Editor’s note: Part two of a three-part series focusing on women’s issues of safety and assault.

Rob Lucas, a senior recreation and leisure studies major, is driven by compassion and the hope that someday, with the help of others, he can make the world a safer and less violent place for people.

Lucas said he joined the Sacramento State Men’s Program for personal endeavors.

Program Coordinator Manuel Lopez said the goal of the Men’s Program, which currently has about eight members,-is to provide male students with a comprehensive and culturally responsive program that would also help them get involved in male and female mentoring and community service projects.

“I have a teenage sister and female friends whom I love,” Lucas said. “I don’t want to see them ever get physically or emotionally hurt.”

Lucas said that he is now a member of the program’s advisory board and helps with the creation of its curriculum. He also helps in the recruiting of-volunteers and the development of outreach activities.

“(Our) mission is to promote the health and well-being of male students while encouraging them to take a proactive role in ending violence toward women and other men,” Lopez said.

He said his hope for the program is that it can help men look at themselves differently and teach them how to develop healthy relationships with women.

Lopez said the program, which is a collaborative effort by the Women’s Resource Center and the Student Health Center, will assist its members in fostering better relationships with women and other men by increasing their involvement in their communities.

“Volunteers will conduct presentations in a variety of settings (including) the residence halls, classrooms, fraternities, orientations and special event centers,” Lopez said.

Lopez said the volunteers will use various forms of media to inform the community about the reality of violence and provide informational tools on how to prevent violence. He said examples of this include writing letters to newspapers, helping to write and produce a newsletter, creating advertisements and making posters.

Lopez said members of the program also plan to sponsor and co-sponsor events like “Walk A Mile in Her Shoes,” which includes both male and female students and is scheduled to take place outside of the library on April 26.

Jessica Heskin, a victim advocate for the WRC, said events like this are important because they bring men and women together and educate them about the importance of mutual respect.

“In my opinion, respect is mandatory in any and all relationships,” Heskin said. “Respect includes everything from not pressuring your partner, or a stranger, to engage in sex to participating in non-confrontational conversations.”

Heskin said that while helping students balance or maintain their relationships with members of the opposite sex is a responsibility that both the WRC and the program have accepted, it is incredibly difficult because women seem to have a better understanding of men.

“I think women know more about the ‘male world’ than men know about the ‘female world’ because men don’t have the same concerns as we do,” Heskin said. “Take, for example, if I’m walking to my car in a garage at night and a male is behind me. More than likely, he’s just a nice guy trying to get home?but I don’t know that for sure, so I have to keep my guard up. Meanwhile, the guy is probably feeling strange and wants to reassure me that he’s not a predator. He just doesn’t know how to.”

Heskin said this simple interaction between a man and a woman sets the precedent for how women are viewed in society.

“The problem is that, as a woman, I am in a no-win situation,” Heskin said. “If I don’t get suspicious and someone does attack me, it’s considered my fault because I didn’t have my guard up? but if I do get suspicious, then I am considered a ‘bitch’ because I categorize all men as (predators).”

She said the simple act of leaving the house in the morning is a different experience for women as well.

“When men leave their houses, they have to be fearful that another man might steal their car or their wallet,” Heskin said. “Women have to be fearful that a man might steal (their) bodies. It’s a very different fear, and I don’t think men really appreciate that unless it’s pointed out to them.”

Lopez said issues like this are what make the Men’s Program so important.

“The time has come for more men to step up and become part of the movement to end violence,” Lopez said.

He said the problem lies in the fact that men believe that if they’re not violent then they have fulfilled their responsibility toward women.

“As long as we live in a society and culture that promotes violence toward women in movies, literature and song lyrics, we are responsible,” Lopez said. “The women that are victims of violence are our mothers, sisters, friends, colleagues and spouses. Until we, as men, take responsibility not only for our own actions, but those of other men, this violence will not end.”

“I have many women in my life: my mom, my sisters, my friends and, most importantly, my 13-year-old daughter,” Lopez said. “I often ask myself what kind of world I want for them.”

Lucas said change is important, but that it is only possible through hard work, dedication and compassion.

“Change in our world will only happen if we step up and create it,” Lucas said.

Ashley Evans can be reached at [email protected]