Gender Breakdown

by Martha Sadler

The Santa Barbara Rape Crisis Center (SBRCC) is issuing a
special call for men to train as counselors for sexual assault
survivors, and to act as community educators with the center’s
Speakers Bureau. Each April — Sexual Assault Awareness
Month — SBRCC coordinates an educational push; this year, the
center aims to recruit more men to actively fight sexual violence
as part of a statewide campaign called My Strength Is Not for
Hurting. Counselors, teachers, and youth workers — including
representatives from Isla Vista Teen Center, Noah’s Anchorage, and
La Casa de la Raza — attended forums last month on how to encourage
young men to act as allies to girls and women. Sexual Assault
Awareness Week at Dos Pueblos High School — beginning Monday, April
17 — will feature self-defense training for young women and a
workshop for male students conducted by UCSB Men Against Rape. The
SBRCC will also hold trainings for sexual assault counselors and
educators from April 14 through June 12, on Mondays and Wednesdays
from 6-10 p.m. Call 963-6832 for information and an
application.