Dr. Alan Berkowitz’s talk on “Promoting Consent, Preventing Coercion: What Men and Women can do to Prevent Sexual Assault,” gave audience members the knowledge necessary to recognize and prevent sexual assault on campus, and everywhere.
According to Berkowitz, who arrived Monday night in Kresge Auditorium armed with plenty of facts and figures, a lot of the problem can be traced to “underestimation.”
“People tend to think there’s less of the problem than there really is,” he said.
Berkowitz added that around 30 percent of college women have experienced sexual assault, while that number for men is 10 percent.
Berkowitz feels that underestimation leads to a failure to come forward and to what he calls, “pluralistic ignorance.”
“This type of ignorance exists when the majority incorrectly feels that it is in the minority,” he said.
Sophomore Mickey Terlep felt that one of the most important things he gained from listening to Berkowitz was the knowledge that such a thing as pluralistic ignorance exists.
“As far as talking to other people and avoiding that pluralistic ignorance I would change what I’m doing now to make sure I’m talking to people and sharing what I see,” Terlep said.
Unfortunately, because of this pluralistic ignorance combined with underestimation, many men and women who have experienced sexual assault are afraid to come forward.
Even Berkowitz himself admitted to being guilty of underestimation. He shared his personal experience with sexual assault: his sister admitted to being a victim of sexual assault in high school 40 years after it happened.
“Instead of asking, ‘why didn’t she tell me?’ I asked, ‘What could I have done so that she was comfortable telling me,'” he said.
Berkowitz stressed the necessity of talking openly with victims, as well as ensuring that they experience as little self-blame as possible.
He also discussed how intervention should occur before sexual assault has occurred. The five possible parts of a positive intervention method include talking to others, confronting the person, creating a distraction, removing the potential victim and calling for help.
Students at the event felt that many of Berkowitz’s tips would be helpful in the everyday culture on DePauw’s campus.
“I found it to be a much more positively enforced lecture,” Terlep said. “I felt that it was much more constructive and practical.”
Sophomore Ellie Crawford added that “Promoting Consent, Preventing Coercion,” caused her to think more carefully about the importance of bystander intervention.
“I think I’ll change the way I go about going out, I’m going to do my best to get involved and not let anything happen if I see it happening,” she said.
According to Berkowitz, there are numerous positive results when students are armed against sexual assault.
“We’re really talking about creating a healthy culture where people can thrive and grow and really make the best of themselves, he said, “because they’re not afraid of unwelcome sexual experiences.”