Assault Training Program Debuts

Sexual assault prevention training was greeted by something new this year: roars of laughter.

About 1,600 first-years flocked to Science Center B last night for “Sex Signals,” a required educational performance about sexual assault that utilized improvisational comedy and role-playing to get across its point.

“Everyone around me was laughing during the first section. They took the stereotype away from rape, its not just a man jumping out of the bushes. With the skits they made it seem like it was something that could happen to anyone,” said Caroline K. Hines ’07.

The presentation was added to Freshman Week this year after a committee charged with evaluating Harvard’s sexual assault prevention resources recommended last May that one entire night of programming during first-year orientation week be devoted to sexual assault.

A trial performance of “Sex Signals” last March was well-received. After the trial, about 200 students filled out a form which asked, among other questions, whether or not they found the program effective and if they thought it should be included in Freshman Week.

“The aim was get the students involved and to talk with them, not at them,” said Susan B. Marine, director of sexual assault prevention services.

“Students seem to really like it,” added Marine, who noted she had never seen Harvard students give a standing ovation. “Lots of people came up to me and the performers afterwards and said it was the best sexual assault presentation that they had ever seen.”

The response to the program will be judged over the next several years in order to decide whether or not it will become a permanent part of Freshman Week, according to Professor of International Health Jennifer Leaning, chair of the Committee to Address Sexual Assault at Harvard.

“From my perspective 24 hours out, however, and knowing that we intended this program to be an opening event in helping students begin a conversation on the topic of sexual assault, it appears to have accomplished what we had hoped it might do,” Leaning wrote in an e-mail.

The night before “Sex Signals,” first-year students attended “Building a Safer Community,” a Harvard University Police Department presentation and a staple of Freshman Week. During “Building a Safer Community,” students watch a video, one topic of which is sexual assault prevention.

“[In the video] sexual assault is sandwiched between so many other topics that I don’t think it can really change anyone’s mind-set,” said Alicia C. Johnson ’04, a board member of the Coalition Against Sexual Violence (CASV) activist group.

Many students said yesterday that the interactive presentation, during which students are asked questions and encouraged to voice their opinions, was more effective than the “Building a Safer Community” video in addressing sexual assault.

“During the video there was so much information that it all kind of got jumbled together and sounded exactly the same,” Catherine L. Matthews ’07 said.

CASV members lobbied for a changed awareness program during Freshman Week last year and several said they are happy with the “Sex Signals” program.

“It’s great to have a separate night dedicated to sexual assault because you can go deeper into the issues,” Johnson said.

During the show, performers acted out a several skits about dating, gender relations and date rape. The first part of the show involved the broad issue of mixed messages that men and women send each other. But as the show progressed, the performers focused on the topic of date rape and the tone became less comedic.

Students agreed that the comedic section and the opportunity to get involved was a good way to get their attention.

“I think it worked because the comedy kind of warmed up the audience. People weren’t talking at you like in all of the other meetings. They got us involved,” Katherine P. Eldridge ’07 said.

“It was a good way to keep students from falling asleep,” Okechukou R. Linton ’07 said.

—Staff writer Ebonie D. Hazle can be reached at hazle@fas.harvard.edu.