Stopping woman abuse on the North American college campus has not been very successful thus far. There is a major backlash, where students, faculty, and administrators too often either feel that the problem is not very significant or support the patriarchal rights of men. Programs begun by many campuses have not worked very well, partially because they depend on women to police the actions of men and partially because so few men come under formal social control that most offenders know that they can get away with their actions. Building on empirical research that suggests that male peer support is the most important factor on whether a male will be abusive, the authors suggest ways in which profeminist men can begin to tilt the balance against male aggression. This can include shaming or working with bullies or those who are abusive, protesting pornography, and involving oneself with education programs and/or support groups.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
ALVI Social Research . (1996). Health effects of working at home: A review of the literature. Report prepared for Health Canada. Ottawa: Health Canada.
2.
Baldridge, J. V. , & Julius, D. J. (1998). Crisis management resulting from violence on campus: Will the same common mistakes be made again? In A. M. Hoffman, J. H. Schuh, & R. H. Fenske (Eds.), Violence on campus: Defining the problem, strategies for action (pp. 229-246). Gaithersburg, MD: Aspen.
3.
Bergman, L. (1992). Dating violence among high school students. Social Work, 37, 21-27.
4.
Bohmer, C. , & Parrot, A. (1993). Sexual assault on campus: The problem and the solution. Toronto: Maxwell Macmillan.
5.
Bowker, L. H. (1998a). Introduction. In L. H. Bowker (Ed.), Masculinities and violence (pp. xi-xviii). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
6.
Bowker, L. H. (1998b). On the difficulty of eradicating masculine violence: Multisystem overdetermination. In L. H. Bowker (Ed.), Masculinities and violence (pp. 1-14). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
7.
Braithwaite, J. , & Daly, J. (1994). Masculinities, violence, and communitarian control. In T. Newburn & E. A. Stanko (Eds.), Just boys doing business? Men, masculinities, and crime (pp. 189-213). New York: Routledge.
8.
Burns, N. , & Meredith, C. (1993). Evaluation of the effectiveness of group treatment for men who batter. In J. Hudson & J. Roberts (Eds.), Evaluating justice (pp. 241-263). Toronto: Thompson Educational Publishing.
9.
Caringella-MacDonald, S. , & Humphries, D. (1998). Guest editors' introduction. Violence Against Women, 4, 3-9.
10.
Christian, H. (1994). The making of antisexist men. London: Routledge.
11.
Connell, R. W. (1995). Masculinities. Berkeley: University of California Press.
12.
Currie, E. (1998). Crime and punishment in America. New York: Owl Books.
13.
DeKeseredy, W. S. (1999). Tactics of the antifeminist backlash against Canadian national woman abuse surveys. Violence Against Women, 5, 1258-1276.
14.
DeKeseredy, W. S. , & Kelly, K. (1993). The incidence and prevalence of woman abuse in Canadian university and college dating relationships. Canadian Journal of Sociology, 18, 137-159.
15.
DeKeseredy, W. S. , & MacLeod, L. (1997). Woman abuse: A sociological story. Toronto: Harcourt Brace.
16.
DeKeseredy, W. S. , & Schwartz, M. D. (1994). Locating a history of some Canadian woman abuse in elementary and high school dating relationships. Humanity & Society, 18, 49-63.
17.
DeKeseredy, W. S. , & Schwartz, M. D. (1998). Woman abuse on campus: Results from the Canadian national survey. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
18.
Deslauriers, J. P. (2000, January 27). Women just as violent as men. The Charlatan, p. 4.
19.
Fekete, J. (1994). Moral panic: Biopolitics rising. Montreal: Robert Davies.
20.
Funk, R. E. (1993). Stopping rape: A challenge for men. Philadelphia: New Society Publishers.
21.
Ghaill, M. (1994). The making of men: masculinities, sexualities and schooling. Philadelphia: Open University Press.
22.
Gilbert, N. (1997). Advocacy research and social policy. In M. Tonry (Ed.), Crime and justice (pp. 101-148). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
23.
Gilfus, M. E. , Fineran, S., Cohan, D. J., Jensen, S. A., Hartwick, L., & Spath, R. (1999). Research on violence against women: Creating survivor-informed collaborations. Violence Against Women, 5, 1194-1212.
24.
Godenzi, A. (1999). Style or substance: Men's response to feminist challenge. Men and Masculinities, 1, 385-392.
25.
Hamberger, L. K. , & Hastings, J. E. (1993). Court-mandated treatment of men who assault their partner: Issues, controversies, and outcomes. In N. Z. Hilton (Ed.), Legal responses to wife assault: Current trends and evaluations (pp. 188-229). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
26.
Hasbrook, C. , & Harris, O. (1999). Wrestling with gender: Physicalities and masculinities among inner-city first and second graders. Men and Masculinities, 1, 302-318.
27.
Hazler, R. (1996). Breaking the cycle of violence: Interventions for bullying and victimization. Washington, DC: Accelerated Development.
28.
Hearn, J. (1996). Men's violence known to women: Men's accounts and men's policy developments. In B. Fawcett, B. Featherstone, J. Hearn, & C. Toft (Eds.), Violence and gender relations: Theories and interventions (pp. 99-114). London: Sage.
29.
Hearn, J. (1998). The violences of men. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
30.
Hirschi, T. (1969). Causes of delinquency. Berkeley: University of California Press.
31.
Hoffman, A. M. , Schuh, J. H., & Fenske, R. H. (Eds.). (1998). Violence on campus: Defining the problems, strategies for action. Gaithersburg, MD: Aspen.
32.
Hornosty, J. M. (1996). A look at faculty fears and needed university policies against violence and harassment. In C. Stark-Adamec (Ed.), Violence: A collective responsibility (pp. 31-56). Ottawa: Social Science Federation of Canada.
33.
Johnson, A. G. (1997). The gender knot: Unraveling our patriarchal legacy. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
34.
Kilmartin, C. T. (1996, May/June). The White Ribbon Campaign: Men working to end men's violence against women. Journal of College Student Development, p. 347-348.
35.
Kimmel, M. (2000). The gendered society. New York: Oxford University Press.
36.
Kimmel, M. S. , & Mosmiller, T. E. (1992). Introduction. In M. S. Kimmel & T. E. Mosmiller (Eds.), Against the tide: Pro-feminist men in the United States, 1776-1990 (pp. 1-46). Boston: Beacon Press.
37.
Klein, E. , Campbell, J., Soler, E., & Ghez, M. (1997). Ending domestic violence: Changing public perceptions/halting the epidemic. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
38.
Koss, M. P. , Gidycz, C. A., & Wisniewski, W. (1987). The scope of rape: Incidence and prevalence of sexual aggression and victimization in a national sample of higher education students. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 55, 162-170.
39.
Lavoie, F. , Robitaille, L., & Herbert, M. (2000). Teen dating relationships and aggression: An exploratory study. Violence Against Women, 6, 6-36.
40.
Ledwitz-Rigby, F. (1993). An administrative approach to personal safety on campus: The role of a President's Advisory Committee on Woman's Safety on Campus. Journal of Human Justice, 4, 85-94.
41.
Levant, R. (1994, August). Male violence against female partners: Roots in male socialization and development. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, Los Angeles, CA.
42.
Luxton, M. (1993). Dreams and dilemmas: Feminist musings on `the man question.' In T. Haddad (Ed.), Men and masculinities (pp. 347-374). Toronto: Canadian Scholars' Press.
43.
Maguire, P. (1987). Doing participatory research: A feminist approach. Amherst, MA: Center for International Education, University of Massachusetts.
44.
Menzies, R. , & Chunn, D. E. (1991). Kicking against the pricks: The dilemmas of feminist teaching in criminology. In B. D. MacLean & D. Milovanovic (Eds.), New directions in critical criminology (pp. 63-70). Vancouver: Collective Press.
45.
Messerschmidt, J. W. (1993). Masculinities and crime: Critique and reconceptualization of theory. Lanham, MD: Roman & Littlefield.
46.
Messerschmidt, J. (2000). Nine lives: Adolescent masculinities, the body, and violence. Boulder, CO: Westview.
47.
Peterson, S. , & Olday, D. (1992). “How was your date last night?”: Intimate relationship violence among high school students. Human Services in the Rural Environment, 16, 24-30.
48.
Pitts, V. , & Schwartz, M. (1997). Self-blame in hidden rape cases. In M. Schwartz (Ed.), Researching sexual violence against women: Methodological and personal perspectives (pp. 65-70). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
49.
Renzetti, C. M. (1999). Editor's introduction. Violence Against Women, 5, 1235-1237.
50.
Roiphe, K. (1994). The morning after: Sex, fear, and feminism on campus. Boston: Little Brown.
51.
Sanday, P. R. (1996). Rape-prone versus rape-free campus cultures. Violence Against Women, 2, 191-208.
52.
Schechter, S. (1982). Women and male violence: The visions and struggles of the battered women's movement. Boston: South End Press.
53.
Schuman, D. , & Olufs, D. (1995). Diversity on campus. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
54.
Schwartz, M. , & DeKeseredy, W. (1997). Sexual assault on the college campus: The role of male peer support. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
55.
Schwartz, M. , & DeKeseredy, W. (in press). Aggregation bias and woman abuse: Variations by male peer support, region, language and school type. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 15.
56.
Schwartz, M. , & Leggett, M. (1999). Bad dates or emotional trauma? The aftermath of campus sexual assault. Violence Against Women, 5, 251-271.
57.
Schwartz, M. , & Nogrady, C. (1996). Fraternity membership, rape myths, and sexual aggression on a college campus. Violence Against Women, 2, 148-162.
58.
Schwartz, M. , & Wilson, N. (1993). We're talking but are they listening? Student retention of sexual assault programming. Free Inquiry in Creative Sociology, 21, 38.
59.
Sev'er, A. (1999). Sexual harassment: Where we were, where we are and prospects for the new millennium. Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, 36, 469-498.
60.
Sluser, R. , & Kaufman, M. (1992, July). The White Ribbon Campaign: Mobilizing men to take action. Paper presented at the 17th National Conference on Men and Masculinity, Chicago, IL.
61.
Stanko, E. A. (1997). “I second that emotion”: Reflections on feminism, emotionality, and research on sexual violence. In M. D. Schwartz (Ed.), Researching sexual violence against women: Methodological and personal perspectives (pp. 74-85). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
62.
Thorne-Finch, R. (1992). Ending the silence: The origins and treatment of male violence against women. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
63.
Williams, K. , & Hawkins, R. (1989). Controlling male aggression in intimate relationships. Law and Society Review, 23, 591-612.
64.
Young, J. (1999). The exclusive society. London: Sage.
