Korva is a scroll of the internet’s best ideas.
Designated drivers, designated upstanders
Beyond parenting
Sexual violence is not an individual parenting problem, so it can't have an individual parenting solution. Boys grow up inside cultures, systems, and institutions that teach them things all the time. Teaching consent at home continues, with preparation added alongside it that reaches beyond the household.
Designated upstanders
The idea of a designated upstander came up in a conversation about bystander training that included a college president. Designated drivers already exist for a night out. A designated upstander would be the person whose job that night is to notice, to step in, and to protect everyone there.
Changing systems
It works as a systems-level idea, the kind that schools, colleges, coaches, teams, fraternities, and parents could all put in place before the stakes are high. Patterns reinforced in childhood can't be left for a young adult to resist alone, so the systems that reinforce the behaviors young people are meant to resist have to change as well.
Where did the designated driver idea come from?
The Harvard Alcohol Project began in 1988 under Jay Winsten of the Harvard School of Public Health. It brought the designated driver idea into American public life, which until then was far less common. The campaign worked with television writers to put the concept into the storylines of prime-time shows. The project combined that entertainment push with public service announcements.
How does bystander training teach people to step in?
Bringing in the Bystander is a prevention program developed at the University of New Hampshire by Victoria Banyard, Elizabeth Plante, and Mary Moynihan. It trains participants to see themselves as potential witnesses who can act, instead of as spectators. Sessions cover how to spot warning signs and how to intervene safely. Evaluations published by the New Hampshire team reported increases in participants' intervening behavior.
Why do prevention efforts target whole communities?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes violence prevention through a social-ecological model with four levels: individual, relationship, community, and society. The model holds that behavior is shaped by all four levels at once, so efforts at one level alone tend to fall short. It builds on Urie Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory, set out in his 1979 book The Ecology of Human Development.