This past month, TAASA (Texas Association Against Sexual
Assault) launched a new media campaign called Break the Box. The
goal of the campaign is to highlight the connection between
gender stereotypes and sexual violence. For those of you not as
familiar with the prevention lingo, here is what that means:
Society has created these invisible boxes of what a man or a
lady should be like/look like/act like. Imagine I tell you to
“be a man” or to “man up”- what does that look like? Imagine I
tell you to “act like a lady”- what should you be doing; what
should you not be doing? Now pretend you are not all of those
things in that box and you want to step outside of it. Once you
step outside of the box, are you treated fairly? Often, when
someone steps outside of that box, there are many violent verbal
and physical repercussions. As preventioneers, we want to
communicate that its ok to be inside of the box if that is what
you choose; but its also ok to be outside of the box! What is
NOT ok is when we are criticized