Today, I attended a lecture sponsored by one of the clubs on campus Men Against Sexual Assault. The lecturer was the founder of the international White Ribbon Campaign, Michael Kaufman. The purpose of this campaign is to end violence towards women. The most serious problem, especially for us college student, is the 窶彭ate rape.窶� He talked over an hour about the reality and the causes of the sexual assault, and then argued what can be done to stop it. Because the topic was familiar to me, it was a really exciting, interesting, understandable and persuasive lecture. Most of the audience was male.

First of all, he discussed the cause of the problem. According to his opinion, the main cause is the 窶徇en窶冱 domination.窶� In other words, the inequality between male and female create the problems. He quoted the slavery as an example. Slavery is obviously beneficial for whites. Whites don窶冲 have to do particular kinds of jobs because the slaves would do it instead. To maintain and control the slavery, white people have to have a power; they need to be violent.
The same goes to the gender inequality. For instance, there is much stuff that the husband doesn窶冲 have to do in daily life such as household work; household work is supposed to be a women窶冱 job. Besides, the husband has a certain kinds of power; in this case, husband窶冱 job is to earn money a lot for family. Resisting to husband could be a fatal problem for house wife; it is inevitable to much depend on her husband. Then, 窶廴en窶冱 domination窶� is constructed. Apparently, this works men窶冱 advantage. In addition, it contributes to building the male-predominant hierarchy in the society.

Next, he gave three key words to understand the causes.
The first one is the men窶冱 power in the society. Needless to say, it is obvious. Just being a male will be great advantages in many aspects and in many fields of the life in this society both in the United States and in Japan.
Second key is men窶冱 privileges. By privilege, he pointed out the men窶冱 窶彿nvisible窶� advantage. For example, if you are a woman, you have to worry about the safety when you walk the street all the time. But men don窶冲 have to care about it, because there is less possibility to be involved with a crime. This is the privilege that male has.
The last key is the permission of violence for women. Most of the sexual assault is the personal matter, so that we usually don窶冲 police different from other crimes. That gives male a permission to commit a sexual assault secretly. The secrecy makes the problem more difficult to solve.
These all three causes correlate each other and develop the sexual assault, he added.

To think about the solution, we have to know about the pressure of the socially created gender. In his opinion, during the process of the socialization, boys learn the imaginary figure of the ideal 窶徨eal man.窶� The 窶徨eal man窶� should be powerful, strong or whatever. Many boys try to be the 窶徨eal man,窶� but at the same time, it put pressure on boys; the fear of not being the 窶徨eal man.窶� However, living up to the social expectation, boys have to pretend the 窶徨eal man.窶� In terms of the sexual assault, violence will be the proof of the 窶徨eal man窶�; to show the strength, the 窶徨eal man窶� need to be violent occasionally. This process is called 窶彡ompensatory mechanism.窶� This mechanism causes the violence towards the women. In addition, the 窶徨eal tough man窶� is supposed to avoid showing his emotion, thus, the massive pressure explodes as violence. This is quite serious problem.

The lecturer mentioned one important question at the end of the presentation. 窶弩hat can we do窶� to solve or end the sexual assault against women? Basically, giving supports that women need and stopping violence towards the women are necessary. But that will be not enough. The reason is here why he founded the white ribbon campaign. I also got a white ribbon today and now wear it. To wear the ribbon means a 窶徘ublic pledge.窶� It shows own opinion or idea for the other people. Not only that, I owe a kind of duty; I have to try to speak and challenge others. I need to talk about the sexual assault to other students and try to get awareness. It sounds hard. But as long as I wear the white ribbon, I have an obligation. That is the purpose of this campaign.