Young Men Ethics

In 2014, 16 year old Hanna Lalango was abducted while riding a public taxi. For eleven days, she was trapped in one of the men's house and continuously raped for several days. They then left her on the street. Hanna was then able to call her father and went to the hospital. She came to the hospital very late and doctors worked around the clock to treat her genital wounds. The wounds were very deep and infected. During her final days, Hanna was able to tell her story and help the police catch suspects. After 22 days in the hospital, Hanna Lalango passed away due to her injuries. This is just one of the few heartbreaking stories of sexual assault in Ethiopia. Ethiopia is one of the top ten countries with the highest rape rates in the world. In

Many programs, like Coaching Boys into Men, strive to teach young men that sexual assault is more than just a women's problem. They teach them about their roles in prevention. These programs try to teach young men to challenge traditional expectations of masculinity that accept, or sometimes even promote, violence (Kernsmith). Programs like this focus on teaching not just women but men as well. In a society where men take up half the population, it is important for men to learn about sexual assault. Many men don't realize that they have witnessed street harassment. They don't really know much about it or what it actually looks like. Many men haven't been taught about sexual or street harassment (Educating Boys). Often times, men walk by sexual and street harassment without intervening. A lot of sexual assaults that start out as street harassment could be prevented by male bystanders if they were able to recognize it. In schools in Kenya, where they are teaching the Your Moment of Truth program, rape by boyfriends and friends dropped by 20% (Molloy). Once taught, these young men know what sexual assault is, and the morals of assaulting someone. Many uneducated men would stop assaulting women if they knew more about assault. This program in Kenya focuses on empowering girls and teaching boys about sexual assault rather than blaming and shaming. If people shamed and pushed down sexual assault, no one would ever learn about it. Nothing would ever change. Bringing sexual assault up to the surface of many men’s lives would teach them appropriate behavior. Educating young men about the ethics of sexual assault through these programs turns out to be very