence prevention, which largely reflected existing literature on the subject. This project contributes to anti-violence efforts through revealing the continued need to engage men in every stage of the process to then facilitate their investment in ending violence against women.