This and, based off of mumei's post, we need to educate people more about what situations are rape. Because it seems that some people don't understand what constitutes rape.
So part of the problem with the way discussion of this point has gone, I think, is that "education" has such a neutral, passive quality to it, like the problem is that men just need someon to
factually explain to them what rape is.
In reality, it's not merely that men need to be given more factual information about what constitutes rape (although that too must happen), but men must have the morality of the situation more aggressively conveyed to them, and an empathic viewpoint of women built up. Mumei's study quoted above is deeply relevant here -- if men, on balance, don't view women with empathy at a young age, then the greatest factor that might prevent them from committing rape is missing.
There's a big difference, essentially, between someone knowing intellectually that rape is "wrong," and actually having a deep-seated moral abhorrence at the idea of forcing someone to have sex. Achieving the latter is what's needed to prevent more men from raping, as well as to ensure that more other men refuse to assist or go along with those who do.
I just don't see how we can educate parents into thinking more co-ed sleepovers are a good thing. And how do we combat the sexualization of women without threatening the freedom of women to express themselves sexually?
The answer to all of this stuff is "feminism." Or, less flippantly, the solution is social movements that push for greater equality between genders and expound on a viewpoint that opposes the strong gendering of society (and of children especially.) There have been huge strides in this direction in American society over the last century and it comes directly from the feminist movement; the way to improve the situation further is to keep pushing for further transformations of society's approach to gender rather than to decide that all the problems are already fixed.
