Beat the Blame Game, Catharsis Productions, Chicago, IL

Contact Name: Catharsis Productions
Phone Number: (312) 243-0022
Website: http://www.catharsisproductions.com/programs/beat-the-blame-game
E-mail: info@catharsisproductions.com
Key Words: (1) victim blaming; (2) bystander intervention; (3) racially diverse; (4) university setting; (5) stereotypes
Population
served
Victim blaming. The greatest barrier to holding rapists accountable, and giving survivors the critical support they need. Whether it’s slut shaming, or the almost recreational hostility that follows victims when they report, Beat the Blame Game is the powerful reality check that provides your campus with the tools they need to challenge the haters. Beat the Blame Game is suitable for university students, Greek organizations, faculty, staff, law enforcement, campus safety offices and more. Presentations are delivered to mixed-gender groups. This 60-90 minute program works for classes of 25-300 people.
Medium
used to
convey message
We engage audiences in a critical discussion around the most common reasons people blame the victim, support the alleged perpetrators, and justify not intervening. Participants are given the space to reflect on their own biases, as well as given the tools to identify and challenge victim blaming comments when heard from colleagues or friends. This provocative presentation can stand alone—but it’s also a great companion piece to Sex Signals. It has also been effectively utilized by peer educators and trainers to improve their program facilitation skills.
Goals,
objectives,
and desired
outcomes
The program is designed to:
1) Connect the research on victim blaming to the internalized rape myths of a campus population
2) Enable participants to identify the ways in which victim blaming tacitly endorses a perpetrator’s actions, as well as fostering a dangerous campus environment
3) Provide participants with the critical thinking skills, as well as the requisite “talking skills” to identify and challenge victim blaming comments
4) To increase the likelihood that participants will correctly identify situations requiring their intervention and their responsibility for intervening
5) Aid in creating a culture that not only supports victims and holds perpetrators accountable, but also fosters positive social changes in the ways positive, healthy sexuality is viewed and enacted
Theoretical/
scientific
basis for the
approach
The theoretical framework for this program includes “Just World Theory” and “Hindsight Bias”, along with the research on “The Bystander Effect” done by Berkowitz, et. al.
Level of
evaluation
This program has not been formally evaluated.
Staff
capacity
Each presentation of Beat the Blame Game is lead by one of Catharsis Productions’ team of highly-trained educators. The fully-staffed Catharsis Productions office in Chicago is available for assistance in social media marketing and promotion of the presentation.