Men Can Stop Rape

Youth development: our youth development work includes the men of strength (most) club, now in its 20th year, and the women inspiring strength and empowerment (wise) club, now in its 10th year. For both our most and wise club members, the work begins with unpacking dominant stories of masculinity and womanhood; replacing those damaging narratives with counter stories that support members in becoming their best selves; and creating safer learning and community environments so that members can flourish and thrive. We believe our work is from conception through the lifespan, and with our emphasis on social and emotional learning, our most and wise curricula, and community strength projects, we are creating and instilling a pipeline with our members that prevents men's violence against women and girls by empowering girls to develop their identities beyond the restrictive and harmful confines of violence and by mobilizing boys to develop healthy, nonviolent masculinity.

Communications: communications includes the organization's social media messaging materials and licensing agreements, social media, and public relations. While the social context for rape-prevention campaign materials targeting men has traditionally identified men as "the problem," our communications initiatives offer an affirmative alternative: a social context where men are role modeling healthy choices and behaviors. Our materials use audience-centered advertisements to encourage both moral identification and moral agency in the target audience of young men. Typically, audience-centered ads sell a product by using something already liked/desired by a target audience. Our materials use the desired attribute "strength" to reconnect young men to their capacity for choosing to do the right thing. The male audience member is invited to identify with the positive actions representing his own peer group. This reinforces his sense of moral agency; helps transform the social meaning of "peer pressure; and creates safe public spaces in which young men can stand up and speak up as visible allies.