Gender-Based Violence

Stanford, CA (March - June 2019)

Project Goal

  • Reduce the prevalence of sexual violence within college and university campuses 
  • Bring awareness to the prevalence of sexual violence within college and university campuses
  • Develop intervention strategies for factors identified as fostering a sexual violence risk environment

Guiding Question

  • What are social spaces or situations at the university where you feel unsafe or uneasy?
  • What are social spaces or situations at the university you feel uncomfortable in because of your gender?
  • What are social spaces or situations at the university where you feel comfortable or at ease?
  • What are social spaces or situations you think affect many of the university’s students' feelings of discomfort or unease to their gender?

Project Description

A preliminary study on the use of Our Voice in addressing sexual violence was conducted at Stanford University. The participants consisted of 10 female identifying undergraduate students who were knowledgeable about sexual violence prevention and women's health issues. Two student facilitators worked with the research team to create data collection prompts focusing on social environments and circumstances on campus that could be linked to sexual violence.  To ensure comprehensive data collection, participants were asked to collect information for seven days while continuing their normal daily activities.

Insights

Over a total of 102 Discovery Tool Walks, female-identifying undergraduate students from Stanford University  collected 120 photos and recorded 90 narratives about their school and campus. Female undergraduate students reviewed collected data and catagorized them into 4 themes:

  • Social events
  • Dorm restroom etiquette
  • Campus cultural norms
  • Academic gender norms

Areas for Improvement Identified

  • Dorms Restrooms
    • Male students not properly closing or locking stall doors
    • Environment where participants are highly conscious of their gender
  • Campus cultural norms
    • Observations of male students showing disregard for how their actions impact others
  • Social events
    • Majority of all-campus parties are hosted by fraternities/male-dominated spaces
    •  Limited non-Greek and non-alcoholic social alternatives
  • Academic gender norms
    • Male instructors/students belittling or speaking over non-male students
    • Need for increased female/nonbinary academic mentors

Strengths Identified

  • Social Events
    • Consent sign and ID check before entrance to all-campus party
  • Academic gender norms
    • In classes and majors that are gender balanced, women felt more comfortable interjecting and asking questions 

Activities and Outcomes

  • The Our Voice citizen science model was utilized to gather data that is contextually meaningful and identify actionable solutions that can be implemented by community members associated with a university. 
  • Future plans involved the implementation and assessment of all four steps of the Our Voice model. However, additional thought and exploration are required for the application of the group action step within the campus sexual violence context.

Key, actionable ideas generated by female Stanford undergraduate students include:

  • Social Events
    • Incentivizing non-Greek, mixed-gender houses to throw parties to offer a socializing alternative to Greek parties
    • Creating parties and events thrown by women. 
  • Dorms Restrooms
    • Increasing access to all-gender/single-stall restrooms
    • Improving privacy of stalls (increasing door height)
    • Implementing discussions within dorms about ​​restroom etiquette
  • Campus cultural norms
    • Including male speakers in freshman orientation events to share experiences with healthy masculinity 
  • Academic gender norms
    • Including question on gender dynamics in course evaluation forms (e.g, “Did you feel respected/comfortable asking instructors for help,” “Did you feel that your voice has heard in this class?”)
    • Increasing the hiring of more female professors and teaching assistance (TA)

Associated Publications:

Graham, S.; Zha, C.C.; King, A.C.; Banchoff, A.W.; Sarnquist, C.; Dauber, M.; Baiocchi, M. A Novel Model for Generating Creative, Community-Responsive Interventions to Reduce Gender-Based Violence on College Campuses. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 7933. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18157933

Funding

The Sexual Assault Prevention Fund

People and Collaborators

Project Lead(s)

  • Sophie Graham
  • Michael Baiocchi
  • Kane Zha

Collaborating Organization(s) / Institutional Partner(s)

  • Stanford University

Our Voice Impact

"This experience has changed my life.  I see inadequacies everywhere I go as it relates to pedestrian access and safety.  I even stop [at] construction sites to remind them to be considerate of the handicapped in our community.  Thank you all so much for this awareness and empowerment to require change."

~ Pam Jiner, GirlTrek Advocacy Leader, Denver CO