Lessons from “Missoula”

Missoula1The book Missoula is a wakeup call about sexual misconduct on college campuses, including violent assault, drunken behaviors, campus judicial systems, police behavior and the legal process.

Last Thursday, the College of Education and Human Ecology and the College of Social Work partnered to hold a discussion about the book which is authored by John Krakauer (Doubleday, 2015).

Our discussion focused more on Ohio State and the future rather than the book per se. We recognized that sexual violence is a problem.

National polls estimate that 1 out of every 5 women are affected and 1 out of 16 men during their four years on a college campus.

Those numbers translate into about 10,000 Buckeyes who are affected by sexual violence, if the estimates are correct.

 
Our discussion group also expressed feelings of anger, fear, frustration, admiration (for some of the book characters) and inspiration, as drawn from the book.

We discussed what amount and what kinds of trainings are available on campus, what other needs exist and the pervasive theme of alcohol across nearly all incidents.

The most interesting idea I learned last week is that many young men are learning how to relate to a woman through (violent) pornography.

Therefore, they may not know what appropriate sexual behavior is.

 
It puts a different spin on what sex education in schools might address.

By the end of the evening, there was widespread consensus that Krakauer’s book might be appropriate to use with college-bound high school seniors.

EHE and the College of Social Work will continue to hold more conversations.

Our ultimate aim is to prevent sexual assaults in the future.