Gang Rape and the Culture of Division—Nov. 12, 2009

Tags:

Two weeks ago, I had the honor of facilitating a dialogue on gender with my colleague Alison Streit Baron. All of us — the participants, Alison, and I were surprised to discover how rarely people talk about the life experiences they have had as a man or a woman and the perspectives they have formed related to gender. It was a powerful evening. And it illustrated the importance of what's at the core of our work at the Public Conversations Project: to replace conflict with community by helping people better understand the experiences and perspectives of others.

This capacity was sadly lacking among the young men in Richmond, California who participated directly or indirectly in the gang rape of a fifteen-year-old girl several weeks ago. The reports are sickening, and illustrate what happens when living, breathing, feeling human beings are turned into objects: they are attacked by some while others stand by and do nothing. It is polarization at its worst. Why are we surprised? So much of public life has been overwhelmed by the forces of self-interest, division, dehumanization and personal destruction with little or no thought about the consequences. Our connection to one another as human beings has become painfully weak.

Who will stand up to this deeply destructive polarization? We will. The Public Conversations Project builds and re-builds relationships. We create dialogues in which people can see, hear, and appreciate the full humanity of others--even those vastly different from themselves. As the news today demonstrates, the world needs an incredible amount of relational repair. You can help.  Check out the "Resources" section of this site. Download Constructive Conversations About Challenging Times: A Guide to Community Dialogue.  Host a dialogue in your neighborhood, or with your friends and associates.  How will you join us? 


Bob Stains

Senior Vice President
Public Conversations Project

November 12, 2009


  • rogerb's blog
  • Share this

Comments

by-standers

Submitted by Bob Stains (not verified) on November 17, 2009 - 7:26pm.
Thanks, Wendy, for that terrific resource. The direct link to the TAB program is: http://www.quabbinmediation.org/html/tab.html. Folks also might want to check out the MVP (Mentors in Violence Prevention) program of Northeastern University, www.sportinsociety.org/mvp which focuses on young adults. The approach is comprehensive, non-shaming and resource-focused. I wonder if some of the same kinds of teaching/experience might be offered to older adults?

detox pills buy

buy online fast thc marijuana detox kit for people under 200 lbs

By-standers

Submitted by Wendy Foxmyn (not verified) on November 14, 2009 - 11:29am.
My friend/colleague Sharon Tracy and the folks at Quabbin Mediation (Orange/Athol, MA) have, based on the work of Erwin Staub, developed very interesting teaching programs for youth and adults around active by-standership. I believe she's presented at NEACR.

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>

More information about formatting options

Type the characters you see in this picture. (verify using audio)
Type the characters you see in the picture above; if you can't read them, submit the form and a new image will be generated. Not case sensitive.