Leah Butler to speak at first Brown Bag Lunch hosted by the Women’s Center.
For many college students, the idea of a sexual predator models an image of prowlers in the night, when in actuality attackers can be someone closer to home.
Leah Butler, an Ohio University graduate with a degree in sociology, has plans to clear up this misconception at the Women’s Center’s Brown Bag Lunch and Learn on Thursday – the first one for the new semester.
These lunch discussions aim to educate students on women and gender issues, as well as to bring the work of the Women’s Center into the public, said Susanne Dietzel, director of the Women’s Center.
Butler was recommended to lead a discussion about a paper she wrote called, “The Social Construction of the Campus Sexual Predator: A Discussion on Bystander Intervention.”
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, one in five women are sexually assaulted on college campus.
“People don’t realize that it could be the guy sitting next to you at the bar, or it could be your friend (that sexually assaults you),” Butler said.
Students are not always comfortable in intervening when they see a potential assault taking place in the college social scene. The recent grad hopes to discuss the problems with bystander intervention and to help students more readily identify opportunities for victimization.
“I want to leave people with a new understanding of bystander intervention … just to be a little more vigilant, to look out for things, and to use their social connections to keep their friends safe and themselves safe,” Butler said.
The staff members at the Women’s Center believe Butler’s discussion will be a great kick-off to the brown bags this year.
“(Butler’s thesis) nicely overlapped with the mission of the Women’s Center as well the mission of the (Ohio University) Survivor Advocacy Program,” Dietzel said.
Butler is looking forward to hearing the thoughts and solutions the attendees of the session will have to offer.
The brown bag discussions are open to student, faculty, staff and members of the community. In addition to the open invitation, the Women’s Center is still looking for fresh speakers to lead future discussions.
“You don’t have to be a faculty or staff member to do a brown bag,” said Sarah Jenkins, program coordinator for the Women’s Center and LGBT Center. “We totally encourage students who have done research to come and speak.”
The Women’s Center’s calendar is in full swing with new events and activities for the fall, including another brown bag discussion next Thursday with Roxanne Male-Brune entitled “How to Write a Competitive AAUW Fellowship Application.”
“I think these brown bags are important on a number of issues,” Dietzel said. “They make the scholarship of our students and faculty and staff public. They are here to educate the campus and empower people on our campus too.”
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