Living in a rural community that is intensely conscious of its values, we need to be prodded to confront the insidious dark sides of human nature and our own rapidly-evolving culture. Monday's schedule was amended to allow for a full hour assembly dedicated to Jackson Katz, the nation's leading anti-sexist male advocate. Below, he receives a standing ovation at the end of his powerful, fast-moving address:

Highly articulate and loquacious, Katz immediately busted myths. "Gender issues" are not female issues, and (most provocative) sexual abuse is not a female issue--it is a male issue, because it is overwhelmingly perpetrated by males.

Consider this: when a shooting happens at Columbine or Virginia Tech, the media asked us to consider, "What's going on with kids?" But, given the fact that 99.5% of these episodes are perpetrated by males, shouldn't the media be asking,
"What is going on with boys and men?"?

Sexual abuse is a contagion, because victims tend to become abusers, and the child of a woman in an abusive relationship is emotionally abused, even if he or she is not sexually abused (which often happens) by the same man.

We are all affected, because every one of us knows and works with victims every single day. It's a statistical certainty. Interesting fact: men who sexually abuse boys overwhelmingly identify themselves as heterosexual. And those who abuse women in relationships consistently claim to be victims, citing, "She makes me do this by behaving in this way...."

One of the "take aways" for Proctor students might be the recognition that boys who make demands--you must not see other boys....I don't want you to do this....I don't want you to do that... are clearly inclined to be physically abusive.

Jackson Katz goes on to indict those "good" men who are are passively complicitous by failing to respond when the existence of abuse is suspected, or when peers degrade others. For men to save themselves from themselves, the whole gender needs to confront a culture that emulates The Terminator, because--right now--we all lose.

The most horrific crime imaginable (perpetrated by males on females) occurred last July in Cheshire, Connecticut. This week, in response to that unspeakable event, Cheshire Academy, Miss Porter's School and Chase Collegiate School orchestrated a concert at Cheshire Academy to raise funds for scholarships in honor of the victims. The star of the show was our own Matt Nathanson '91, whom you can see in this local TV news clip: Cheshire. Our thanks to Jay Goulart for making this possible!