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The Men's Program: How to Successfully Lower Men's Likelihood of Raping
John Foubert
Holmes Beach, FL: Learning Publications, Inc., 1998, 116 pages, $19.95 (softcover)
Only six years ago Schewe and O'Donohue (1993) lamented that "the current state of rape prevention programming adds little to our knowledge about prevention" (p. 668). Rape prevention efforts generally were aimed at developing programs, but empirical evaluation of such interventions was rare. An even greater paucity of research existed regarding prevention programs designed specifically for men (aimed at potential perpetrators). Foubert's book represents one of several recent efforts (e.g., Earle, 1996; Schewe & O'Donohue, 1996) to fill this void in the literature.
The Men's Program describes an all-male sexual assault peer education program designed to build empathy in men for female rape survivors. Chapter 1 describes The Men's Program, a primarily lecture-format workshop, with the major focus on a video produced by the Seattle Police Department that describes a male-- on-male rape situation. The stated goal of this intervention is to convey to men what it might feel like to be raped. Participants are said to be engaged in the program because, unlike many other programs, this intervention helps men to feel less blamed. According to the author, "by framing the workshop as a training workshop in which men learn how to help women recover from a rape experience, The Men's Program appeals to a `potential helper' persona, rather than the `potential rapist' persona" (p. 5).
Chapter 2 provides the script for implementing the workshop and chapter 3 details an excellent curriculum for training peer educators. Each unit is clearly outlined and content is designed to meet precisely stated goals. Some of the topics include gender role socialization, communication, relevant diversity issues, rape trauma syndrome, sexual orientation, and homophobia, important topics to cover for rape prevention work with men. Foubert also does an outstanding job outlining course assignments, identifying key readings, and giving the reader exact copies of important handouts.
Chapter 4 focuses on how to recruit men to become peer educators. Foubert details both the process and written content one could use to successfully recruit male participants, including how to screen applicants. Chapter 5 gives a sample Constitution and Bylaws that can be modified to establish a peer educator...