Fixing Utah's Rape Problem: Cultural Elite and Expert Perspectives on Sexual Assault Prevention Programming in Utah

This project explores the Utah-specific barriers to implementing sexual assault prevention programming in Utah's public schools from pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. Experts on prevention made recommendations for comprehensive sex education that include age-appropriate curriculum, parental involvement, and modules on consent, gender roles, and healthy interpersonal relationships. Cultural elites were interviewed to gather their reaction to expert suggestions, which helped identify barriers to implementation (the LDS Church, generational concerns), and also helped identify opportunities for change. Some barriers to change include lack of female legislators, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and a generational hesitance to talk about sex.

Fixing Utah's Rape Problem: Cultural Elite and Expert Perspectives on Sexual Assault Prevention Programming in Utah by Chelsea Kilpack, MA A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Arts in Community Leadership Westminster College Salt Lake City, Utah May, 2015Abstract This project explores the Utah-specific barriers to implementing sexual assault prevention programming in Utah's public schools from pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. Experts on prevention made recommendations for comprehensive sex education that include age-appropriate curriculum, parental involvement, and modules on consent, gender roles, and healthy interpersonal relationships. Cultural elites were interviewed to gather their reaction to expert suggestions, which helped identify barriers to implementation (the LDS Church, generational concerns), and also helped identify opportunities for change. Some barriers to change include lack of female legislators, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and a generational hesitance to talk about sex.This thesis is dedicated to anyone who has ever experienced sexual assault. You are not alone, it was not your fault, and it will get better. Acknowledgements I could not have completed this project without the help of so many people. First and foremost I want to thank each of my participants for taking time out of their busy days to share their personal views and stories with me. This is a sensitive topic, and your trust and candor made this project possible. To Jamie Joanou, thank you for working with me during personal obstacles, and thank you for pushing me in this experience. Your commitment to academic rigor helped me achieve one of loftiest goals I've ever set for myself. I hope our paths cross in "real life." To Kellie Mieremet and Nicole Croft--go team purple! Our group texts through the last four months saved my sanity. Thank you for your unwavering positivity and encouragement. I am forever changed because I know you. Thank you to Dr. Elizabeth Clement and Dr. Angela Smith--two of the most influential professors during my undergraduate career. I never would have made it to graduate school without the education you provided. Mom, dad, and Braeden--you have to call me "master" now. I love you guys. The biggest thanks goes to my best friend and partner in life, Bentley Garner. Thank you for reminding me that I couldn't drop out, and thank you for constantly listening to me talk about the horror that is sexual assault. You helped me process this research every step of the way. I couldn't have finished this without your love and support. I promise I won't go back to school for at least five years. You have it in writing now.Table of Contents Chapter One ...........................................................................................................................1-5 Sexual Violence Prevention.......................................................................................1-2 Public Health & Ecological Prevention Models ........................................................2-4 The project .................................................................................................................4 Community Partner....................................................................................................5 Chapter Two: Review of the Literature .................................................................................6-16 Patriarchy: The root cause of sexual violence .........................................................6-10 Background on prevention models ..........................................................................10-12 Change for Utah.......................................................................................................12 Utah's history...........................................................................................................12-13 The LDS Church.......................................................................................................13-16 Chapter Three: Methods ........................................................................................................17-23 Methods.....................................................................................................................17 Participants................................................................................................................17-20 Prevention experts..........................................................................................18 Cultural elites .................................................................................................19-20 Semi-structured interviews ......................................................................................20-21 Field notes................................................................................................................21-22 Research challenges and ethical concerns ...............................................................22 Data analysis ............................................................................................................22-23 Validity ....................................................................................................................23 Chapter 4: Findings................................................................................................................24-48Demonstration of need...........................................................................................................24-36 Sexual assault in local news...................................................................................25-28 Cultural elites personal experience with sexual assault.........................................28-29 Lack of education for parents and children............................................................29-32 Long-term impact of assault and miseducation .....................................................32-33 Reinforcing rape myths..........................................................................................33-36 Expert recommendations .......................................................................................................36-37 Barriers to implementation ....................................................................................................37-45 LDS culture.......................................................................................................... Abstinence and chastity ................................................................................39-40 Contention is of the devil.............................................................................41-42 Political barriers .................................................................................................. Generational hesitance to talk about sex.....................................................42-43 Parental control ..........................................................................................43-44 Lack of female legislators..........................................................................44-45 Opportunities for change General support for the proposal.....................................................................46-47 Framing and coalitions....................................................................................47-48 Chapter 5: Discussion ............................................................................................................49-50 Implications.....................................................................................................49-50 Future research................................................................................................50-51 Limitations ......................................................................................................51-52 Learning objectives.........................................................................................52Personal reflection .................................................................................................52-53 Conclusion ............................................................................................................53 References............................................................................................................................. Appendices............................................................................................................................Running Header: Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 1 Chapter 1 Sexual Violence Prevention Since the year 2000, reported rape has remained consistent for the State of Utah-a startling fact for a state that prides itself on family values (Peterson, 2010). Utah ranks 19th in the nation for reported forcible rapes, 1 in 3 women will experience sexual violence, and rape is the only violent crime in Utah with a rate higher than the national average (UCASA, 2006). Other types of violent crime in Utah are one-half to three times lower than the national average (Utah Violence and Injury Prevention Program, 2010). The staggering rates of sexual violence in Utah (including rape, attempted rape, child molestation, etc.) require full investment in primary prevention efforts. The first step in creating a prevention program that works is grounding the curriculum in the cultural landscape of the intended audience. Programming should include attention to community values, the community relationship to the issue, and systems of power and oppression. I engaged with local cultural elites to understand their perspective on sexual assault prevention programming, because community values are critical to creating any change in the way sexual assault is prevented in Utah. The Centers for Disease Control define sexual violence (SV) as, "Any sexual act that is perpetrated against someone's will" (Basile, 2002, para. 1). Sexual violence refers to a spectrum of acts and/or completed acts of violence, including: a completed sex act, an attempted sex act, abusive sexual contact, and non-contact sexual abuse (Basile, 2002). Throughout this paper the term sexual violence may be used interchangeably with the term "sexual assault" unless I am referring to a specific sexual act or section of the penal code (i.e. completed rape, molestation, etc.). Survivors of sexual violence experience a spectrum of adverse outcomes post-Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 2 assault, and not all of them are physical. For example, 33% of survivors show signs of psychiatric disorders compared to 6% for non-abused women, and survivors of sexual violence are more likely to struggle with depression, alcoholism, and suicidal thoughts/attempts (Etienne et al., 2002). In addition to the lasting ramifications on an individual level, billions of dollars are spent annually in the United States for prosecution, treatment, and other responses to sexual violence (UCASA, 2006). The State of Utah needs to invest in public primary prevention curriculum at the pre-kindergarden through twelfth grade level. In order for that curriculum to be adopted, it must resonate with the values and needs of conservative community members and their representing policy makers (Tsent, et al., 2002). Public Health & Ecological Prevention Models The Utah Department of Health, in conjunction with the Violence Injury and Prevention Program, has developed a framework for prevention called Utah's Sexual Violence Primary Prevention Plan 2010-2017. The plan outlines three statewide prevention goals: Goal 1: To advance social norms among Utah youth ages 11-25 that support healthy, respectful relationships throughout the lifespan; Goal 2: To increase primary prevention efforts and social norm change to geographically disparate communities and populations; Goal 3: To build the capacity of individuals, organizations, communities, and systems to prevent sexual violence across the state (Utah Violence and Injury Prevention Program, 2010, p. 5). The State's plan suggests using an evidence-based approach public health model. Research suggests that the public health model is best for primary prevention, and it has Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 3 been successfully used in several public health campaigns including HIV and alcohol prevention campaigns (Casey & Lindhorst, 2009). According to the CDC in Beginning the Dialogue (2004), "A public health prevention strategy demonstrates benefits for the largest group of people possible, because the problem is widespread and typically affects the entire population in some way, either directly or indirectly" (p.2). The four steps in the public health approach include defining the problem, identifying risk and protective factors, developing and testing strategies, and ensuring widespread adoption (Centers for Disease Control, 2004). It is clear that the public health model is best suited for prevention programming, and the state needs widespread adoption and implementation. The success of the state's plan requires buy-in from cultural brokers in the community that can speak to various stakeholders in terms that match their values, language, and assumptions (Tseng et al., 2002). The State of Utah's cultural landscape is heavily influenced by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (often called the LDS Church or the Mormon Church). The organization's headquarters are in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, and according to a recent poll published in the Salt Lake Tribune 77% of legislators belong to the LDS Church (Davidson, 2012). In the same article, then Representative Stephen Sandstrom (R-Orem) said, "People should understand that on a few occasions, the LDS Church does give input on issues" (Davidson, 2012, para. 5). The LDS Church is a patriarchal institution that supports traditional family values and their accompanying gender roles-it frequently lobbies on issues involving alcohol consumption, LGBTQ issues, and immigration (Davidson, 2012).Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 4 That link between Mormonism and conservatism is abundantly clear in Utah's party affiliation. Eighty-four percent of Utah's 2015 legislature are registered Republicans (Brown, 2014). The state has voted Republican "by at least 19 percentage points in every presidential election after 1964" (Cohen, 2012). Public policies must resonate with Utah's conservative demographic and its policy-makers in order to be implemented, and curriculum in public schools for sexual assault prevention is no different. The Project This research addresses the primary research question: What are cultural barriers to implementing a statewide public school curriculum on the primary prevention of sexual assault in the State of Utah? It also presents opportunities and suggestions for how to implement programming accordingly. According to Tsent et al. (2002) in Promotion of Social Change: A Conceptual Framework, it is important to create social change policies that take into consideration, "a variety of goals and approaches, based on diverse values, ideologies, and assumptions" (p. 406). Without paying attention to the values and beliefs of the people driving policy in Utah, a program will not receive support for implementation. During this project I interviewed community leaders in sexual violence prevention, and members of Utah's cultural elite, to identify and blend critical cultural components with required elements of an evidence-based prevention curriculum that can be implemented across the state. My fieldwork in the project consisted of interviews with experts in the field of primary prevention where I collected their suggestions on the content and form of pre-K-12 prevention curriculum. I synthesized their suggestions into an executive summary and Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 5 then presented that summary to cultural "elites" which Marshall and Rossman (2006) define as individuals who are "considered to be influential, prominent, and/or well-informed in an organization or community" (p. 105). The three cultural elites who participated are respected community members with prominent positions in community organizations including education institutions, think tanks, and government offices. The feedback from elites and its implications are the content of Chapters 4 and 5. Community Partner I conducted this research in partnership with the Men's Anti-Violence Network of Utah (MAN), a non-profit organization that is dedicated to eradicating interpersonal violence through men's involvement in prevention. The board of MAN is interested in creating a single-stop online space for prevention activists to go when finding data on prevention. MAN will take all of the sources used to shape this research and put them in an online repository, and they will also include a copy of this research project for prevention educators to access free of charge. The human and financial impact of sexual violence in the State of Utah cannot continue to be ignored. The state has created a prevention plan that requires immediate implementation, but in order to garner support, Utah's cultural norms and values must be represented. This project explores common themes related to sex, gender roles, sexuality, and sexual assault prevention, and synthesizes that information so it can be incorporated into a public health model for sexual assault prevention that will satisfy the needs of Utah's conservative constituents. Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 6 Chapter 2 Review of the Literature This research addresses the primary question: What are cultural barriers to implementing a statewide public school curriculum on the primary prevention of sexual assault in the State of Utah? In order to understand the need for implementation, I engage in a thorough discussion of patriarchy as the root cause of sexual violence, followed by an introduction to prevention models and suggested forms of intervention from the literature. This chapter also includes an introduction to Utah's history and a discussion about the influence of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints historically and contemporarily, as well as a section on the political history and contemporary political climate in Utah. Patriarchy: The root cause of sexual violence Elizabeth Cady Stanton, in her Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions (1848) at Seneca Falls called for women's suffrage, pointing to several injustices in the law, ranging from denial of the right to vote to the right to own property. At the time of Stanton's (1848) writing, women were denied custody of children, access to most colleges and universities, and the right to vote. She is one of the first prominent Caucasian feminist activists in American history, and she passed away a full eighteen years before women were granted the right to vote in the United State's Constitution (Freedman, 2007). Thanks in part to activists like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, women are no longer viewed as legal property of their husbands, fathers, and other male family members. However, the legacy of legal subjugation still haunts women today, and manifests itself through cultural artifacts including the feminization of poverty (Peterson, Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 7 1987), sexual violence (UCASA, 2006), and sub-par rates of representation in Congress (Center for American Women and Politics, 2014). Historically, and contemporarily, the United States is a patriarchal culture, with men firmly seated at the top of the power structure. In her essay Understanding Patriarchy, feminist theorist and public intellectual, bell hooks (n.d.) describes patriarchy as: A political-social system that insists that males are inherently dominating, superior to everything and everyone deemed weak, especially females, and endowed with the right to dominate and rule over the weak and to maintain that dominance through various forms of psychological terrorism and violence. (p. 2) Patriarchy is reified through the structure of institutions in all levels of American society, whether it is the traditional family unit, military, or religious institutions (Millett, 2000)-men are the primary occupants of the upper echelons and women are their subordinates (if they are allowed to participate at all). As a result of the system, and as a tool of its perpetuation, women are often victimized at the hands of men, particularly men they know (Warshaw, 1983). Susan Brownmiller (1975), in her seminal text, Against our Will: Men, Women and Rape argues, That some men rape provides a sufficient threat to keep all women in a constant state of intimidation, forever conscious of the knowledge that the biological tool must be held in awe for it may turn to weapon with sudden swiftness born of harmful intent. (p. 312) Sexual violence committed against women is the most egregious result of living in a patriarchal culture. Loh, Gidycz, Lobo, and Luthra (2005) found in a study of 325 Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 8 undergraduate men that adherence to strict gender role ideology correlates to perpetration of sexual assault and sexually aggressive behavior; the Utah Department of Health (2010) cites social acceptance of male domination and female subordination as a predictive factor of sexual assault. It is clear to researchers and activists alike that systemic objectification of women as a class results in violence against women, and as a result, most prevention campaigns contain a component of education aimed at reducing adherence to gender role stereotypes. Victims of objectification are more likely to experience sexual assault. Objectification may seem benign when it is in the form of gazing and casual remarks, but at its most egregious, objectification leads to sexual victimization (Davidson, 2015). Davidson (2015) explains the experience of sexual objectification as: Experiences in social and interpersonal interactions with other people may range on a continuum with everyday and subtle behaviors (e.g., objectifying gazes, appearance remarks) on one end and violent and extreme behaviors (e.g., sexual harassment and assault) on the other end. (p.333) Women and men alike experience sexual objectification, but women frequently experience higher rates of objectification (Davidson, 2105). Reducing adherence to gender role stereotypes and teaching better behavior for interpersonal relationships is one of the first priorities of sexual assault prevention programming. Stopping sexual assault before it occurs is an arduous task that feminist activists have been involved in since the beginning of the anti-rape movement. For example, feminist activists helped open the first rape crisis shelters in the early 1970s, and held public speak outs about their experience with sexual assault (Matthews & Lees, 1995). It Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 9 was during the early activism that many feminist groups opened up channels of direct service to survivors of assault while simultaneously trying "to transform the relations between men and women, and shift the responsibility for violence from women to men and make visible those responsible for assault" (Matthews & Lees, 1995, p. 126). Since the 1970s, activists have continued their work by changing the definition of rape to include more offenses and people from all genders. The definition of the crime is incredibly important, especially when you consider that it was not until the late 20th century that definitions of rape included protections for spouses (Hasday, 2000). The former definition of rape was, "The carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will," whereas the new definition is: "Penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim" (Department of Justice, 2012, para.1). Evident in the change of definitions is a more inclusive understanding of sexual assault. The new change includes protections for male survivors of assault, and does not include any mention of genitalia, marital status, or type of refusal-criteria that have been included in various definitions over time. Unfortunately, changing definitions and opening rape crisis shelters has not undone the conditions that create sexual assault and activists continue their work today. During the time this paper was written, several public awareness campaigns had been created including the White House initiative, Not Alone (notalone.gov), and the United Nations campaign HeforShe (heforshe.org). The Not Alone initiative provides resources for survivors of sexual assault and prevention activists on its website, and contains access to file Title IX complaints for sexual assault that happens on campuses. It also provides Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 10 archives and updates on schools that have been investigated for sexual assault. The HeforShe campaign is an awareness campaign being driven by the United Nations. Its main site provides a downloadable action plan for activists involved in the fight to end sexual assault. Additionally, several states, non-profits, and government agencies are working to implement sexual assault prevention education in their communities and public school systems. As a researcher, resident, and activist in Utah, I think that it is of the utmost importance that the State of Utah implements sexual assault prevention programming in its public schools in order to address the significant problem of sexual violence within the state. Background on Prevention Models Any program implemented at the state level should include a research-based foundation and buy-in from local experts in the field of prevention as well as cultural elites. This section contains a basic introduction to the most commonly accepted research on prevention as a pre-cursor to expert recommendations that will be included in subsequent chapters. As research changes, the type of prevention models, and the content of any program will need to be altered, but at the time of writing, the methods below are the most current. The public health model is one of the most commonly accepted amongst researchers in the field of prevention. Public health models separate interventions into three distinct categories: primary, secondary, and tertiary (Centers for Disease Control, 2004). Primary prevention takes place before victimization occurs. Secondary helps deal with short-term consequences after an assault has occurred, and tertiary interventions deal Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 11 with long-term outcomes from the assault. A true public health model will utilize interventions across all three categories, and implement those strategies over the lifetime of the intended population. It is critical that program participants are exposed to programming over a sustained period of time. The CDC (2004) breaks intervention populations into three groups: universal, selected, and indicated. These populations refer to people at risk for perpetration and violation. Universal populations are general populations targeted for intervention without relation to their risk of sexual assault prevention or perpetration. Selected populations have a heightened risk for either victimization or perpetration, and indicated populations have already perpetrated or been victimized (Centers for Disease Control, 2004). Each of these distinct populations requires specific types of interventions when it comes to direct-services, but substantial investment and widespread implementation of primary prevention curriculum can help to prevent the creation of future selected and indicated individuals. The model used by the CDC and the State of Utah to understand the root causes of sexual violence is a social-ecological model, which incorporates research suggestions on protective and predictive factors of sexual assault across theoretical frames including psychology, biology, and sociology (Centers for Disease Control, 2014). This model is useful because it approaches sexual violence as a complex issue with several possible root causes and solutions, and as a result it presents more diverse prevention programming (Centers for Disease Control, 2014). The social-ecological model encourages sustained lifetime approaches for prevention, beginning at the individual level, and moving from the interpersonal-Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 12 relational to communities, and finally to societal-level influences (Centers for Disease Control, 2014). It is not enough for individuals to receive messages from parents or teachers that sexual violence is intolerable-the message that violence is intolerable must come from peers in social settings, the media, and close family ties (Centers for Disease Control, 2014) A prevention program implemented in public school systems requires buy-in from community partners, families, and other community stakeholders to ensure that it is represented across levels. Change for Utah Understanding the research behind curriculum design is incredibly important, but implementation of the most well researched programs will go nowhere without acceptance from cultural elites in dominant cultural groups. According to Tseng et al. (2002), "The framework for promotion of social change emphasizes careful examination of the values of various stakeholders, particularly when deciding what to promote and how to go about promotion" (p. 407). It is with this understanding that I undertook this research and collected expert recommendations for programming, and collected responses from cultural "elites." Marshall and Rossman (2006) define "elites" as individuals who are "considered to be influential, prominent, and/or well-informed in an organization or community" (p. 105). The findings in cultural elite responses are in Chapter 4, and they will help direct future policy work by giving community leaders in the field insight into barriers to implementation. Utah's History. The first non-native settlers of the state arrived in 1847; they were led by then leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Brigham Young (Rood & Thatcher, n.d.). Members of the church are commonly referred to as Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 13 Mormons and the church is referred to as the LDS Church. The group was fleeing persecution after the church's founder was assassinated in Illinois (Rood & Thatcher, n.d.). The history of Mormon settlers is inescapable in Utah's current cultural landscape-Mormons in Utah are the only religious denomination "in the U.S. today that comprises a numerical majority of a state‘s population (57% of Utah)" (Phillips & Cragun, 2011, p. 1). The doctrine of the LDS Church reverberates through Utah's political landscape, and I argue that a comprehensive sexual assault prevention curriculum cannot be implemented in Utah unless the curriculum receives endorsement from church officials. Endorsement requires creating a program that incorporates the values and language of the Mormon faithful. The LDS Church. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is a monotheistic religion founded by Joseph Smith who adherents believe was the "prophet of restoration" (Tuttle, 1973). A cornerstone of the LDS faith is that Joseph Smith received direct messages and a visit from God that led him to uncover abandoned texts that would later become one of the major texts of the religion, The Book of Mormon (First Vision Accounts). Joseph Smith was killed by an armed mob on June 27, 1844 (Joseph Smith). Since his death a President or Prophet has run the church and each of these men are seen as, "prophet, seer, and revelator-the only person on the earth who receives revelation to guide the entire Church" (Prophets). Unpaid clergy runs the LDS church, and all members of its primary leadership are men. Male church members hold what is referred to as the Priesthood, which is the power and authority of God (Priesthood). The church is a patriarchal organization, with men holding all leadership positions except for those in the Relief Society. All adult women in Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 14 the LDS Church belong to the Relief Society, which was created by Joseph Smith in 1842 (Relief Society). Smith taught that the Relief Society exists for "the relief of the poor, the destitute, the widow and the orphan, and for the exercise of all benevolent purposes" (Relief Society). Contemporarily the Relief Society comes together to provide community support, particularly during funeral services of community members where they will host memorial luncheons and help coordinate meals for the grieving family. Although the organization is comprised solely of women, it operates under direction from priesthood leaders. The structure of the Church and its teachings privilege traditional gender roles. The LDS Church emphasizes the role of traditional marriage, and places serious emphasis on abstaining from sex until marriage (Hinckley, 1995). The Church's values are conservative on almost all social issues, with particular attention paid to matters of sex and sexuality. Recently, Elizabeth Smart, a member of the church and victim of kidnapping and sexual abuse, decried church lessons about sexual abstinence and purity during a speech at Johns Hopkins University. Smart, like many other members of the religion, took part in an exercise where a woman is compared to a piece of gum. (Note: these lessons are not endorsed by the LDS Church leadership, but are often employed in church sanctioned activities.) The gum is offered to students before it is opened, and again after it has been chewed by the instructor or participant. The lesson is that no one wants a piece of chewed gum, just as no one wants a relationship with someone who has engaged in pre-marital sex. Smart explained in her speech at Johns Hopkins:Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 15 I thought, I'm that chewed up piece of gum. Nobody ever re-chews a piece of gum. That's how easy it is to feel that you no longer have worth, you no longer have value. Why would you even bother screaming out? (Brooks, 2013, para. 3) Several participants in this study, prevention experts and cultural elites, referenced the harmful object lessons that Elizabeth Smart mentioned. Though each lesson differed in its analogy, the messaging was always the same: you are worthless if you have sex outside of marriage. Unfortunately, the message is not accompanied with any clarification regarding sexual assault. Smart's speech is heartbreaking, and it points to a need for reform about the way lessons about sex are communicated to teachers and students. I believe it is possible to involve the LDS Church in discussions around sexual assault prevention, which will help provide them with a greater understanding of the issue that can influence internal teachings. The potential for the LDS Church to change their teachings and act as change agents for sexual assault prevention emerged as a finding in this study. Engaging in discussions about sex will inevitably lead to discussions about gender roles, which is a vital component of any sexual assault prevention curriculum, and this area of discussion may prove fraught with tension given the LDS Church's stance on gender roles. Former President of the LDS Church, Gordon B. Hinckley made it clear in his talk, "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" that men and women occupy distinct roles within families, "By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children" (1995, para. 7.). The gender roles expressed throughout scripture and in church literature are distinctly Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 16 traditional, which unfortunately, will require some compromise given the correlation between gender role adherence and sexual assault. Researchers Anderson and Whiston (2005) conducted a meta-analytic review of college sexual assault prevention programs, including data from 18,172 participants. They found that the most successful prevention programs included prolonged interventions that focused on "gender-role socialization, provide general information about rape, discuss rape myths/facts, and address risk reduction strategies" (2005, p. 383). Finding a way to incorporate meaningful discussions about gender roles into a Mormon paradigm may prove difficult, but it is necessary for implementation of a sexual assault prevention curriculum at the state level, and there is massive potential for change with the current cultural movement towards more gender parity that we see with organizations like Mormon Feminist Housewives, and Ordain Women. Cultural groups and policymakers cannot continue to put off implementation when Utah ranks 19th in the nation for reported forcible rapes, and rape is the only violent crime in Utah with a rate higher than the national average (UCASA, 2006). Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 17 Chapter 3 Methods The primary question that guided this inquiry was: What are cultural barriers to implementing a statewide public school curriculum on the primary prevention of sexual assault in the State of Utah? The implementation of such programming is necessary because 1 in 3 women living in Utah will experience sexual violence in their lifetime (UCASA, 2006). In order to identify the necessary components of a curriculum, I interviewed experts in the field of prevention to find out their suggestions for the content of the programming. Suggestions from researchers were compiled into an executive summary and presented to cultural "elites" (Marshall & Rossman, 2006) before a series of semi-structured interviews took place to determine their thoughts on the suggestions. This chapter includes an overview of the data collection process. Methods I conducted my research in Salt Lake County because the majority of Utah's population lives in the area (Census, 2010). I worked with two distinct groups of participants: experts in the field of primary prevention, and cultural elites from significant cultural organizations that are involved in policymaking either directly or indirectly. This study is qualitative in nature, and data collection was in the form of semi-structured interviews. Participants There are two distinct groups of participants in this study: prevention experts and cultural elites. Below are brief introductions to each of the participants. Each participant biography uses a pseudonym, and agency names have been excluded to maintain Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 18 anonymity. For the sake of anonymity, exact titles are not used, and some other defining characteristics are obscured. Prevention Experts Each expert participant represents one of the largest providers of education, direct services, and legislation in the State, and they are all familiar with the cultural contexts preventing implementation. I approached each of them via phone and email. I have worked outside of my thesis project with each of the interviewees, which provided ease of access for the first portion of data collection. I only had one participant that I approached who was not able to commit to an interview in the timeframe necessary. Natalie. Natalie is the executive director of the largest direct-service provider for victims of sexual assault in Utah. She has always been involved in women's issues, and has worked in her position for over five years, and received her undergraduate education from the University of Utah. Lana. Lana is the policy director for the Utah chapter of a national organization that focuses on women's issues. She has previously worked in law enforcement on domestic and sexual violence cases, and she received her Master's in Public Administration from the University of Utah. Ricky. Ricky is co-founder of a local organization dedicated to men's involvement in ending violence. He is a sought-after public speaker and trainer on the topic of sexual violence prevention and men's engagement. He graduated from the University of Utah with a degree in Gender Studies and is currently pursuing a master's degree from the same university. Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 19 Cultural Elites Each of these cultural elites represents powerful organizations in the state that directly influence policymaking at the legislature. I did not have any personal connections to participants in this group, and scheduling interviews was more difficult-I did not receive responses from several attempted contacts, and one prospective interviewee dropped out of the process after learning more about the topic. I reached out to Ted via email without any prior introduction and he agreed to an interview. Hillary and Kim were introduced to me via a member of my cohort, and they agreed to do interviews based on my personal connection to their colleague. I approached the people I did because they have the ability to share their opinions with a larger group than your average citizen given their access to the media; participants also work in leadership positions for organizations that directly influence policy in Utah. All of the participants in this study are what Marshall and Rossman (2006) would consider "elites," which are people "considered to be influential, prominent, and/or well-informed in an organization or community" (p. 105). Hillary. Hillary is a former member of the Utah House of Representatives. She served for one term, but continues her legislative work via thought leadership as a community activist and blogger. She currently works for Governor Gary Herbert on communication campaigns. She is also a trained women's health provider. She is an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Hillary has several children, and two of her children are survivors of sexual assault. Ted. Ted is a director of public policy for a conservative think tank in Salt Lake City. His organization is dedicated to traditional family values and minimizing the Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 20 involvement of government. Ted received his undergraduate education from Brigham Young University. He is married and has one daughter. Kim. Kim is president of a local college and a trained women's health provider. She received her Bachelor of Science in Health Administration. She is also an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She teaches classwork on the impact of sexual assault on the life cycle. Semi-structured interviews I conducted six semi-structured interviews for my data collection. I chose semi-structured interviews because I agree with Marshall and Rossman (2006) that, "The participant's perspective on the phenomenon of interest should unfold as the participant views it (the emic perspective), not as the researcher views it (the etic perspective)" (p.101). Semi-structured interviews provided me with a guide, but ultimately left enough room for the conversation to flow in the direction that participants deemed important. Because I was interviewing elites I was hyper-cognizant of the participant's control of the interview, because with extensive interview experience elite participants were able to direct interviews away from the desired area of the researcher (Marshall & Rossman, 2006). Three interviews were with experts in the field of prevention to collect their recommendations on curriculum, and the other with cultural elites to identify the Utah-specific barriers to implementation. Interviews were recorded and approximately one hour in length. I transcribed the first interview, but had the five subsequent interviews transcribed by an outside agency. I coded the interviews for common themes as a method Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 21 of qualitative data analysis. The interview transcripts are on a password-protected computer in a private office, and the recordings are also stored in a private office. Interviews with experts took place first, and were coded for themes, then synthesized into an executive summary that contained recommendations on the content and form of sexual assault prevention curriculum. I interviewed two participants in their offices at work and one at her home. There were no incentives for the interviews. The executive summary was presented to cultural elites to review before interviews where I asked them about their impressions, recommendations, and endorsements of the plan. I presented the executive summary to the second group of participants prior to interviews in order to gain a more measured response to its contents. Sexual assault prevention is a serious topic that often results in heightened emotions, and I wanted to give participants time to prepare. I recognize that this prior preparation eliminated my access to initial reactions, but I do not see that as a loss for the purposes of this study. All interviews with cultural elites were conducted in their workplace offices, and there were no incentives offered for participation. Fieldnotes All of the interviews that took place were supplemented with fieldnotes. Fieldnotes were transcribed after each interview, following the proposed format of O'Hearnn-Curran (1997) as referenced in Marshall and Rossman (2006). The fieldnotes consisted of observable facts that took place during the interviews (i.e. room descriptions, participant seating arrangement), and they also contained my personal observations (i.e. Ted cleared his throat several times indicating discomfort with the topic). Field notes and Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 22 interview transcripts helped develop questions for subsequent interviews (Marshall & Rossman 2006). All field notes were completed immediately following the interview. Research Challenges and Ethical Concerns Before data collection began I obtained approval from the Westminster College Institutional Review Board. Due to the sensitive nature of my topic, all participants remain anonymous. Participants and the names of their organizations have been obscured. I chose to ask for anonymous participation in order to receive more candid responses. For instance, with anonymity, a high-ranking member of the Utah Republican Party may provide answers that contradict the party platform. I was concerned that cultural elites would not be willing to engage in rich dialogue, but I did my best to create rapport in spite of my personal feelings about each of their organizations, and I this concern did not come to fruition (Spradley, 1979). Data Analysis Interviews were transcribed and coded for recurring themes. Codes are "tags or labels for assigning units of meaning to the descriptive or inferential information compiled during a study" (Miles & Huberman, 1994, p.56). Codes were used to group information into meaningful categories based on my research question and hypothesis. I read each interview several times and began separating interviews into sections based on similar language and cultural references. Each interview was printed, highlighted, and placed in different envelopes to organize them by theme. After re-visiting each set of themes, certain pieces of interviews were removed or grouped differently. The final emerging themes are found in Chapter 4. The data used to complete this thesis project for the MACL program will also be used to create an executive summary Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 23 available for download on the Men's Anti-Violence Network of Utah website. Responses from cultural elites are combined with expert recommendations to form a policy recommendation that incorporates values and identifies barriers that can resonate with the dominant cultural groups values (Tseng et al., 2002). Validity I confirmed validity within my study via methods of researcher reflexivity and peer review. According to Creswell and Miller (2000), researcher reflexivity requires researchers to "self-disclose their assumptions, beliefs, and biases" (pg. 127). My position as a researcher for this project required a substantial amount of introspection, because I am a survivor of sexual assault, and I have several family members who are survivors of sexual assault. I constantly interrogated my personal assumptions and beliefs throughout the process of analyzing the data, but I do not feel that my emotional connection to the topic posed a problem that compromised the project in any significant way. After all, "fieldworkers need not become unemotional (which is impossible, anyway) but must make their feelings explicit to themselves" (Kleinman, 1980, p. 175). Peer review was used to establish validity within my research. As a member of a cohort, I received constant feedback and constructive criticism from my peers within the program. Reviews within the group challenged my perspective and ensured that complete information was presented for clarity. I also received feedback from my advisor with the Men's Anti-Violence Network of Utah, Marty Liccardo. Marty has worked in the field of sexual assault prevention for over fifteen years and is viewed by others and myself as an expert in the field. In addition to those reviewers, my advisor, Jamie Joanou, required constant contact to discuss the project and conducts reviews.Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 24 Chapter 4 Findings This project uncovered several Utah-specific barriers to implementation, but positive themes that indicate opportunities for change also emerged. Below I cover the demonstration of need that occurred during my interviews with cultural elites, followed by barriers to implementation. Participants made it clear that there is not enough education on healthy sexuality and sexual assault prevention in a few startling ways, including upholding rape mythology. They also provided some insight into political barriers, but more importantly, they provided some clear support for this proposal and some suggestions on where to go with this work in the future. This chapter also contains information on the executive summary created from expert recommendations (the full summary is found in Appendix G). Demonstration of Need I went into the interviews with the understanding that sexual assault effects 1 in 3 women in Utah (UCASA, 2006), which serves as reason enough to implement k-12 sexual assault prevention programming, but during my interviews with cultural elites the need was undergirded as participants reinforced rape mythology in their interview responses, disclosed assault in their family, or explained how miseducation contributed to psychological trauma for their family. Demonstration of need emerged as a theme and the following sub-themes are associated: sexual assault in local news, participants with children who were victimized, unintentional reinforcement of rape mythology. Each participant vocalized at least partial interest in implementing more robust education in Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 25 public schools on the topic, and it is important to note that each of the three participants felt a personal responsibility to see change happen to protect their children at home. Sexual assault in local news. Two of the three interviews I conducted with cultural elites involved discussions about cases of sexual assault in local news. Sexual assault in the news illustrates both the frequency of perpetration, and the fact that there is an open policy window for change around the topic (Kingdon, 1995). According to Kingdon (1995), a policy window is "an opportunity for advocates of proposals to push their pet solutions, or to push people to their special problems" (p. 165). During my interview with Hillary, sexual assault in the local news came up as a topic. Hillary talked at length about a bill that Representative Angela Romero (D-Salt Lake City) proposed during the 2015 legislative session, HB74-Consent Definitions for Sexual Offense (Cragun, 2015). HB74 clarified that an unconscious person does not have to refuse sex, because their state of unconsciousness already renders any sexual contact a sexual offense (Cragun, 2015). The bill seemed innocuous enough, unconscious people cannot consent to sexual activity, but the political maelstrom that followed gained national attention. During a committee hearing on HB74, Representative Brian Greene (R-Pleasant Grove) clearly demonstrated the need for sexual assault prevention programming and education when he said, "This is not a pleasant thing to even envision, if an individual has sex with their wife while she is unconscious, a prosecutor could then charge that spouse with rape, theoretically " (Davidson, 2015). Representative Greene, perhaps unintentionally, articulated a longstanding misconception that the marriage contract allows one partner (usually the husband) unlimited sexual access to the other partner Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 26 (usually the wife) until the marriage is terminated (Hasday, 2002). This misconception is a dangerous one when you consider that, "physical violence in intimate relationships is often accompanied by psychological abuse, and in one-third to over one half of cases by sexual abuse (Krug et al, 2002, p. 89). Mr. Greene's comments were uneducated and quite shocking, but in the end they proved useful for sexual assault prevention advocates-the Utah Republican Party was under so much scrutiny for his comments that the bill went on to pass unanimously based on a face-saving decision by the Utah Republican Party. Representative Greene's comments demonstrated a lack of understanding around what sex educators call enthusiastic consent, which is a part of the "Yes Means Yes" movement, which sees sexual consent as, "Knowing exactly what and how much I'm agreeing to; expressing my intent to participate; deciding freely and voluntarily to participate" (Grinberg, 2014). Yes means yes is active, it is intentional, it is not related to an antiquated idea of implied consent, which Representative Greene used to raise concerns about HB74, "It takes away the defense of implied consent or prior consent." During my interview with Hillary, a former Utah legislator, she referenced HB74 and Representative Greene several times, each time sounding increasingly irritated with the whole story. The following is an excerpt from my field notes: "Hillary repeatedly rolled her eyes and let out sighs when talking about HB74. It is clear that her views do not align with his." In reference to HB74 she said: The recent conversation about can you have sex with an unconscious person and whether that should be rape or not - that's my legislator and it's to my Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 27 embarrassment that he actually represents the area where I live. Actually, he doesn't represent it all that well. Hillary's irritation with the issue is not in vain, because she used the moment as a lesson to her children, "We had dinner conversations around like, ‘It is never, ever okay [to have sex with an unconscious person]." Examples like HB74 indicate that we need to implement a more robust sex education and sexual assault prevention curriculum, because policymakers are making it clear that they do not have enough education on the topic to make informed decisions. Although Hillary was the only participant to mention HB74, another news story about assault came up with Ted. Ted referenced a recent case in the news where Brianne Altice, a former Davis High School teacher, was accused of having sex with three boys, including sexual encounters after her arrest (Fowler, 2015). Ted's concerns about sexual assault indicate that a policy window may be opening because people with greater policymaking influence are feeling impacted by the issue (Kingdon, 1995), "It [sexual assault] becomes more personal because you hear about things happening with young children in particular at schools." Ted is the father of a toddler and his stake in sexual assault prevention has changed, which could prove favorable to steering policy discussions. It is also worth noting that although Hillary didn't mention a specific case, she did reference abuse at the hands of educators, "The more I see with teachers and people in positions of authority who are abusing that as well, it seems like it's really rampin' up and how much it's happening." Although the literature does not indicate an increase in sexual assault in Utah, the increased reporting on the subject provides a sense of urgency that can be used to spur legislators into action. Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 28 Sexual assault as a part of popular discourse presents activists and prevention experts an opportunity to leverage the conversation for change. Legislators and other influential policymakers cannot ignore the topic when it is all around them in the news, and we saw with HB74 that political organizations will enact changes counter to their typical party line if it is politically salient. Aside from the positive effects on policy, news on the topic brings awareness, and drives conversations that will ultimately impact change on the issue. Cultural elites personal experience with sexual assault. One of the clearest and most unsettling demonstrations of need that came about during my fieldwork was a disclosure from cultural elite Hillary that at least two of her children have experienced sexual assault. When I asked Hillary about her knowledge of the topic at the beginning of the interview she admitted, "I haven't written a lot about it. I have dealt with it; actually, in my family I have a daughter who was raped." Later she talked about her family's experience with abuse at the hands of a neighbor, "We have a family situation where we had kids who were abused by a neighbor who just-I mean he groomed them." Her disclosure that multiple children have been abused crystallizes the need for this type of education, and unfortunately, she went on to say that she knows other people in her community who have been victimized: We had neighbors, it's been quite a while now; I bet 15 plus years. He was captain of the football team. He was 18 years old. He had always had everything he wanted in his whole life. He was very entitled. His girlfriend said no, and he didn't stop. He went to jail for rape for like seven years.Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 29 The sad fact is that although only one participant disclosed about sexual assault within their family, there is statistical likelihood that each person in the cultural elite group has at least one person in their family who has experienced sexual abuse when 1 in 3 women have experienced sexual violence (UCASA, 2006). Hillary's family is unfortunate in the fact that they have experienced multiple cases against multiple children. This project seeks to address the issue before people like Hillary have to work through the healing process with their family. Lack of education for parents and children. All participating cultural elites and prevention experts agreed that sex education should involve input from a child's parents, and my interviews with cultural elites proved that oftentimes parents do not possess the education to impart proper knowledge about healthy sexuality and sexual assault prevention. Given the tremendous amount of work that goes into undoing miseducation and affects from sexual assault, all three experts interviewed for this project recommended a compounding pre-k through high school curriculum that would also be augmented by parental guidance. Natalie suggested, "For me it would start in pre-school, and it would be age appropriate and it would go all the way up through high school, and of course it would start at home." Kim, the third cultural elite, in spite of her education as a women's health practitioner explained while looking at Appendix D, "As educated as I am, when I'm looking at all the points that the experts have come up with here, I would say there are two or three I never talked about, never remembered to talk about." Kim went on to clarify that she never talked about bystander intervention, rape mythology and victim blaming, or media influences on violence. Implementing K-12 sexual assault prevention Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 30 education in public schools will fill-in the gaps left by parents (however unintentional it may be), but education will not eliminate parental involvement. Lana suggested, "Let's inform parents. Let's have them come sit in." Her comments, and others like it from all of the experts, are in line with Ted when he talks about the success of any school curriculum: "It tends to work if-work better if the gatekeeper for the child for the broader part of their life is actually helpful rather than not." Ted is correct, but the fact is parents (on average) do not possess the qualifications to teach this topic. Parental involvement is crucial, but even the most educated parents do not posses enough clinical expertise to talk to their children about sex and sexual assault in a productive way. Lack of education and/or discomfort with the topics in general can have long-lasting negative consequences for a person's children-the very thing they are trying to prevent. Ted referenced parental discomfort when talking about engaging with children for these crucial discussions: How comfortable are you doing it? What are the signals that you're sending with your body language or your eye contact or lack thereof? Because that is all critically important to these conversations in getting a child to really understand and comprehend what sex is. If a parent is uncomfortable talking about sex due to their personal experiences with sex, or their lack of education, that is communicated to the child. Public school curriculum administered by professionals in the field will help eliminate some of that discomfort. It is important to note that public school curriculum is not a replacement for in-home discussions about sex and sexual assault. It is ideal that children feel comfortable talking to their parents especially in cases of abuse where a child needs to disclose victimization.Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 31 Perhaps the most disturbing example of miseducation came from my interview with Kim. Kim's daughter experienced what she self-identifies as sexual trauma due to incorrect information on masturbation from her informal and formal education within the LDS Church. Kim explains: She [Kim's daughter] was masturbating in her bedroom and thought she was evil. All these years, she was living with that until she was mature enough to talk to somebody about it, talk to experts about it. She actually is not in the LDS church for that very reason. She hates what it did to her. Basically, as my daughter said, ‘I felt like I was sexually assaulting myself sometimes, because of the way I'd been taught, but it felt so good." Her daughter's experience resulted in years of therapy, and she ended up leaving the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints because of their anti-masturbation rhetoric that runs counter to the American Medical Association's 1972 declaration that masturbation is a normal sexual function (Malan & Bullough, 2005). The following is an excerpt from the LDS Church's Parent's Guide (1985) that is still found today on the official church website: The sin of masturbation occurs when a person stimulates his or her own sex organs for the purpose of sexual arousal. It is a perversion of the body's passions. When we pervert these passions and intentionally use them for selfish, immoral purposes, we become carnal. (para. 15) Ricky, the third expert interviewed for this project talked specifically about masturbation and where it would fit into curriculum: Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 32 We would talk about masturbation like a bunch of fucking adults, that it's normal and healthy. If you don't want to do it, you don't have to. If their religion says you shouldn't do it, then encourage them not to, but don't tell them that they're going to Hell if they touch themselves. Here Ricky confirms again, in spite of his profanity, that experts want to affirm religious beliefs of families, but would approach the issue in a way that conforms to clinical expertise, and in such a way that it prevents misinformation and its attendant trauma. Sex education is vital, and parents will always try to impart values to their children, but when parental guidance and church influence run counter to medical evidence, it can have a disastrous effect as Kim experienced. Unfortunately, not matter how prepared a parent thinks they are, they are not experts on the topic of sexual health, and sexual assault prevention, and a child who does not have access to diverse and continuous education will miss out on critical topics at the very least, and at the worst they will engage in perpetration or fail to report victimization. Long-term impact of assault and miseducation. Both Kim and Hillary described the experiences of their children, which served as a demonstration of need on their own, but the conversation about the long-term impact of abuse further proves the importance of proposed curriculum. The effect of sexual abuse is not just felt at an individual level. The United States spends an estimated, "$450 billion a year when factors such as medical costs, lost earnings, pain, suffering, and lost quality of life are considered" (UCASA, 2006, pp. 16). The individual suffering endured can last a lifetime, and oftentimes victims do not begin their journey toward healing until years after. Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 33 For instance, one of Hillary's daughters didn't tell anyone about her abuse for "three or four years after it happened." Kim's daughter was not able to talk about her experience until she "had done enough therapy privately to be able to come to grips with it." Krug et al. (2002) discuss the psychosocial affects of sexual violence in the World report on violence and health: "Sexual violence has been associated with a number of mental health and behavioural [sic] problems in adolescence and adulthood" (p. 163). For example, women who experience sexual assault are more likely to attempt and complete suicide, and "the association remains, even after controlling for sex, age, education, symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and the presence of psychiatric disorders" (Krug et al, 2002, p. 163). This means that 1 in 3 women in Utah are at a greater risk of struggling with mental health disorders and behavioral problems, and due to the silence around the issue the cause of these symptoms is not always known. Implementing prevention curriculum in public schools is an investment in the health of Utah's communities and it's a smart financial choice from a public health perspective. Reinforcing rape myths. The term "rape myth" is used in the field of sexual assault prevention and awareness to identify misconceptions that are commonly cited about rape. These "myths do tend to focus on the female behaviors that lead to victimization" (Hayes, Lorenz, & Bell, 2013, p. 208). Some common rape myths include: women should not go out alone, a woman's clothing can lead to assault, women falsely accuse men of rape, and other instances where female behavior is blamed for the actions of a perpetrator. During my interviews with cultural elites, two out of three participants unintentionally reinforced rape myths when discussing sexual assault, which I attribute to a lack of cultural competency about rape mythology and internalized misogyny from Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 34 operating in a patriarchal culture. Natalie, the first expert on sexual assault prevention made it clear that: I think if we get really honest and dig down as far as we need to, to understand the roots of sexual violence we have to look at long time historical, and worldwide, issues of really, really violent patriarchy, and privilege. One gender over another, frankly. Power, uneven, really out of synch and uneven levels of power. Natalie's sentiments echo the literature on sexual assault perpetration and its link to strict gender role adherence, which is closely tied to rape myth acceptance. During our discussion about proposed curriculum and the suggestion that rape mythology and victim-blaming should be taught, Ted asked if I watch the television show Downtown Abbey. He proceeded to describe an episode in which a married woman flirts with a married man, and he assaults her (Ledwith & Robinson, 2013). Ted made it clear that he thinks the term "victim-blaming" is used too liberally, "It's the way victim blaming gets used politically or abused politically." He disagreed with the idea that women do not have responsibility during instances of sexual assault, "They're saying that's bad because she literally has no responsibility for anything, period, end of story in the sexual assault situation." His statement reflects a long tradition of victim-blaming dating back to Hebrew law where a woman raped within the city gates would be stoned along with her abuser, because if she truly resisted someone would have heard her (Miller & Biele, 1993). Ted went further after mentioning Downtown Abbey, and said "I think that there ought to be some space there to give-in my mind is giving young women the tools they Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 35 need to avoid situations they want to avoid before they happen." This type of thinking attributes a woman's actions (including flirtation, dress, and location) to her victimization rather than properly linking it to the system of patriarchy wherein, "Rape is a hate crime, the logical outcome of an ancient social bias against women" (Miller & Biele, 1993, p. 52). Rape is a tool used in a system of oppression, and women are not ever responsible for the violence they receive. In rape mythology education a common example used to demystify victim blaming is drinking. Women are often told not to drink in public places in order to prevent sexual assault-in essence public intoxication is an offense worthy of assault. However, when men drink sexual assault is not an expected outcome, but the frequency of perpetration is linked to alcohol consumption (CDC, 2004). Another of the participants, Kim, teaches about sexual assault and its impact on the lifecycle, but even she accidentally engaged in victim blaming when she talked about educating her children: Cause I was teaching kids more about healthy sexuality, assuming they wouldn't be raped or assuming they would not get themselves into a situation. We were talking more about how not to get yourself in that situation [emphasis added]. The idea that women should behave in particular ways to avoid rape is a manifestation of the patriarchal belief that women should behave in gendered ways (i.e. stereotypes of the "good girl") that include virginity, not being out alone, and dressing conservatively (Hayes et al, 2013). Due to internalized misogyny, some women adhere to traditional gender role ideology. Kim's assertion that women can avoid being raped by enacting certain behaviors exemplifies internalized misogyny-keeping in mind that Kim's Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 36 interview was one largely conducive to feminist ideals, and I would not characterize her as a misogynist. Expert Recommendations The first portion of fieldwork in this process consisted of interviews with experts in the field of sexual assault prevention. The experts contributed their thoughts on the most appropriate content and form of a public program on sexual violence prevention. The result of these interviews is the executive summary attached in Appendix D. Experts all agreed that the best forum to implement sexual assault prevention education is in Utah's public schools beginning in pre-school through senior graduation from high school. The reasoning behind a compounding curriculum is that one-time interventions do not have a lasting impact on sexual violence outcomes. Anderson and Whiston (2005) found in a meta-analytic study of sexual assault prevention programs on college campuses that the most successful prevention programs were prolonged interventions that focused on "gender-role socialization, provide general information about rape, discuss rape myths/facts, and address risk reduction strategies" (p. 383). Sex education and sexual assault prevention are often taught in single episodes, a methodology that does not make sense when applied to any other complex subject. The suggestion that algebra be taught once in a child's life is laughable, but for the topics of sexual health and sexual assault prevention it is viewed as a viable strategy. Utah children and adolescents will never achieve competency if one-time interventions continue. One of the mandatory components of the proposed programming is age-appropriate curriculum, but there is equal insistence from experts that discussions around Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 37 sexuality and sexual assault prevention need to happen earlier. Talking about extra-curricular programming for teens Lana said, "It's great that I'm talking to a bunch of 18-year-olds, but half of them are already sexually active." Her concern about age speaks to two different issues: (1) the National Violence Against Women Survey found that rape is a crime committed primarily against youth (UCASA, 2006) which indicates that we need to equip adolescents with the language to describe their victimization so they can begin their healing process; (2) teaching adolescents about healthy sexual boundaries, demystifying gender roles, and reducing rape myth adherence so students can prevent perpetration by reducing characteristics that are predictive/protective of perpetration. The full executive summary of recommendations, including a bullet-point list of preferred curriculum topics is found in Appendix D. Barriers to Implementation The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is one of the most influential organizations in the State of Utah. The Church's doctrine and series of continued revelations influence the type of legislation that passes or fails in Utah. The influence of the Church is abundantly clear in the findings for this project. LDS Culture. The influence of the LDS Church in policymaking in the State of Utah cannot be ignored, and several cultural byproducts of its doctrine interfere with implementation of robust sex education-which eliminates the chance for meaningful discussion of sexual assault prevention. When it comes to progressive issues in the State of Utah, and the Church's influence, opposition to same-sex marriage is a prime case in point. The LDS Church vigorously supported Proposition 8, a California initiative to overturn the legalization of same-sex marriage; the church's members donated over $20 Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 38 million dollars to the cause, and are credited with its passing (Mencimer, 2013). After backlash at home, the LDS Church issued a statement that it "Does not object to rights for same-sex couples regarding hospitalization and medical care, fair housing and employment rights, or probate rights" (Equality Utah, 2012, para. 1). In spite of proclamations of equality, the LDS Church's homophobia is hard to ignore among members of the Church. Homophobia came up repeatedly with Ted, "You can't justify pedophilia. You can't justify sex with a minor. That's what they said about homosexuality 24 years ago, right?" This is just one instance in which Ted directly compared consenting homosexual relationships to pedophilia (an obvious form of sexual abuse). In response to the official church statement on non-discrimination mentioned above Equality Utah, a Utah-based 501c4 proposed the "Common Ground Initiative" in 2009 which included several protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Utahns, including housing and employment protections. Unfortunately, the bill was proposed every year since 2009, and it was not until the 2015 legislative session that the State of Utah passed the bill and signed it into law protecting LGBT Utahns from discrimination in housing and employment based on their sexual orientation. The bill finally passed in its sixth year at the legislature because of the LDS Church's vocal acceptance of the proposition (Boorstein & Ohlheiser, 2015). This particular piece of policy exhibits the need for buy-in from the Church in order for particular types of legislation to pass. Nondiscrimination is just one example of the church's influence, and it highlights the necessity of church support in passing progressive legislation, which is how I would describe the proposed preK-12 sexual assault prevention curriculum in this proposal. Ted Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 39 specifically referenced the need for support from the LDS Church in the wake of passing the nondiscrimination ordinance, "They're [the LDS Church] gonna look to be more influential in protecting their members' ability to teach their children about sexual morals and as those things conflict with sex ed classes, yeah, you're gonna see some activity there." The Church's direct influence on whether certain policies pass or stagnate is a primary barrier to implementation, and it is expressed through particular tenets of the church's beliefs including its teachings on abstinence and chastity, and hesitance to engage in confrontation. Abstinence and chastity. Privileging abstinence over pre-marital intercourse, and marital faithfulness over extra-marital affairs is not a problematic practice in and of itself, but these beliefs in the Mormon faith have the unfortunate effect of silencing discussions about sex and sexual assault in LDS communities, and are a barrier to the implementation suggested in this project. Hillary made it clear in our interview that she is not a supporter of abstinence-only education, but she did acknowledge that it is a part of the LDS Culture, "The church position is abstinence before marriage and monogamy after," and abstinence is the value taught in her household: My husband and I were virgins when we married. The kids know that. They know that I don't ever have to worry about an STD; neither does my husband. Those types of things; we don't have to worry about who the dad of any of our biological kids was. I mean none of that stuff, right? Hillary's statements about abstinence are entirely true, and fortunately for her children she did not believe in teaching abstinence-only sex education in her house because as she said in reference to such education, "I think that's also not realistic." Hillary's balance of Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 40 values and teaching clinical expertise is not the norm, and the battle between abstinence-only and public school education is ongoing. The State of Utah battled over abstinence-only sex education in 2012 House Bill 363-Health Education Amendments, which would have allowed public schools to drop sex education altogether, and would have made it illegal to talk about contraceptives (Schencker, 2012). HB363 passed the Utah House and Senate, but was vetoed by Governor Gary Herbert. In a 2012 Salt Lake Tribune article Representative Brian King (D, Salt Lake) said, "In truth, few of us are up to the task of effectively teaching our kids ourselves the things they need to know about sex" (Schencker, 2012, para. 13). I agree with Representative King wholeheartedly, and his sentiment is demonstrated in this thesis' section on miseducation. Parents should supplement instruction provided to their children, but they are not suitable replacements for expert education on the vastly complex topic of sex, and sexual assault. Ted's organization supported HB363 and when we discussed the issue he said, "You can say this for it, that abstinence would have made it very clear." His clear support for abstinence-only education on an individual level and from his organization contrasts with another statement he made, "We know that a lot of people don't abstain, especially unfortunately in the high school and even junior high, in some cases." Here we see cognitive dissonance play out, because Ted acknowledges the unrealistic nature of abstinence-only education, but articulates support nonetheless. Passing comprehensive sex education in the face of religious doctrine that promotes a singular type of education is a difficult task, and unless we start to teach children at a young age what healthy sex looks like, we cannot expect healthy interpersonal sexual relationships to flourish. Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 41 Contention is of the devil. Sexual assault prevention and the required sex education are sensitive, nuanced topics to anyone involved, but add ideology and the complexity only increases. I found in my interviews that two out of three participants identified the passive-aggressive tendencies of Utahns as a barrier. The inability to discuss sensitive topics for fear of being seen as contentious is certainly a Utah-specific barrier to implementation of this project. When I asked Hillary if her fellow LDS congregants treat her differently due to her beliefs in comprehensive sex education she said, "To my face they're fine. Utah's great at being passive aggressive." It turns out that the tendency Hillary mentioned has been studied by Michael J. Stevens (2012), professor at Weber State University, who conducted a study on the passive aggressive conflict resolution that he found amongst students in his graduate and undergraduate classes. Utahns, particularly LDS Utahns, score a 9.1 on a scale of 0-12 for the Behavior Description Questionnaire (BDQ) self-assessment. The tendency to avoid conflict is one based in scripture from The Book of Mormon (3 Nephi 11:29): For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another. Ted specifically mentioned this scripture as a barrier to implementation: Getting into complex and sensitive topics makes people uncomfortable. It makes people uncomfortable generally, but again, in a state like Utah where the predominant LDS culture has-or at least as it expresses itself here in Utah-Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 42 views disagreement as bad, a lot of times, right? The religious phrase is contention is of the Devil. The inability to engage with sensitive topics is incredibly prohibitive when it comes to implementing comprehensive sex education. Learning how to constructively navigate within a political workgroup that prefers passive-aggression is going to help policymakers interested in sexual assault prevention. This is mentioned in Chapter 5 as an area of potential future research. Political Barriers. Although there is significant overlap between the LDS Church and the politics of Utah, political barriers are broken into separate themes because data in this section does not have any direct mention of doctrine from participants. In order to implement the programming suggested in this thesis, careful attention must be paid to the sociopolitical context of Utah. Tseng et al (2002) remind us, "The promotion of social change framework argues that promotionists should carefully consider communities' particular cultural and historical contexts in order to develop culturally derived interventions" (p. 408). It would be foolish to not pay close attention to the Utah-specific political barriers to implementation. The two barriers that emerged are a generational hesitance to talk about sex and a lack of female legislators. Generational hesitance to talk about sex. Sexual assault prevention is a prominent topic in local and national news, but in spite of the emerging conversations it appears that earlier generations are not as willing to engage with the idea of comprehensive sex education and public conversations about sex. In contrast, a full 75% of millenials surveyed by the Public Religion Research Institute (Jones & Cox, 2015) support comprehensive sex education. Until those in power let go of their personal Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 43 hesitance to talk about sex change will not happen quick enough to prevent sexual assault. Hillary was the first person to talk about the impact of generational differences. She learned about sexual assault for the first time as an adult in her nursing program and was traumatized to discover the severity of the issue. She had no experience with it previously, because "I hadn't really talked about that growing up. My parents didn't talk to me about that. Nothing about that." Hillary expressed one of the central issues with not engaging your children about sex and sexual assault-if they do not have the knowledge and language, they cannot describe or identify abusive or atypical sexual behavior. Ted also described the cultural hesitance to talk about sex, "I think this is actually a cultural artifact or a cultural product of not necessarily just Utah, but of-it's a generational cultural thing, right, is that it's impolite to talk about sex in public." The inability to talk about sex in a public forum clearly deters passage of comprehensive sexual assault curriculum. In spite of how uncomfortable some people are, we must ensure that these topics are taught in school, because one person's discomfort about sex education can prevent thousands of children from receiving the crucial education they need. Parental control. Ted talked at length about his personal fears of experts circumventing parental moral guidance on sex education, and although Kim did not express this fear on a personal level, Kim mentioned this fear as an obstacle, "I think the conservative people will say, ‘Oh, we don't want to teach about-we don't want to do sex education in schools, because then parents don't have enough control over what's being taught.'" She did not see that as a viable concern to avoid implementation, because Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 44 "This is different. This is sexual health. It's not how to have sex or-I mean, other than how not to be violated when you don't wish to be." Ted made it very clear that he believes parents are the experts on their individual child, and that sex education is distinct from other subjects. When I asked him if he sees education on this topic as radically different from other subjects he was fervent in his response, "You're touching on something much deeper, broader, and frankly, more critical for who we see ourselves, for instance, as human beings, and how we relate to others as human beings. Yeah. It clearly is a different thing." When it comes to sex education and determining what acceptable curriculum is, Ted described parents as the ultimate decision-maker: That's where I think it's gonna be up to a parent to figure that out. I guess you can come in as a government entity like a public school is, a government-sponsored organization, or as an expert organization, and try to tell parents that you should be doing this, but you should just be ready for a response from some of those parents saying, ‘Excuse me. That's my child, thank you very much.' Experts and elites agree that parents play a crucial role in sexual assault prevention education. Lana, a former law enforcement officer made it clear, "we want parents to know exactly what's gonna happen" during sex education. The curriculum proposed by experts in this project includes explicit parental involvement in order to assuage fears of conservative Utahns like Ted. Lack of female legislators. The root cause of sexual violence is patriarchy, and a Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 45 result of patriarchy is lack of female politicians. This lack is having a direct impact on the type of policies passed, particularly in the area of sexual assault prevention and other women's issues. When asked how to make change happen, Kim suggested: I think getting women like her [a former legislator] involved and women in the community, even if it's just for hearings or as supporters of a bill who speak during the committee hearing or whatever. ‘Cause you're right, I mean, it's a mostly male-dominated population, but they do listen. I mean, we've certainly gotten midwifery bills passed and it's all women that are up there speaking and working with them. Hillary also cited the lack of female legislators as an issue saying, "It's disappointing to me to see such a disproportionate lack of female legislators right now on the hill." She went further to describe the culture and politics in Utah saying, "In a culture where it's heavily dominated by the other political party and the other gender." Both women in this study brought up the lack of female legislators as an issue, which is congruent with research that shows congresswomen are more supportive of issues traditionally deemed "women's issues" (Volden, Wiseman, & Wittmer, 2013). Their suggestions about the need for more women were especially telling in the light of this thesis, because there was a stark contrast in proposal support between the two women and one man participating. Ted expressed the most reservations with the proposal out of all participants, and he engaged in more problematic behavior throughout our interview (victim blaming and blatant homophobia). I attribute much of Ted's reservations to his gendered perspective.Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 46 Opportunities for Change It is fairly easy to agree that we need to prevent sexual assault, but coming to an agreement on how to do that is where things become difficult. I expected a significant amount of pushback on this proposal, but was pleasantly surprised when all three participants endorsed at least some part of the suggested curriculum. This section covers the general support for the proposal as well as recommendations for how to frame the issue and create coalitions when there is not support. General support for the proposal. The most obvious opportunity for change in this project was the fervent support from Kim and Hillary, and the partial support from Ted. Although Ted was the most hesitant about implementation he conceded, Does that mean nobody should ever use the word condom in a public school? I don't necessarily think so. Yeah. It makes sense to have basically a public safety program around sexual assault for kids. To me, this is part of that. It's like teaching about drugs. You know what I mean? It's just something they need to understand. They need to know how this crime can be committed and what it might look like. Yeah. It makes sense. Ted was supportive of programming that was clinical and value-free, and as long as parents were heavily involved and there was an emphasis on local control. Receiving even tacit support from Ted was quite profound considering his staunchly conservative views. Hillary did not express any reservations about school as the setting for sex education: "I think school is a fine place for it. I think there-I can't imagine another broad community setting that would be better." She perfectly articulated the reason that sexual assault advocates encourage preK-12 public school programming-it is the Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 47 broadest community setting that can reach the most children before the age of perpetration or victimization. Kim also issued full support for the program, and in spite of her personal religious beliefs was able to separate the idea of sex education from values completely: "I think it's great. I think the conservative people will say, ‘Oh, we don't want to teach about-we don't want to do sex education in schools, because then parents don't have enough control over what's being taught.' This is different. Values are so personal. These are not. These are just good habits, good practices of an entire population. It is clear again that there is a distinct difference in the support between Ted and the two women in the project, but there is clear support at one end, and opportunities for change on the other. Sex education is an incredibly sensitive topic for many people, but it is clear that protecting children is more important than ideology. There is support for change, and it is possible in spite of some existing barriers. Framing and coalitions. The participants in this project vocalized support for the suggested curriculum, but getting something like this to pass in the Utah Legislature is going to require much broader support. Finding support will require that the most conservative voices in Utah, and the most liberal, feel like they are being heard. Forming diverse coalitions will help with policy passage, and so will using the appropriate rhetorical framing. Hillary, an experienced legislator, said, "It's gonna be framed as this is a conservative principle, this is pro-family, this is something that we do for our kids, that's important, it's gonna keep ‘em safe." Framing sex education as a conservative Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 48 principle will be crucial for more widespread support in a state where abstinence-only education has been approved by the legislature in the past. Kim confirmed my prior assumptions that it is necessary to receive buy-in from the LDS Church. She said, "I mean, certainly if the LDS church did buy into it, it would be a lot easier movement." Gaining support from a powerful institution like the Mormon Church would prove incredibly helpful, but at the very least vocal support from church members will prove helpful. When I asked Ted who should be involved with passing legislation on the topic of sexual assault prevention he mentioned groups like the Eagle Forum and Planned Parenthood, but he also made it clear that some of those organizations are not necessary to enact change, You could get something done without all of those groups, I think, if you got a good coalition." Creating a coalition for change on this issue is possible, which is evidenced by the general support for the project and the participants themselves may have some potential to help create a coalition for change. Although there are substantive barriers to change in public policy around sexual assault, there are obvious opportunities for change. All three participants endorsed either the entire proposal or parts of it. Cultural elites also provided tactical suggestions for policy implementation.Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 49 Chapter 5 Discussion Over the course of this project I learned about Utah-specific barriers to implementing comprehensive pre-k-12 public school curriculum on sexual assault prevention. Those barriers include: lack of female political representation, various tenets of the LDS Church and their impact on culture, and specific qualities of Utah's political climate. The process did not turn out as bleak as I imagined while researching sexual assault, because during my fieldwork I uncovered opportunities for change. Specifically I found that two out of three cultural elites gave a rounding endorsement of the plan, and the most conservative of the three, also expressed some willingness to adopt various parts of the program. Implications and Recommendations It became clear over the course of this project's second half that Ted, the only male participant in the sample of cultural elites, was expressing markedly different concerns than his female counterparts whom I interviewed. Although the sample size is a limitation (noted later in this chapter) the marked difference in views expressed by the only man are critically important for the Utah Men's Anti-Violence Network. Utah MAN's mission is to engage men to end violence, and this project has confirmed the arduous task that lays ahead for men's engagement on what are traditionally viewed as women's issues. The policy implications of this project are clear: there is a policy window for change, and organizations in the field should move quickly to onboard the appropriate Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 50 cultural elites to their cause, and propose solutions in the next legislative session, or ask for a special session of the legislature to address the topic of sexual assault prevention. With prominent figures in the Utah community such as Elizabeth Smart actively campaigning for change, and buy-in from at least two participants in this project, building a coalition with sufficient conservative presence is possible. Building such a coalition is also necessary, as mentioned in Chapter 4. This project confirmed the content and form of prevention curriculum described in research, but it will change the landscape of activism in Utah because it makes it explicit that women are the future of change on this issue, and it highlights in particular the potential that exists within the LDS community and its female congregants. Future research The two female cultural elites interviewed for this project are both active members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and both of them expressed full-support for the project. Future research should focus on the role and influence of Mormon women as activists within their community. This research could explore aspects of Mormon theology that are commonly cited by Mormon feminist groups such as Ordain Women (a group dedicated to bringing full equality to men and women in the LDS Church). There is a groundswell of a movement with Ordain Women, Mormon Feminists, and unique changes in the LDS Church's culture. The organization is evolving, and the best way to evolve is from the inside out. Mormon women could present a great-untapped resource for implementation of comprehensive sex education and sexual assault prevention programs. Some ways LDS women can get involved: introduce curriculum via Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 51 church programs like Young Women's and the Relief Society; run for political office; continue to influence church teachings via progressive movements such as Ordain Women and Mormon feminist organizations (i.e. MoFems and Feminist Mormon Housewives). Another area for future research is the passive-aggressive tendency of Utahns. The idea of passive aggression emerged in the data for this project, but I came across minimal research on the subject. The implications of further study could prove tremendous in helping community leaders navigate future policy discussions. Limitations Due to the initial design of this study I was unable to interview as many cultural elites as I would have liked to in order to create a more robust data set. Initially I believed it was more valuable to split my time between two participant groups in order to obtain local expert recommendations, but the recommendations were so in line with suggestions from the literature, that I could have interviewed more people directly involved with policy implementation. A larger sample size could have provided a larger data set to confirm the findings that emerged in this study. Another limitation in this study was the timeframe in which fieldwork occurred. The State of Utah's 2015 legislative session started January 26th and ended March 12th, and I believe it impacted participation. For instance, two potential participants cited the legislative session as prohibitive to participation, and I did not receive responses from two others, which I am also attributing to the session. The other lingering question from this study and its sample size is: how much does gender impact the perception of local men on the issue of sexual assault? Ted's responses were vastly different than the women Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 52 I interviewed, and I would have liked to interview more men to flesh out the finding further. Learning Objectives This project has helped me achieve a huge personal goal by earning a master's degree. I am a first generation college student, and the only person in my immediate family with an undergraduate and graduate education. This degree helped me get hired in my current position as a marketing manager at a major healthcare company in Salt Lake City, and it will help me pursue adjunct teaching in gender studies afterward. Over the course of this project I also addressed several learning objectives in the Master of Arts in Community Leadership program, primarily community development, organizing and advocacy. This research allowed me to work directly within the affected community to determine solutions that address the root cause of sexual violence. I was able to network with three prominent leaders in sexual assault prevention during fieldwork and have bolstered meaningful and productive connections that will help with future projects. This project helped me meet the second program objective to develop critical, analytical, and integrative thinking. During my thesis I pulled information from various sources and consumed them with a critical eye before including them in my research. Personal Reflection This project was a logical continuation of my undergraduate interests in the gender studies program at the University of Utah. Embarking on this project allowed me to explore the topic of sexual assault prevention in a way that I never could while attending the University of Utah. I made several connections within the community that I Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 53 believe will last beyond this project and my time in the MACL program-connections that I hope to foster while continuing to pursue research and activism in this field of study. This project has reminded me that it is critically important to meet people where they are, because community values are critical to enacting substantive change on the issues you care about. I have learned that my role as a community organizer is to maintain an active presence in the Salt Lake City feminist community, because there is intense skepticism of outsiders and cultural-specific barriers that require intimate knowledge of this community and its standards to enact real change. I know that I have a place with feminist activism in Salt Lake, and I truly believe that the brilliant, diligent activists in Salt Lake City will help reduce incidences of sexual violence in my home state. Conclusion Sexual assault is a terrifying crime that occurs more often than anyone in our community would like. It is time to put a stop to one in three women experiencing sexual assault (UCASA, 2006). In order for prevention to occur a cultural interrogation of gender roles and the damaging effects of patriarchy must take place, and proper sexual assault prevention education can be a part of that interrogation. This thesis presents a clear roadmap for navigating some of the existing Utah-specific barriers to implementation, and it also provides an expert recommended outline for prevention curriculum-those two things can be used to create the type of programming we need to prevent sexual assault at home. Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 54 References Anderson, L.A., & Whiston, S.C. (2005). Sexual Assault Education Programs: A Meta-Analytic Examination of Their Effectiveness. Psychology Of Women Quarterly, 29(4), 374-388. Basile, K. C, & Saltzman, L. E. (2002). 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Retrieved from http://ucasa.org/index.php/resourcesFixing Utah's Rape Problem 59 Appendix A Oral Statement for Interviews with Experts Thank you for meeting with me today and making time for me to interview you. The purpose of my interview is to understand the necessary contents and format of a public primary prevention of sexual assault program. I have approached you because you are someone with valuable experience in the field. Your responses to the following questions will be used to create an executive summary of facts to be presented anonymously to a second group of interview participants. The second group of participants consists of high-ranking members of groups in Utah that impact policy implementation, such as the Utah Republican Party. Those participants will provide their feedback, which will also be available for your review at the end of the process. To ensure accurate information goes into this research, the interview will be recorded. This recording will be will be stored in a private office. Additionally all information gathered during this interview will remain confidential and no names, agencies, or sensitive information will be shared. By signing this consent form, you are assisting me in recording and collecting data from this interview. Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 60 Appendix B Westminster College Institutional Review Board (IRB) For the Protection of Human Subjects Form B Consent Form for Adults Engaging In Interviews Before agreeing to participate in this study, it is important that the following explanation of the proposed procedures be read and understood. It describes the purpose, procedures, benefits and risks of the study. It also describes alternative procedures available and the right to withdraw from the study at any time. It is important to understand that no guarantee or assurance can be made as to the results. See below: You have been invited to participate in a research study, the purpose of which is to gain expert recommendations on the content and form of primary prevention programming specific to sexual assault in the State of Utah. The study procedure(s) have been identified as participant observation and semi-structured interviews. The duration of the study is expected to be six months. You will be notified of any significant variance from the stated duration of the study. Benefits that may occur from participation in this study have been identified as facilitation of policy discussions around sexual assault prevention between organizations. There are no foreseeable side effects/ risks associated with this project, other than the possibility of stalled policy discussions. However, some side effects/risks may be unforeseeable. Your participation in this study is entirely voluntary, and you may withdraw from the study any time you wish without any penalty to you. If you have any questions about this study or wish to withdraw, please contact: Jamie Joanou 801-832-2485 Principal Investigator Phone: If you have any questions regarding your rights as a research participant, please contact: Peter Ingle 801-832-2481 Chair of IRB Phone: All personally identifiable study data will be kept confidential. However, the results of this study may be made available to you upon request or used in formal publications or presentations. If you feel that you have received a satisfactory explanation as to the risks and benefits of this study as well as your rights as a research participant and you would like to Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 61 participate, please sign and date below. You will be given a copy of this form for your records. Signature of Subject Date Signature of Investigator DateFixing Utah's Rape Problem 62 Appendix C Oral Statement for Interviews with Cultural Elites Thank you for meeting with me today and making time for me to interview you. The purpose of my interview is to gain your feedback on the proposed content and form of a public primary prevention of sexual assault program. I have approached you because you are a respected community member with an important role in an institution within our community. Your responses to the following questions will help inform future policy suggestions from experts in the field of sexual assault prevention. To ensure accurate information goes into this research, the interview will be recorded. This recording will be will be stored in a private office. Additionally all information gathered during this interview will remain confidential and no names, agencies, or sensitive information will be shared. By signing this consent form, you are assisting me in recording and collecting data from this interview.Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 63 Appendix D Westminster College Institutional Review Board (IRB) For the Protection of Human Subjects Form B Consent Form for Adults Engaging In Interviews Before agreeing to participate in this study, it is important that the following explanation of the proposed procedures be read and understood. It describes the purpose, procedures, benefits and risks of the study. It also describes alternative procedures available and the right to withdraw from the study at any time. It is important to understand that no guarantee or assurance can be made as to the results. See below. You have been invited to participate in a research study, the purpose of which is to gain input from influential community members on the form and content of sexual assault prevention programming from experts in the field. The study procedure(s) have been identified as participant observation and semi-structured interviews. The duration of the study is expected to be six months. You will be notified of any significant variance from the stated duration of the study. Benefits that may occur from participation in this study have been identified as facilitation of policy discussions around sexual assault prevention between organizations. There are no foreseeable side effects/ risks associated with this project, other than the possibility of lack of agreement on content and form. However, some side effects/risks may be unforeseeable. Your participation in this study is entirely voluntary, and you may withdraw from the study any time you wish without any penalty to you. If you have any questions about this study or wish to withdraw, please contact: Jamie Joanou 801-832-2485 Principal Investigator Phone: If you have any questions regarding your rights as a research participant, please contact: Peter Ingle 801-832-2481 Chair of IRB Phone: All personally identifiable study data will be kept confidential. However, the results of this study may be made available to you upon request or used in formal publications or presentations. If you feel that you have received a satisfactory explanation as to the risks and benefits of this study as well as your rights as a research participant and you would like to Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 64 participate, please sign and date below. You will be given a copy of this form for your records. Signature of Subject Date Signature of Investigator DateFixing Utah's Rape Problem 65 Appendix E Sample Interview Questions Questions for prevention experts: 1. Please tell me a little bit about your current position within your organization. 2. How long have you been in the field of primary prevention? 3. In what capacity? 4. What is currently working in the public system for prevention? 5. What do you think is not working or needs improvement? 6. Who do you see as your greatest allies in prevention efforts? 7. What are the main barriers preventing implementation of meaningful sexual assault prevention programming? 8. Which organizations present the largest challenges for public implementation? 9. Describe what a collaborative relationship with that organization might look like? 10. What is the ideal structure for prevention curriculum in the public sphere? 11. What are the topics necessary for a worthwhile prevention program?Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 66 Appendix F Sample Interview Questions Questions for cultural elites 1. Please tell me a little bit about your current position within your organization. 2. How long have you been in your current position? a. Where did you work before? 3. Does your organization have a stance on sexual assault prevention? a. How do you think you have helped with the issue? 4. Can you tell me a little bit about your understanding of the issue in Utah? 5. (After presenting them with suggestions from experts and sending them a fact sheet): After reviewing recommendations from experts: Tell me your thoughts about the recommendations. 6. Are there particular components that need to be present for you to support sexual assault prevention education programs? 7. How do you envision primary prevention should be implemented? 8. Which organizations would you like to work with on the issue? a. Are there any organizations you would not work with?Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 67 Appendix G Executive Summary of Expert Recommendations Overview: The contents of this document are the result of interviews with Experts in the field of sexual assault prevention in Salt Lake County. Experts are currently working in the field of sexual assault prevention at various agencies in the county, and occupy positions as founders, executive directors, and/or vice presidents. Below is a summary of common themes that experts recommend for a public curriculum on primary prevention of sexual assault. Please review carefully and make note of suggestions you support and those you do not. Our conversations will center on this summary and your support or objections to the content of this document. Summary: 1. All three participants endorsed a continual pre-K-12 model for the following three reasons: a. One-time interventions do not have a lasting impact on sexual violence outcomes: Students need to engage with material continuously from pre-kindergarten throughout high school in order for lessons to have an impact. b. Victimization often occurs before the age of 18, and teaching about sex and sexuality early is helpful later in life: proper education will help victims on their journey to healing because it equips them with the appropriate language to discuss their bodies, as well as an understanding that their experiences are not healthy. c. Teaching about healthy sexuality before a person becomes sexually active can prevent sexual assaults from occurring, because many people who commit sexual assault are unaware that their behavior is coercive. 2. Each participant specified that the following are required in any programming: a. Age-appropriate curriculum: each lesson is geared toward the specific age-group (i.e. children in kindergarten being taught names for anatomy) b. Parental involvement: Each participant made it clear that parents should be the primary source of information regarding sexual health, and they should be involved at every step in several ways. Suggested parental involvement: in-class parent attendance for lectures, consent forms, and access to curriculum ahead of time c. Evidence-based approaches: All material presented should be based on research across disciplines (psychology, health, sociology, etc.) 3. Some of the reasons for encouraging a state-sponsored sexual assault prevention curriculum: a. There is confusion at every level of education in Utah: Teachers and administrators are unsure what they can and cannot teach.Fixing Utah's Rape Problem 68 b. Various groups are making their way into school via informal channels and the information is not always scientifically accurate 4. The following topics must be included over the lifetime of a program (in no particular order): a. Healthy relationships: empathy, trust, understanding b. Unhealthy relationships: controlling, violence, power imbalance c. Anatomy and physiology d. Consent in sexual relationships e. Healthy sexuality: maturation and normal physical developments f. Bystander intervention: how to intervene if someone you know is being groomed for sexual contact g. Rape mythology: victim-blaming h. Media influences on violence 5. Other relevant pieces of information from expert interviews: a. Prevention programs are drastically underfunded and non-profit organizations do not have the financial or human capital to implement programming on their own. Funding at the state-level is the only way programming will ever be implemented b. Each participant wants experts to teach on the topic, and sees it as something that requires extra training or outside intervention for teachers: teachers are not trained to administer sexual health curriculum. Experts should be involved. c. There was a general sense that even the most common sense reforms are too politically charged in Utah to gain traction: an initiative to teach parents about sexual health was defeated in the legislature because Planned Parenthood was associated with the measure, but the suggestions were in line with conservative organizations in the state. d. Each participant pointed to Elizabeth Smart as an example for the need to change current cultural norms: http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2013/05/06/elizabeth_smart_abstinence_only_sex_education_hurts_victims_of_rape_and.htmlFixing Utah's Rape Problem 69 APPROVAL of a thesis/project submitted by Author's Name: Chelsea Kilpack School Department: MACL Title of Thesis/Project: Fixing Utah's Rape Problem: Cultural Elite and Expert Perspectives on Sexual Assault Prevention Programming in Utah The above named master's thesis/project has been read by each member of the supervisory committee and has been found to be satisfactory regarding content, English usage, format, citations, bibliographic style, and consistency, and is ready for submission to the Westminster College Library. ______________________ ________________________________________________ Date Thesis Advisor Approved for the School ______________________ ________________________________________________ Date Dean, SchoolFixing Utah's Rape Problem 70 STATEMENT OF PERMISSION TO DUPLICATE THESIS & DEPOSIT/DISPLAY IN THE INSTITUTIONAL REPOSITORY Name of Author(s)________________________________________________________ School/Department________________________________________________________ Title of Thesis____________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ With permission from the author(s), on the basis of an occasional and individual request, the staff of the Giovale Library of Westminster College has the right to make a copy of the above named thesis. The Giovale Library staff also has the right to mail or otherwise disseminate a copy to the requesting party and to be reimbursed by the requesting party for the cost of duplicating and mailing the thesis. I hereby give my permission to the staff of the Giovale Library of Westminster College to duplicate as described the above named thesis. Signature of Author(s) Date With permission from the author(s), the staff of the Giovale Library of Westminster College has the right to deposit and display an electronic copy of the above named thesis in its Institutional Repository for educational purposes only. I hereby give my permission to the staff of the Giovale Library of Westminster College to deposit and display as described the above named thesis. I retain ownership rights to my work, including the right to use it in future works such as articles or a book. Signature of Author(s) Date The above duplication and deposit rights may be terminated by the author(s) at any time by notifying