By Vincent DiFonzo, Content Manager
On Monday, the Office of Sexual Respect and Title IX hosted Gordon Braxton for a presentation entitled “Masculinity & Men’s Role in Violence Prevention.” The lecture was the first Title IX event in recognition of Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM).
Braxton is an author and advocate against sexual violence, and he served as Harvard University’s Violence Prevention Specialist. He attended the University of Virginia for his bachelor’s degree and received his master’s degree from Harvard. Last year, he published his first book titled, “Empowering Black Boys to Challenge Rape Culture.”
The presentation began with a brief introduction from Title IX Director Amanda Blaugher. Braxton then began the discussion by introducing himself “not as an educator, but as a colleague in the fight against sexual violence.”
Braxton talking to students during his lecture (Photo Vincent DiFonzo/The Gettysburgian)
Braxton gave a brief warning about the difficult nature of the discussion.
“This topic is not hypothetical for a lot of you. Certainly, there are probably a lot of people in this room who identify as survivors,” Braxton said.
Next, he encouraged audience members to show respect for each other in order to create “authentic conversation.”
After his introduction, Braxton discussed his work experience in violence prevention. For the past 20 years, he has been involved with the issue, from working as a prevention specialist with Harvard and the Center for Disease Control (CDC) to working with an anti-violence student organization during his undergraduate studies at the University of Virginia.
Braxton then explained why he got involved with violence prevention. He explained that when he was a teenager, he would have found a similar discussion on sexual violence “bizarre.”
“I didn’t know that I knew so many survivors, and if you were to talk to me about prevention, I would have told you to talk to the men who are part of the problem,” said Braxton.
An incident in his senior year of high school changed Braxton’s perspective and the way he viewed masculinity. He explained that at the end of his senior year, days before graduation, he began to feel painfully ill but refused to seek help.
“Throughout the whole week, I did what I thought any self-respecting man would do—nothing,” said Braxton.
After days of this feeling, his mother forced him to go to the emergency room. Just months before he was set to begin his first-year of college, he fell into a month-long coma that took a serious toll on his body and health. When he awoke from the coma, he weighed less than 100 pounds.
Braxton stated that his most valuable lesson from this experience was that “this thing that we call manhood may not always have the best interest in mind.” He realized that the definition of masculinity that he grew up with did not promote his own best interest either.
“When I thought about it, I realized that I did have some issues with traditional manhood—that men are limited to a finite set of emotions or activities we can enjoy,” Braxton said.
Braxton then began to detail his journey to understanding men’s role in violence prevention. As Braxton went through college, he heard stories from friends and loved ones who had experienced sexual violence.
“Everyone I’ve ever dated had a story. I don’t have a reason not to care about it,” he stated.
In his sophomore year of college, Braxton received an invitation to an all-male peer education group that centered on “speaking to men about how to prevent sexual assault.”
As soon as he began speaking about the topic, Braxton said that “the floodgates opened,” and he had found his passion.
Braxton addressed whether he thinks the situation with sexual violence has improved in the past 20 years. He said it would be questionable to say it has improved.
Nevertheless, Braxton pointed out the abundance of resources available to survivors today as a positive. He noted that there is more data on the topic available to researchers and policymakers to combat sexual violence, and there is more data for minority communities, including the LGBTQ+ community and communities of color.
However, Braxton referenced multiple frightening statistics from a recent Washington Post article called “America’s Teen Girls are in Crisis.” The article exposed the prevalence of sexual assault among high school aged girls.
“I hope we can all at least agree that if this article is even close to being true, we have some work to do,” said Braxton.
Braxton then addressed two possible explanations for the continued prevalence of sexual assault toward teenage girls: the COVID-19 pandemic and social media.
He expressed fear that the pandemic set teenagers back years in their social development.
“It will probably be years before we understand the impact of isolating,” Braxton said.
He cited the lack of regulation of social media as the main problem, calling it a “whole space that we don’t know how to regulate yet.” Braxton promoted self-regulation of behavior on social media and pushed for personal standards.
Braxton then expressed concern over the ease of access to pornography on the internet.
“Between ten and twelve years old—that’s when most boys access porn for the first time,” he said.
Braxton also encouraged more conversation on the topic of pornography.
“It’s weird that as a society, we don’t talk about this much. It has such a huge impact on our development.”
Next, the topic shifted to “locker-room talk” among young boys. He pointed to then-candidate for president Donald Trump’s infamous Access Hollywood tape scandal as an example of the problem.
“It’s locker-room talk, that’s where the fight is,” said Braxton.
Braxton shared two reasons why he believes locker-room talk matters. The first reason was that many survivors do not share their stories because they are afraid that they will not be taken seriously. To explain the second reason, Braxton then drew from one-on-one conversations he has had with men accused of Title IX violations.
“Even though they had committed actions that were harmful, I genuinely believe they didn’t know they did anything wrong,” stated Braxton.
Braxton argued that locker-room talk normalizes inappropriate sexual behavior among young men because they spend their lives in spaces where they remain unchallenged. Braxton observed that the bystander effect led to many young men failing to call out their peers for inappropriate remarks.
“Encountering a joke in a fraternity house or locker room that makes you uncomfortable, I remember being in that position,” stated Braxton.
He then turned the conversation to the audience and asked people to share their strategies for violence prevention among peers.
One student brought up a strategy taught to them during a work training event, the Three D’s: direct, delegate and distract.
Blaugher asked the audience what they would say while intervening.
One student answered, “If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”
Another student stressed the importance of avoiding “an antagonistic attitude” while confronting a peer.
Braxton then shifted to his closing remarks, and he encouraged the audience to make changes on campus.
“If just the voices in this room are able to transmit these ideas, it will look like a completely different place in one, two, three years,” Braxton said.
The event concluded with Blaugher encouraging students to wear teal the next day in honor of SAAM Day of Action.
