My agency recently undertook a change in our prevention programming. In the past, we specialized in the one time, twenty minute program to anyone who would give us a room and an audience. It wasn't the most effective "prevention" tool - but it was a great way to help people in our communities know help existed and wasn't at all scary.
Now, we are creating - out of thin air - new programs designed to work with high risk populations to create attitude and behavior changes. Also, rather than telling women and children to confine their activities or change their functioning to avoid rapists, we are working to make parents more responsible for looking after their children and teaching men that rape is bad. It's exciting, but it also means that it's something of a crap shoot. If we knew exactly why people commit sexual crimes - then it would be so much easier to prevent.
So, last night our Prevention Coordinator went to a community forum on alcoholism in order to see how the community reacts and considers problems of this scope. She was horrified when a medical doctor dismissed prevention efforts as "they have their place, but they are largely ineffective."
Sigh.
If the local community thinks that you can't prevent alcoholism - what chance do we have to convince them that rape is not part of the normal relationship between the sexes?
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