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Our country has bred a culture of rape through the portrayal of women in the media, glorifying sex and violence, and associating degrading words with women. Jeff Bucholtz, director of We End Violence, is tired of it.
With his dynamic speaking and acting skills, Bucholtz kept the crowd entranced while discussing tough issues of sexual harassment and violence. His statistics were alarming. One in four women will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime and 76 percent of those by someone they know. Bucholtz said he is giving a voice and a hand to survivors who will not speak for themselves for fear of being ostracized.
Men Against Rape starts by asking the crowd how we define sex. Most will agree there is good, sloppy, bad, regretted and violent sex.
“Is sexual violence at the other end of the spectrum of good sex?” said Bucholtz. “No, the defining line is consent, you have the choice. No one likes the idea of rape and no one likes the fact that no one is doing anything about it. It pissed me off more people weren’t doing something.”
Evelyn Leon, 19, a psychology major said she was surprised this information was coming from a man.
“I’ve seen other presentations and they were females,” said Leon. “He hit everything. It was entertaining he kept us engaged and used pop culture references.”
Bucholtz skillfully combined theater with outrage during his thoroughly researched presentation. His skit as an anchor for Channel 11 News demonstrated how the media often portrays rape as the woman’s fault. In another great performance with heart-wrenching testimonials, Bucholtz held up headshots of survivors and read testimonials.
In another exercise Bucholtz called upon the audience to blurt out names society calls women who have sex. “Slut!” “Whore!” “Hoochie!” “Skizzy!” were some of the less-than-flattering adjectives. He then asked the crowd to do the same for men. “Playa!” “The Man!” “Pimp!” “Mac Daddy!” shouted members of the crowd, demonstrating the hypocrisy of our society.
“Every woman will be called a slut,” says Bucholtz. “The word was derived from the English court system of days past meaning a woman who can be legally raped.”
Bucholtz said the best things to say to a survivor of rape is, “I’m sorry this happened to you. It’s not your fault. What can I do for you?”
“One thing you should never do is offer help and don’t follow up,” he added.
Bruce Gray, 19, said he got the message.
“It shows how f***ed up our culture is, how men are glorified and women are put down,” he said. “It was a good and insightful presentation.”
Bucholtz makes five presentations a semester on campus ranging from sexual and relationship violence, masculinity, feminism and violence prevention in society.
