A program that teaches young men how to control their behavior around women and to make good choices concerning the opposite sex is working, members of a legislative task force were told Tuesday.
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Steve Nedbalek, an education specialist with the state Health Department, said the all-male peer Man-to-Man Sexual Assault Prevention Education program covers what men can do to stop sexual assaults.
The goal of the program, for men between the ages of 16 and 24, is to help participants understand the trauma of rape and to be less vulnerable to dating misunderstandings, he said.
The program has been offered at various times by 18 Oklahoma colleges and universities and has been used by other groups, Nedbalek said. Teachers are trained men.
"I'm proud of it," Nedbalek said of the program. "I've seen tremendous shift and change with guys in schools. I'm very, very proud of the universities. They took it ... and they ran with it."
Nedbalek also has taught the program to church youth groups and in high schools. Since getting the program on college campuses in 2003, Nedbalek said his findings show about 61 percent of the male students came from fatherless homes and 63 percent viewed porn weekly.
Young men growing up without a significant male role model often turn to uncles, teachers and coaches, but they alone often are unable to provide adequate guidance, he said.
Nedbalek recommended to the Oklahoma Task Force to Stop Sexual Violence that legislators require colleges to provide competent sexual violence prevention programs for first-year male students.
He didn't have an estimate of how much that would cost.
"I don't think it's going to take a huge amount of money," Nedbalek said.
He provided U.S. Justice Department data showing about one in three rapes and 45 percent of attempted rapes were on college campuses.
The task force, chaired by Rep. Pam Peterson, R-Tulsa, is developing recommendations to the Legislature to increase services to victims of rape and to reduce sexual violence against women.
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