Show Warns Against Sexual Violence

“Ladies, keep your hands on the juice, ’cause there’s wackos on the loose,” Stan the Man admonished a group of students at the Yenching Auditorium yesterday night, referring to the prevalence of date-rape drugs in college social scenes.

The free-styling advice columnist is part of the latest effort to curb sexual violence at the College—in this case by educating bystanders about the role men can play in the prevention of rape and sexual assault.

One of the characters in a one man show entitled You the Man, Stan offered other rhyming bits of advice about how men could react to situations involving sexual violence, ranging from discussing how to intervene in unhealthy relationships to how to actively participate in the prevention of sexual assault.

“The play is not really about helping an abusive person see the error of his ways,” said playwright Cathy Plourde. “It is about helping those who are bystanders make better decisions; to encourage them to speak up and create a climate in which violence is not tolerated.”

The other men in the play included a concerned teacher, a confused father, a caring friend, a superficial athlete and an informative police officer.

Plourde said another goal of the play is to engage the audience in a discussion about rape with representatives from local support groups. Experts are normally on hand after the performance to lead the discussion, but none were present at yesterday’s showing because it was a preview.

The preview of the show comes in the wake of much debate over Harvard’s new approach to dealing with sexual assault.

The Coalition Against Sexual Violence (CASV) has questioned Harvard’s new requirement that corroborating evidence be presented to substantiate claims of sexual assault in front of the Ad board.

The University has taken many steps to further reform its policies, including creating a student-faculty board to investigate procedures for dealing with sexual assault at Harvard.

Assistant Dean of the College Karen E. Avery ’87, who heard about Plourde’s play over the summer, said she brought in theWho the Man show in an effort to better educate the student body about sexual violence issues.

She said that if the show were well-received in a smaller viewing, she might be able to coordinate larger such efforts.

“We want to think of a mode to present material about sexual assault to reach students we wouldn’t normally be able to reach,” Avery said.

Betty C. Luther ’03 said she thought the show was very well-done.

“[It] presented the issues of relationship violence in a very educated and engaging manner,” said Luther, who is also a CASV member.

Future plans to educate more students include an interactive “urban improv” presentation about sexual assault on Nov. 7 in the Winthrop House JCR.