'Middle school boys learn that they can stop rape; Men of Strength Clubs teach youths to be allies to women'

Submitted by anthony on Sun, 2012-01-01 18:21

Article here. Excerpt:

'The federal government estimates that one in five women will be raped in their lifetime [Ed: please click 'Read more' about this stat] — and a group of young men in city schools are hoping to change that.

They’re part of the an afterschool program called Men of Strength (MOST) that teaches boys they should be allies for girls and that violence is inexcusable.

Cherno Barry, an eighth grader at Junior High School 217 in Briarwood, Queens, said the club has taught him to treat all girls like he treats his mother.

“No one is beneath another person,” he said.

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Comments

... not really so bad. However there is the other side of the coin: Is there a similar effort to teach girls not to view boys as inherently "stinky" or as a useful means of getting what they want (ie, as a supplier of whatever the girl wants: money, jewelry, etc.?). And also the program seems to assume that the boys or boys in general are automatically dangerous specifically to girls or later, to women, and that they need to be "defused". Hardly. If anything, boys are a lot more dangerous to other boys unless they are taught not to use violence to get their way. But children of both sexes need to be taught not to use violence against anyone, period, to get what they want, and also not to use others as merely as a means to an end. Children left to fend for themselves in life as they are growing up are much more likely to use violence than those who have not been taught not to-- these are instincts at work, found in both sexes. I see efforts to teach boys this lesson, but nothing to teach girls.

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Submitted by Matt on Sun, 2012-01-01 23:05