By Brandi Wylie ’24
Jackson Katz will visit Wofford College at 6 p.m. on Thursday, March 16 to discuss sexual violence issues. His lecture is titled, “Sexual Assault as a Men’s Issue.”
It will be free to attend and take place in Leonard Auditorium, located in Main Building.
“Perpetrators are overwhelmingly men, yet we call it a women’s issue,” says Katz, a renowned scholar and activist on issues of gender, race and violence.
Katz has researched and worked with sexual and domestic violence prevention his entire adult life. Part of his role is educating others on how to get involved as well.
He co-founded Mentors in Violence Prevention in 1997 and introduced the bystander approach to sexual assault, which is now a widely recognized term when discussing sexual violence.
“It’s not enough for a man just not to assault a woman,” Katz says. “They should challenge the people around them who are.”
Katz wants to make clear that his lecture will not be a traditional “academic talk.” Instead, the discussion will focus on a conceptual shift in thinking about sexual assault as a man’s responsibility as well as offer a practicality component.
His practicality component will encompass the ways in which men can prevent sexual assault. He questions why men are not stepping up on issues of sexual and domestic violence.
“Your silence is a form of complacency in other men’s abuse,” Katz says.
This is especially important for college-aged individuals, Katz says. He says those ages 18-22 typically have higher rates of victimization and perpetration of sexual violence.
Katz will share clips from his and other experts’ films depicting some of these ideas as well. He emphasizes that the subject matter is applicable to women as well as men, and he encourages all who plan to attend to come prepared to be challenged.