Anyone who knows four women probably knows someone who will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime. For Pat Hanlin, caring about the people he loves means caring about the issue of sexual assault.
Hanlin, a graduate student majoring in counseling at Ohio University, has been devoted to increasing awareness of sexual assault issues since 1999 when he and several other students assembled a male peer education group at Central Michigan University, where he received a degree in social work.
It isn't until you acknowledge that a problem exists that you can do something about it
Hanlin said. People are more likely to do something about a problem when they see it as their problem. They have to own it.
The group educated men about sexual assault prevention and how to emotionally support loved ones who have been assaulted. The founding members named the group One in Four in reference to the statistic that one in four women will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime.
Hanlin became involved in educating people about sexual assault because he had close friends who have been been through it.
I think a lot of times people take the attitude that it can't happen to them or that it doesn't affect them Hanlin said. I think people have to realize that it can be them
and it probably will happen to somebody that they love.
Hanlin was involved with One in Four for two years when he and three friends walked from San Francisco to Washington, D.C. , to raise awareness about sexual assault issues.
During the five-month walk in the summer of 2001, the four men made headlines across the country. They spread their message through radio and TV stations, newspapers and colleges.
Hanlin and his friends Steve McAllister, Michael Charbonneau and Joe McCarthy raised money for the walk across America through the hall councils at CMU, a benefit dinner and a golf tournament at CMU.
We almost never knew where we would be sleeping
Hanlin said. We would walk up to someone's door and ask if we could camp out in their lawn.
McAllister, sexual violence prevention coordinator at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. briefly met Hanlin in 1997 when they were resident assistants in the same complex. They became friends during the fall of 1999 through One in Four.
McAllister said he is not the type of person who would normally consider doing something like walking across the country, but Hanlin convinced him to do it, saying it would be a great way to spread their message. Pat is the type of person who looks at something like that and believes he can really get something out of it
he said.
McAllister said patience is Hanlin's best quality. He is very patient with people
he said. I'd say Pat doesn't react
he acts. He doesn't let a situation define him.
