Bystander empowerment and education

  • Approach

Name

Bystander empowerment and education

Description

The bystander approach is a promising approach to sexual violence prevention as it encourages the community to take ownership of sexual violence as a problem and speak up when they witness potentially dangerous situations or sexist language.

Abstract

These types of approaches attempt to promote social norms that are protective against violence and empower and encourage people to intervene to prevent violence when they see it. Participants in bystander empowerment and education programs learn specific strategies on how to intervene in situations that involve violence. Types of bystanders targeted for intervention include: informal helpers (e.g., friends and roommates), popular opinion leaders (e.g., student government) or larger social groups (e.g., men on college campuses).

Categories

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