‘Nightline’ visits Penn State campus for discussion on sexual assault

On Wednesday afternoon, members of the Penn State and State College community shuffled past bright lights and news cameras to their seats in Pavilion Theatre for a discussion on consensual sex, rape and the culture and stigma surrounding both.

The crew of ABC’s late-night news show “Nightline” bustled about, adjusting cameras, miking panelists and adding final touches to the stage before moderator Juju Chang led the panel in continuing the national discussion around sexual assault on college campuses for a “Nightline” special report, set to air the week of Feb. 22.

The ABC-provided panel was made up of six members with differing backgrounds: sexual assault prevention educator Gail Stern; victim advocate Cheryl Arutt; Title IX specialist Kimberly Lau; sexual assault victim and journalist Tove Danovich; peer educator at the University of Maryland Ian Tolino; and CD Mock, the father of an accused male.

According to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, 1 out of every 6 American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime. Additionally, women on college campuses are three times more likely than women in general to experience sexual violence. Three percent of American men have experienced rape and, added Stern, 1 out of every 2 transgender students will be a sexual assault victim in their lifetime.

Prompted with a scene by two actors from Stern’s assault prevention program, Sex Signals, the panelists and the audience discussed alcohol, responsibility, signals of consent and the oft-mentioned “gray area” around a truly mutual agreement on sex. While concurrence in opinion was common in some areas, vast differences emerged as well.

Mock, whose son was accused of sexual assault and whose daughter is a sexual assault victim , said “everything and anything that happens to you is your responsibility,” urging women to stay out of potentially “bad situations” as a way to reduce their risk of being harmed.

Stern, Tolino and the rest of the panel disagreed.

“I would never want to conflate risk reduction with rape prevention,” said Stern. “It means that every woman has to see every man as a potential threat, and I don’t buy that. If it’s all on me, I have to teach my child to live in fear, and I’m just not willing to go there.”

Regarding responsibility, Tolino, also known as “Consent Bro” from his time peer educating Greek life, added the issue of victim-blaming to the discussion. He said that disbelief in a victim’s claims or the statement that a victim could have been more careful places the onus on the wrong party and leaves the perpetrator unscathed.

“In terms of deflecting blame or shifting responsibility to a party that is majority victimized, I think (saying the victim could have done more) is just not true,” he said.

An underlying current throughout the discussion focused on the need for a change in the culture that makes these offenses possible and, in some circumstances, permissible. The cause of the culture was disputed among all in attendance — some believed it was due to a lack of morality, others a lack of sex-positive education, some a flaw in the legal system. However, all could agree that more can, should and will be done.

Said Stern, “If you learn the value that people are human beings and deserving of respect, we can beat this.”

This story was originally published February 10, 2016 at 9:09 PM with the headline "‘Nightline’ visits Penn State campus for discussion on sexual assault."