The Daily News interviewed the father of Brad Ferro, the 23-year-old Queens teacher who punched Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi in the face at a bar on the New Jersey shore last summer.

The younger Ferro had already been warned to stop drinking, and had swiped Snooki's drink. A local detective is quoted saying, "There was a small verbal confrontation between the two...And with that, he just punched her in the face." But there's a strong "like father, like son," whiff to Ferro's dad's quotes, which are all about blaming everyone but his son.

"A woman who works for them [MTV] instigated my son into doing something very stupid."

"When you get a bunch of people in a situation with alcohol and instigate, someone's going to do something stupid, and that's obviously what MTV wants."

"It's horrible, absolutely, and he feels the same way. He doesn't understand how that happened. She was being very aggressive. That's who she is, apparently."

Brad Ferro was charged with assault, fined $500, and ordered to take anger management classes. His students told the News he had apologized to them this week and used the incident as a lesson on why not to drink too much. He's been suspended from the classroom.

Nicole (Snooki) Polizzi, MTV 'Jersey Shore' Cast Member, Punched By Queens Teacher Brad Ferro: Cops [NYDN]

Earlier: MTV To Air Anti-Violence PSA After Next Week's Jersey Shore
There's Nothing Funnier Than A Woman Getting Punched In The Face
Sex And Violence: Why Is Snooki More Precious Than I Am?

Like most people who succumbed to the sweaty, boozy, spray-tanned draw of Jersey Shore last week, I was taken aback when, during the highlights preview, I saw that twitchy lunatic haul off and smash Snooki in the face. The scene, like the punch itself, was jarring, mostly because, as a female friend of mine put it, "A man who does that is perfectly comfortable not even acting like he respects women." On top of that, that punch was hard. Nevertheless, Snooki's beating wasn't anything I considered unairable—not by MTV's standards, and certainly not by Jersey Shore's standards. In the series' first two episodes, for instance, not only do we see one of the male housemates punch another guy who was "lookin' at him" (which is every crazy jerk's Achilles' heel, by the way), we also see a man vomit all over a coffee table, women calling other women "whores," and, in the same preview reel containing the Snooki punch, several incidents of male-on-male and female-on-male violence.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, then, after first seeing Jersey Shore on Saturday, I didn't think much of Snooki or the punch until yesterday, when Irin posted "There's Nothing Funnier Than a Woman Getting Punched in the Face." After reading the post and the comments beneath it, I was again taken aback, though not by just the punch this time.

One commenter summed up the attack thusly: "Men hitting women violates a social contract ... Men on men violence or women on men violence doesn't have the same implications." Another said, "When I first saw the clip on the previews for the show, I had hoped that the guy was aiming to punch somebody else and accidentally hit Snooki." And still another noted, "I'm ... very much against men hitting women."

Now, you'll not ever get me to say or agree with the wrongheaded Mad Lib that is "If women want equality, then..." However, I find it remarkably troubling that a handful of Jezebel readers—a demographic distinctly aware of some of the world's most stupid violence—is so comfortable talking about violence as if it's something to be categorized and rated.

Yes, domestic violence against women is a serious issue, and much worse than a barroom brawl between two drunken males. But why is it unimaginably worse for an asshole to haul off and hit Snooki than for an asshole to haul off and hit a man Snooki's size, for no reason whatsoever? Why is random violence—again, not premeditated, protracted violence, like war rapes and domestic abuse—something MTV should consider not showing when against women, but air at will when it's against men? The government has laws in place to protect America's most vulnerable victims—battered wives, children, elders, etc.—from calculated attacks, as it should. But attempting to argue that some mindnumbingly stupid bit of violence, like that that befell Snooki, is better than some other stupid bit of violence, even marginally, is a slope slippery with blood.

Two weeks ago, it's very possible that Tiger Woods' wife beat him bloody and then chased him out of their home with a golf club. At the thought of this—a man being domestically abused by his wife—one clearly skeptical Jezebel commenter wrote, "Are we labeling every semi-physical interaction between couples as domestic abuse nowadays?" Presumably, the idea here is that violent women (like Elin Nordegren) lose their heads, while violent men (like Chris Brown) are monsters.

Unfortunately, I'm all too familiar with the taxonomy of violence. Six years ago, at late-night taco shop in Tucson, Arizona, a table of drunk jackasses in glittery t-shirts made a comment about my friend's breasts while I was in the bathroom. I exited just in time to see her lifting her tray of nachos and dumping it all over one of the guy's heads. The three men immediately stood up and squared off with my friend, and I ran over and put myself between them and her. "I'm sorry she did that," I told them, my friend still screaming obscenities at them behind me. "But let's let this one go, huh?" They didn't. Instead, one of them cracked me in the side of the face while I turned around to try and calm my friend, who was in tears at that point. I fell hard, hitting my skull on a table on the way down.

When I came to, my face was in a pool of my own blood, and an ambulance was on its way. I couldn't remember where I was, and the guy who beat me was long gone. But to this day I'm almost certain I knew what he was thinking the instant before he smashed my face in and gave me 36 stitches in my head: "I can't hit a woman."

Cord Jefferson is writer-editor. His work has appeared in 'National Geographic', 'Filter', 'The Awl', 'The Root' and on MTV.

MTV appears to be doing some damage control around the clip, which was shown in a trailer after the show's debut last week and has already circulated on the Internet in the form of animated gif files and frame-by-frame breakdowns. The Daily News quotes "a source at the network" saying the public service announcement, which includes a number for the National Teen Dating Abuse Helpline, was planned "long before" Italian American organizations protested the show—or, presumably, before anyone had a chance to react to this particular scene.

The network also put Snooki (whose real name is Nicole Polizzi) on the phone:

Polizzi, who suffered bruises and swelling as a result of the punch, said the clip is hard for her to watch, but that she's glad MTV is including it in the series.

"It should be out there. Everyone should know that it can happen," Polizzi told The News. "But also, a positive came out of it. It brought [the cast] closer together."

Polizzi says the man who hit her was drunk and had been bothering her and her friends at the bar. When she spoke up to ask him to leave, he hit her.

The case is clearly not a classic example of "domestic violence," given that the perpetrator was a man in a bar Polizzi had never met. The PSA addresses the issue by modifying the usual text: "If you or someone you know is being abused by a boyfriend, family member or total stranger..." But it was the reaction of certain, vocal viewers of the clip to the sight of a woman being hit that evoked a larger social context of violence against women. The Daily News refers to viewers being "aghast"; unfortunately, not counting our post yesterday, it was disturbingly easy to find examples of viewers who found it hilarious.

Rough Wave Hits The Shore: MTV Sounds Alert After Show Violence [NYDN]

Earlier: Jersey Shore: There's Nothing Funnier Than A Woman Getting Punched In The Face

The assault comes in the middle of a slew of apparently drunken fight scenes in the trailer (warning: guys whooping in the background when she gets punched), at least one of which involves a girl hitting a guy in the face with the back of her hand. But nothing matches the shock of seeing a burly man swing with a closed fist at Snookie.

The Philadelphia Daily News reported in August that 23-year-old Long Islander Brad Ferro had been arrested for punching Snookie after he stole her drink at a bar. He had already been warned by bouncers to stop drinking. According to the paper, "Ferro was arrested on simple-assault and disorderly-person charges. The cast member was not treated."

The episode hasn't even aired yet, but the clip has been made into an animated GIF and is already showing up, approvingly, on several blogs and forums like that of Bodybuilding.com. It's described as "the most gratifying animated gif you will ever see," and commenters exult at watching it over and over again. What thrill do the viewers get out of watching this woman get hit, apparently unprovoked? Well, there's this.

Regardless of the context, it's hard not to find the clip and commentary chilling. Does it matter that there are plenty of young women getting into brawls in these clips? Such footage is clearly a reality show jackpot, so it's hard to imagine MTV showing restraint on the clip, but should they have? We asked MTV for more information about the decision to air it, and will let you know if and when we hear back.

Jersey Shore Trailer [YouTube]
After Her Drink's Stolen, MTV Star Gets Punch [Philly.com]
Related: SnookTV [YouTube]

It took Lépine just twenty minutes to kill fourteen women: twelve engineering students, one nursing student, and one university budget clerk. He began his rampage by entering a classroom and allowing all of the men in the room to leave before shooting the then women who remained. Six of them died; a survivor, Nathalie Provost, says she tried to stop Lépine at the time by telling him that the women in the room were "not feminists," just students, though twenty years later she says her ideas of feminism have changed.

"In 1989, feminism to me was a movement of women fighting to make sure women had the same rights as men," she tells the Globe and Mail, "But as a woman, I never felt I needed to struggle; I believed doors were wide open for me. I used to see feminism as a conflict between men and women, but it's not that for me now. ... It's making sure women have an equal chance." Provost also tells The Star that "I realized many years later that in my life and actions, of course I was a feminist. I was a woman studying engineering and I held my head up."

As a result of the massacre, the Canadian parliament declared December 6 to be the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, as a day for the country to reflect not only on the massacre but on the larger issue of gender-based violence and how it effects the country's women and young girls. The emphasis on focusing on the women and the larger issue of gender-based violence maybe the best way to honor the victims, as opposed to fixating on the killer: as Heidi Rathjen, who was in the building at the time of the shooting, says of Lépine, "We have given him enough publicity. Out of respect for the victims, the killer should be completely anonymous."

Rathjen, who was responsible for organizing the memorial for the victims and who has spent the better part of the last 20 years advocating for gun control, says she hopes her experiences following the massacre will leave a good example for her own daughter: "She's going to have a role model. Someone who will not take things sitting down. I dedicated a good part of my life to fight back, to trying to have something good come out of such a horrible tragedy. I suspect that's what I'll tell her. `You have to fight back and try to make the world a better place.'"

Lessons Of The Montreal Massacre [The Star]
Killer Lepine Did Not Destroy Hope At Polytechnique, Massacre Survivors Say [Canadian Press]
A Survivor Speaks [Globe And Mail]
National Day Of Remembrance And Action On Violence Against Women [Status Of Women Canada]

Anani is a co-founder of Kafa, an advocacy and support group focusing on violence against women that receives funding from the UN Trust Fund. (Kafa means "enough"). She got involved in the issue eight years ago, she told me, "because I felt that the issue of women's rights – especially when it comes to violence against women – is the core of development in any country." Anani has estimated that "as many as three-quarters of all Lebanese women have suffered physical abuse at the hands of husbands or male relatives at some point in their lives."

The obvious place for Anani to start, particularly with her background as a social worker, was supporting victims, which Kafa does. But it has since broadened its ambitious agenda: Anani and fellow activists are drafting a law to have family violence cases tried outside of the religious courts, have created a public awareness campaign to "air dirty laundry" (more on that here) and talk openly about domestic violence, and are convening men's forums to critically assess gender.

In Lebanon, cases that involve violence within the family are tried in courts that are organized by over a dozen sects, in what's referred to as the multiconfessional system. The treatment of the women in these courts can vary widely, with, for example, the acceptable age of marriage being younger in Muslim courts versus Christian ones. According to IRIN (a humanitarian news source operated by the UN), "Islamic religious laws do not prosecute marital rape nor so-called honour killing."

Under this new law, domestic violence cases would be "under the civil code, with a specialized judge, specialized in family issues," Anani said.

Overall, Anani has found she needs to tailor her message to the audience and downplay feminism per se. "When you address the issue as being women's rights, it's always provoking," she said. "But when we address this as, it's not about women's rights issue, it's about human rights, and it's about the family and the unit of the family, then things change."

Her latest project is helping launch a national men's forum in partnership with the White Ribbon Campaign, tying in with UNIFEM's theme this year of addressing men's roles in stopping violence against women.

"We discovered that men sometimes are allies to women's rights even more than women themselves are towards each other," Anani said. "Even if you go to a very conservative area of Lebanon, you can find men passionately talking about their sexual education and the right to select a partner, and criticizing early marriage in a way you can never imagine a woman criticizing it."

One of the questions posed at the forums, which in the pilot program have included university professors, mayors of municipalities, and members of the youth movements: "What is the gender role imposed by the society that you hate most?"

"They will tell you, 'I hate the way they expect for example that I shouldn't cry, or that I should be the one defending the country or bringing food to the table. Why not a partnership?' You hear amazing things," said Anani.

She added, "You should ask the readers of the blog the same question." Anyone?

Related: In Pictures: Enough Is Enough [Oxfam]
[UNIFEM]
About Kafa [Official Site]
Move To Take Domestic Violence Cases Out Of Religious Courts [IRIN]

[San Salvador, November 25. Image via Getty]

A woman participates in a performance to celebrate the Day of No Violence Against Women, on November 25, 2009 in San Salvador. According to feminist organizations, in El Salvador 380 women were killed in 2008 and 475 during 2009. AFP PHOTO/Jose CABEZAS (Photo credit should read Jose CABEZAS/AFP/Getty Images)

On this, the event's tenth anniversary, two major developments have emerged: first, U.N. and governmental officials at the highest levels are signing on to end violence against women, rather than the issue being restricted to women-specific subsidiaries. Two, there's a new focus on getting men involved. The launch of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's Network of Men's Leaders to fight violence against women neatly illustrates both trends.

Nanette Braun, the head of communications for the UNIFEM, told me yesterday, "When you see how much advocacy is going on at the highest level, at a certain point maybe the time is ripe...and enough momentum has been created around an issue."

Of course, that momentum has been created by the hard work of women's organizations around the world. As Braun put it,

It's been a long struggle and a long path by women's advocates to bring this issue at the top of the agenda. First of all it was regarded more or less as a private issue, so the push was to make it public. Because it is not private, it's a crime. Then there was a push for legislation. If it is a crime, let's have laws. Now there is more legislation. Is it perfect? No. Is it everywhere? No. But you have a good body of legislation right now. We now see that that alone is not enough, either. You need the capacity and the knowledge and the resources and the political will to implement the legislation because the best law is nothing if it's not being implemented.

Ban also joined a panel of men who are actively working to end violence against women, including Todd Minerson, the executive director of the White Ribbon Campaign. "We need to shift the paradigm from a few good men working on women's issues to all leaders being accountable to addressing violence against women," Minerson said, adding that generally, he refers to "''men's violence against women' instead of just 'violence against women' because men get taken out of the picture. It's important to understand that when we talk about interventions, we have to talk about men and we have to talk about masculinity."

Of course, just because the Secretary General is involved, doesn't mean that suddenly the entire United Nations agenda has been reshaped. At the press conference that followed, the formal, ceremonial tone was broken up only slightly by more provocative questions.

One was from a man from a Norwegian news agency (at about 29:00 in the video seen here) : "Sir, you announced today grants of $10.5 million dollars to end violence against women. In light of the massive magnitude of this problem, that seems like a very small sum. Why is it so difficult to get funding for this?"

The Secretary General responded,

We will continue to ask for generous contributions...This is not an issue of any individual group or country. This is sort of a global issue. This must be stopped and prevented. For that, we need resources in addition to political priority, political awareness. And that's what I said. We are going to raise $100 million annually in the coming five years. I really urge governments, business communities, philanthropists and NGOs and all individuals to generously cooperate in providing necessary findings so that we can lead this campaign in a more coherent way and more comprehensive manner.

In other words, give us more money.

For now, here's the campaign's PSA, co-starring UNIFEM Goodwill Ambassador Nicole Kidman. Another major facet of the campaign is the Say NO—UNiTE website, which offers web tools for groups around the world to track their actions.

Next week: An Interview with Ghida Anani, a twenty-eight year-old women's rights activist in Lebanon and co-founder of Kafa, on efforts to have domestic violence cases tried in a new civil court, and on launching men's forums to combat violence against women.

UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women Announces US$10.5 Million in Grants for 13 Projects in 18 Countries [Say No to Violence]
Ban Launches New Network of Men Leaders To Combat Violence Against Women [UN News Centre]

The lyrics above are actually how Finding illustrates the somewhat cyclical nature of how our culture interprets and accepts sexual or domestic violence. The article opens with the song, explaining:

Back in 1962, the Crystals released a song called He Hit Me (And it Felt like a Kiss). "If he didn't care for me," warbled one of the most popular American "girl groups" of the day, "I could have never made him mad. But he hit me and I was glad."

Deborah Finding, from the gender institute at the London School of Economics, recites the line in a monotone before adding: "It sounds all the more chilling in the light of what we now know about their producer, Phil Spector. Not just about the murder of Lana Clarkson, but also his treatment of Ronnie Bennett of the Ronnettes." She was his wife at the time. She claims in her autobiography that he kept a gold coffin with a glass lid in the basement of their mansion and threatened to kill her if she left him.

Finding decided upon her interesting PhD title by combining two of her interests: music and narrative.

Finding's parents ran a disco. "The wardrobes at home were always cluttered with singles," she says. And she has an impressive collection of over 2,000 CDs at her home in west London. "I've always tuned into the lyrics," she says. This proved invaluable as she embarked on a project directly connected to the work with abused women she has been carrying out with various non-governmental organisations since leaving Cambridge in 2000. She has a degree in philosophy and theology and a masters in Jewish-Christian relations after the Holocaust. "I was always interested in the narratives people tell about their traumas and whether or not they are believed," she says.

"I knew that I wanted to do a PhD that would contribute something to the overall understanding of the way sexual and domestic violence was represented in our wider culture and how that influenced the way people think about the issues personally and politically."

Finding explains that part of the strength of the narratives came from the acceptance from society that this type of gender based violence was a social problem as well as an individual problem. She points out that artists like Tracy Chapman, Tori Amos (above), Suzanne Vega, Beautiful South, Sheryl Crowe, and Alanis Morrisette gave voice to all aspects of a woman's experience, from very explicit violence to hazier, more gray actions. However, Finding is beginning to see the cycle of acceptance shifting back into a narrative that accepts sexual violence:

We've gone full circle in the post-feminist era," Finding says. "Florence and the Machine, hotly tipped for this year's Mercury prize, recently came out with A Kiss With a Fist is Better Than None, equating violence with passion in a way that sounds depressingly familiar."

When asked about misogyny in hip-hop and rap lyrics, Finding provides an interesting response:

These are female artists for the most part. But what about the men? What about "gangsta" rap and hip-hop, and their alleged encouragement of aggressively misogynistic attitudes? "That's been written about elsewhere," she points out, "and it worries me that there's usually a racist element to these discussions. Black artists are condemned, while white bands like the Rolling Stones and the Stranglers get away with deeply unpleasant lyrics. I was more interested in analysing the way that women were narrating their own experience of sexual violence or how they imagined other women's experience."

Personally, I would love to see a visual representation of Finding's work mashed up with Sut Jhally's Dreamworlds 3. Ever since I watched Dreamworlds 3 one video in particular stood out. Limp Bizkit released a video for their song "Eat You Alive" which is the epitome of glorifying violence against women:

The lead woman's palpable fear fades away into lust and desire after Durst decides to paint a pretty picture of their future - after screaming in her face lyrics like this:

Hey you,
Miss. too-good-to-look-my-way
and that's cool you want nothing at all to do with me.
But I want you,
ain't nothing wrong with wanting you cause
I'm a man and I can think what the hell I want,
you got that straight?

No doubt now (no doubt),
I'd love to (id love)
sniff on them panties now.

I'll EAT YOU ALIVE!!!! i'll eat you alive.....
I'll EAT YOU ALIVE!!!! i'll eat you alive......

There is power in placing these images and words into context, a subversive power. Dreamworlds 3 was able to tap into this by juxtaposing image after image together so the viewer looks at one long pattern, instead of several distinct images. Another subversive adaptation of music and lyrics comes from Tori Amos, who decided to cover Eminem's "'97 Bonnie and Clyde":

Amos did not change any of the lyrics, just presented it in a different light, though a woman's voice. In one of her many responses as to why she chose that particular cover, she notes:

Eminem's fans hate her cover. "That's the greatest compliment I've received," she says, teeth gritted. "My version invades his space, and men aren't used to feeling invaded, it drives them mad. Empower the wife, give her a voice. That's how you are an activist, I think. Is the song pretty? No, but I never said it was." Her blue eyes blaze. "Singing it is not a tribute." — Tori; The Times (UK), Dec 18, 2001

Ultimately, Finding's work is amazing because it illuminates the role of narrative in healing from assault or abuse by speaking these stories into existence. And if they happen to live on in the popular consciousness because they were attached to a song lyric, then so much the better. As is stated in her piece, many of us use music "as a means of emotional support."

And Then He Hit Me [Guardian]
Eat You Alive Lyrics [ST Lyrics]
Tori Amos/Eminem [Here In My Head]

This shouldn't be difficult for Australians, according to White Ribbon Chairman Andrew O'Keefe: "Today we are challenging all men to swear, and let's face it swearing comes naturally to most Aussie men." •  According to police, Kevin M. Derks, 53, turned his Wisconsin home into a shrine to child porn. He covered "every flat surface" with pictures of young celebrities and computer printouts of young girls in various states of undress or being otherwise molested. He claims he turned to children after realizing that the world has gotten "worse and worse." •  The Federal government has issued a recall for more than 2 million cribs, following reports that four babies had suffocated in them. They say the crib has a detachable side which can break, and allow the child to become trapped in a space between the crib and the mattress. • An Alabama district attorney says he is considering charging a 14-year-old girl for arranging the rape of her classmate. The girl told reporters that she and her classmate had planned on having sex with three older teens, but the victim said no when the other boys joined in. • Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio recently forced a pregnant woman to give birth while cuffed at the wrists and ankles. The woman was transported to a medical center, where she gave birth in "forensic restraint." She was also not allowed to hold her child, or see her for 72 days. Arpaio claimed he "had no choice." • According to plastic surgeons, Venezuelans are so dedicated to looking good that many people are dipping into their savings or taking on debt to pay for the costly procedures. "The financial crisis has spurred people to spend more on themselves ... to console themselves in this crisis. I have not seen demand diminishing," said one doctor. • In efforts to combat reports of anti-choice centers manipulating pregnant woman, the Baltimore City Council is considering legislation that will require pregnancy centers to post signs if they do not offer abortions or birth control referrals. • 

On Sunday, the Chronicle of Higher Education published a piece exploring the struggles of colleges trying to measure the effectiveness of programs designed to reduce rape and sexual assault. These programs have shifted the focus from women to men - and have stepped up the idea that men can assist in preventing third party assaults.

The Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women gives grants to colleges to develop or strengthen various resources, including policies related to prevention, victim counseling, and training for administrators and the campus police in identifying and responding to sexual assaults.

Some colleges try to reach all their incoming freshmen during orientation, or work the training into their curricula, while others aim to reach a few hundred students a year. On some campuses, well-financed women's centers funnel thousands of dollars into the effort, while other colleges have found ways to educate a good chunk of students without a real budget, relying on student volunteers and fund raising.

The challenge for colleges is that even the best prevention strategies lack guarantees. "There is no magic bullet," says Paul Schewe, a psychologist at the University of Illinois at Chicago and director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Research on Violence. The field is relatively new to academe, and not all experts agree on the best approaches.

John D. Foubert, one of the pioneering instructors, believes that one of the ways to stop sexual assault would be to focus on getting men to envision what it would be like if they were raped:

The program, which Mr. Foubert created in the late 1990s, consists of an hourlong workshop on sexual assault. The cornerstone of the program is a video that dramatizes the rape of the male police officer, which is both graphic and disturbing. And according to his research, Mr. Foubert says, the video increases men's aversion to rape while casting them not as potential abusers but as "potential helpers" who can help prevent assaults.

On its Web site, Mr. Foubert's organization highlights statistics from studies he has conducted on the program's effectiveness. It says that not only does the program improve men's understanding of how to help a woman recover from rape, but it also lowers "the likelihood of raping for an entire academic year-longer than any other program evaluated in the research literature." Furthermore, Mr. Foubert concluded that 75 percent of "high risk" men who attend his program report lower likelihood of raping after the program concludes.

This sends up some red flags. One, who determines who is high risk? Anyone is capable of sexually assaulting someone else, and while it may help deter men in social settings where a lot of peers are egging on forcible contact, it doesn't really stop one-on-one occasions like acquiescence rape. Secondly, are these statistics based on self-reporting? As we've seen before, many people will dance rings around the word "rape" without realizing that their behavior falls squarely within the definitions.

The more commonly known strategy aimed at women is a "risk reduction" tactic - where programs explain to women what they can do to try to mitigate the risk of an assault:

While some rape-prevention strategies were created specifically for men, others were designed to empower women. The latter include "risk reduction" programs that have been shown to decrease the likelihood of being assaulted. Such programs teach women, for example, to keep an eye on their drink to prevent someone from drugging it; to attend parties in groups; and to set boundaries in sexual situations. Self-defense training can be another component.

But the majority of programs are for both genders, according to a recent review written by a panel of sexual-assault-prevention experts, including Mr. Berkowitz and Mr. Schewe. Most rely on a lecture format, but many use videos, interactive skits, role-playing, and rape survivor stories. And according to Rape Prevention and Risk Reduction: Review of the Research Literature for Practitioners, mixed-gender programs have been shown to produce positive changes in attitudes about rape, although they have generally not been successful over the long term.

Several companies have gotten into the game, too. Colleges can book a performance of Sex Signals, a two-person play designed to educate students using a mix of improvisational comedy and audience participation. NFormed.on.sexual.assault, which bills itself as a "not for too much profit" company, offers online video training to colleges at a cost of up to $6.95 per student.

Although it's important to applaud educators for taking a closer look at rape prevention, it's possible the dwindling and hard to measure returns will continue as long as they solely focus on risk management, to the detriment of everything else. One of the reasons I enjoyed the Yes Means Yes! anthology and blog (full disclosure: I'm one of the contributors) is this idea of enthusiastic consent. So often, questions of consent hinge upon hearing "no" as in "she never said no" or "I didn't hear her say stop." Yes Means Yes reframes that idea, positioning that the absence of no should not be taken as consent, and that only a full, enthusiastic yes leads to a positive sexual experience for both partners.

In addition, there are a number of amazing documentary films examining the larger role of cultural influences that often go unchallenged. Dreamworlds 3 is one of these resources, where the images of women in society are critically examined. While some men may gain valuable insight by trying to place themselves in the shoes of someone who has been raped, another effective tactic may be to show how dominant and unquestioned are certain ideas about sexuality. The segment in Dreamworlds on masculinity and control is a major eye-opener:

In addition, Byron Hurt's Beyond Beats and Rhymes provides a hip-hop focus that still provides men and women with a shocking glimpse of what types of behavior become normalized.

At 6:37, the statistics begin flashing on screen: One in four black women are raped after age eighteen, that black women are 35% more likely to be physically assaulted than white women, and that more than 700,000 women are assaulted each year, with 61% of those victims being under 18.

The following segment, "Sisters and Bitches," provides an illustrated view of the problems with rationalizing away behavior. As the scenes Hurt films become more sexually aggressive and more violent toward women, he eventually approaches as police officer, who more or less shrugs it off as regrettable but not preventable:

In order to change the way sexual aggression is viewed in the culture, people must make sure that they examine and challenge assumptions. Which brings me to this problematic passage in the Chronicle of Higher Education report:

The majority of rapists, almost all of whom are male, are never reported or prosecuted, according to David Lisak, a clinical psychologist at the University of Massachusetts at Boston who has spent more than two decades studying rapists. These "undetected rapists," as he called them in a 2002 paper, hold rigid beliefs about gender roles and objectify women. They are usually hypermasculine, equating aggression, sexual prowess, and violence with their own adequacy. They tend to use alcohol deliberately to make their victims more vulnerable to attack.

While I agree that the majority of rapists are never reported or prosecuted (thanks social stigmas!) I disagree with creating a profile of someone who could commit a sexual assault or rape. For one thing, putting characteristics like hypermasculinity into the mix could become confusing. How then, does one deal with the manipulative dynamics of Nice Guys, or the murky consent dynamics of the open-source boob project?

In addition, a focus on the outcome (dealing with or preventing rape and sexual assault) can also lead to ignoring the causes and effects leading up to these types of assaults. At Racialicious, we recently published a piece from Fiqah who talked about her problems dealing with sexual advances from a uniformed police officer that lives in her neighborhood. She wrote:

"Where you headed?" he asked, looking down at me as my eyes landed everywhere else: his shoes, a lamppost, a trashcan, a little boy barrelling down the sidewalk on his scooter. As we stopped at a crosswalk, he moved a full step closer to me so that we were separated by no more than a few inches. I swung the shopping bag hanging from my hand between us, casually, so as to appear non-deliberate. My flitting eyes landed on the gun at his hip. I quickly looked away.

"Oh, not far," I'd said, calmly, making small talk as my mind screamed angry accusations and panicked instructions. Don't let him walk you to your building! Stall him! It's your fault for wearing a V-neck shirt without a minimizer! Tell him you have run to the bodega across the street and pick up something you forgot! Tell him your boyfriend's waiting for you! You must always remember to wear your wedding ring when you go out or this will happen! This is your fault! Your fault! Don't tell him your real name! Don't tell him anything! Keep talking! This is your fault!

"OH!" I said, feigning dismay. "I forgot something! I gotta run into one of these bodegas and grab it."

"No problem, I'll walk you there," he'd said. My stomach turned over.

"Thank you so much, that's really nice, but I got it."

"You sure?" he'd asked, handing me my bags.

"Oh, yeah, it's not a problem. I mean, a little weight-lifting won't hurt!" I added. He laughed, and gave me one last nauseating up-and-down.

"Don't get too much exercise, now," he'd drawled.

I had swallowed my rising bile and forced a smile, thanking him for his help, and hastily crossed the street.

As is par for the course with any blog posts on rape, street harassment, and sexual harassment, comments started creeping in asking what the cop did wrong, why the writer would feel threatened if a man was just saying hello, and asking what men are supposed to do if women dress in a way to attract attention. One commenter even went so far as to suggest Fiqah would have been fine with this harassment if she thought the police officer was attractive.

These types of ingrained ideas need to be explored. There is no reason why men should have so many problems distinguishing between flirting and sexual aggression, or why reflexive reactions like "well why are you wearing that?" should go unchallenged.

Luckily, on campuses, administrators are open to changing tactics. As Dorothy Edwards, creator of the Green Dot program, says at the end of the Chronicle article:

Ms. Edwards, of Kentucky, echoes some of her peers when she says it doesn't matter to her which strategy comes out on top, as long as the goals are met. "I couldn't care less about Green Dot," she says. "I want to end rape."

Rape-Prevention Programs Proliferate, but 'It's Hard to Know' Whether They Work [The Chronicle]
Official Site [Yes Means Yes Blog]
Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and A World Without Rape [Amazon]
Dreamworlds 3 (Unabridged) [Media Education Foundation]
Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes [PBS Independent Lens]
Nice Guy (TM) at XKCD [Restructure]
Open Source Boob Project [Feminist SF Wiki]
Unreported [Racialicious]

Earlier: Rapists Admit Repeated Crimes - As Long As You Don't Call It "Rape"

[Guatemala City, November 16. Image via Getty]

Aura Suruy Socorec shows the picture of her three daughters murdered a year ago, on November 16, 2009, during the inauguration of an international seminar on Violence Against Women, Teens and Girls in Guatemala City. AFP PHOTO/Johan Ordonez (Photo credit should read JOHAN ORDONEZ/AFP/Getty Images)

[Mexico City, November 10. Image via Getty]

A group of women march during a protest against violence against women in Ciudad Juarez, in front of the 'Hemiciclo a Juarez' in Mexico City, on November 10, 2009. During the last decade, more than 300 women have been murdered or disappeared in the northern Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez, state of Chihuahua. AFP PHOTO/Alfredo Estrella (Photo credit should read ALFREDO ESTRELLA/AFP/Getty Images)

The Killer Inside Me is set for release in 2010; its five minute trailer promo gives away a good chunk of the plot, which seems to involve quite a lot of graphic violence against women. This isn't particularly surprising, considering the long-standing media fascination with sex crimes, and the rising acceptance of rape scenes on prime time television (we're particularly reminded of the Last House on the Left trailer, which clearly showed a very young actress being raped). However, the level of violence shown in the clip is striking, and given the context, quite disturbing.

The film is based on a 1952 novel by the same name by writer Jim Thompson. According to Wikipedia, the novel centers around a young deputy sheriff living in a small town in western Texas, who has always felt the presence of some sort of "dark rider," to use the Dexter-terminology. Lou Ford is a sadistic monster, but he generally keeps his sociopathic tendencies under wraps (except for that one time when he sexually abused a young girl as a teen). As an adult, Ford takes up with a prostitute, in an apparently consensual sadomasochistic relationship that ends in her death. He then attempts to cover her murder by embarking on a series of killings, which ultimately ends up exposing his "sickness" to the world.

Judging by the clip, director Micheal Winterbottom has decided to stay pretty close to the source material. It's clear that Ford is a fucked up dude, who escalates from isolated acts of torture to beating his lover until her face is memorably described as "stewed meat, hamburger." Gwen from Sociological Images writes:

Clearly, Casey Affleck's character is a sadistic asshole (the cigar on the guy's hand), but in the promo, at least, the graphic, sexualized violence is reserved for women…who also appear to like it, at least for a while. Jessica Alba gives in to him, and apparently starts a relationship with him, after he pulls her pants down and whips her. Perhaps that's because she's a prostitute; of course she'd like a dominant man who plays rough, right?

The thing is, you could make this movie and tell the same story without actually showing all the violence in such a graphic way. Movies imply things all the time. It's a choice to show this type of violence toward women as a form of entertainment…and to show the women liking it.

Full disclosure: I'm a horror movie fanatic, and I generally don't shy away from violence on film. I have no problem with Tarantino, and I've seen more of the Saw franchise than I'd like to admit. And yet, Gwen's final comments hit the nail on the head as to why this is particularly bothersome. Not only do we get a truly horrific glimpse of Jessica Alba's face after she's been beaten to death, but we also see the start of their relationship, which begins with a beating, followed immediately by passionate, consensual sex.

It's this series of events that bothers me. Less than a minute in, we see him carry a screaming Jessica Alba to the bed, where he turns her over and whips her with his belt while she screams in pain. Suddenly, something changes - he's no longer an abuser, but a lover. Now, there is nothing wrong with enjoying some healthy, consensual BDSM, but those relationships don't start out as a brutal attack. As far as I can tell, it appears that the first time these two characters meet, he begins to act out his violent fantasies upon her, but it's turns out O.K. (for awhile), because she likes it! This is a dangerous way of approaching sexual violence, for although she may be enjoying the spanking, it is clear that she is never in control. And this is the main problem with portraying rape fantasies and BDSM sex: If there is no discussion of power-play, it just ends up sending the message that women like rape or want to be beaten. Furthermore, Lou Ford's penchant for violence is explained away simply as a "sickness," which, while it may be good for the plot, glosses over the prevalence of rape culture. In making this an illness, particular to one individual, the movie is able to dabble in the same tropes that we see over and over again, and exploit the thrill of watching violence against women, without touching the greater issues at play. So unless Winterbottom is willing to delve into the dynamics of consent/control, The Killer Inside Me will be no better than a snuff film.

"The Killer Inside Me" Promo [Sociological Images]
The Killer Inside Me (Novel) [Wikipedia]
The Killer Inside Me [IMDB]

The site, which went up in August, was shut down recently, but Reverend David Russell, an outgoing master at Wesley College, tells the Sydney Morning Herald that the Facebook page is simply an encapsulation of the rape culture that has pervaded the campus for some time. "This is a story that has to be told," Russell says, "there is no question in my mind, women are seen as meat. That is the awful, ugly truth of it.''

The site has already been condemned by the University, the New South Wales Police sex crimes unit, and the New South Wales Rape Crisis Centre, and New South Wales Minister for Women, Linda Burney, rightly tells ABC Australia that "The idea that a group of young men that are going to become leaders within our community - leaders in the law, leaders in medicine, leaders in business - studying at an elite college, at an elite university, think it's OK to post information like this encouraging rape on a website is absolutely abhorrent.

The question that remains, however, is why Facebook allowed a pro-rape group to exist on the service to begin with. This is a social networking site that refuses to let women post pictures of themselves breastfeeding, mind you, but it's okay to make a "hilarious" pro-rape group in the "Sports and Recreation" category? The group was public, by the way, accessible to anyone and visible to all. Interesting, isn't it, that in the eyes of Facebook, a woman shouldn't be allowed to show her breasts while feeding her child, but it's perfectly acceptable for men to make a highly public "sport" out of rape.

Detective Superintendent John Kerlatec of the New South Wales Police sex crimes squad tells the Herald that "this is the first occasion I have heard of a Facebook site being set up to promote, or publicise ... sexual assault or any other behaviour that is criminal behaviour.'' Something tells me that it won't be the last, unless Facebook starts paying as much attention to the rape culture brewing on the boards as they do to pictures of new mothers just trying to feed their kids.

Pro-Rape Facebook Group Condemned [The Australian Broadcasting Corporation]
Facebook And Sexual Violence, Assault [Sydney Morning Herald]
Facebook's Breastfeeding Ban [LATimes]