A couple of months ago we spoke to a sociology professor about the issue of so-called "bystander phenomenon," when people fail to act in cases of violence that occur around them. The issue was highlighted in November when a 15-year-old high school student in California was sexually assaulted at a homecoming dance while as many as two dozen other students stood by and did nothing. Well, one Maine-based non-profit is taking steps to try to encourage teenagers to do something about combating violence and discrimination.

"The Reducing Sexism and Violence Program is really a unique violence prevention program," says Jeff Morrill, program co-ordinator with Boys to Men, a Maine-based non-profit that aims to reduce violence among male adolescents.

This program, though, does not just involve boys. "It brings together boys and girls, usually a group between 30 and 40 boys and girls all from one high school, and we give them an intensive 26-hour training on how to be positive, pro-active bystanders in their school and their community," Morrill says.

About 200 kids are expected to go through the RSVP -- which stands for the reducing sexism and violence program -- this year, says Morrill. This week a selected group of students from Portland High School are attending a two-day retreat in Topsham.
Through a series of group discussions and workhops, Morrill hopes the program will change the way the kids respond to situations where someone is being bullied or harrassed.

"What are their options when they find themselves in one these situations, and how can they even do things before, as far as culturally, to prevent violence by really breaking down this whole concept that men have to to be violent and tough and that women have to be submissive to men, and are only wanted for their beauty?" he says. "So we really try to break down all these gender stereotypes, whether it's from media or messages they get from their friends."

In one exercise, the group watches a selection of TV commercials from the last ten years -- the instructors lead a debate on how the media often potray gender stereotypes. The men are typically very masculine, and the women are, for the most part, very feminine -- all of which, say the program directors, contributes to a culture where sexual violence is unwittingly encouraged, or at least tolerated.

Sayid Brent is an instructor with the program. "It's awesome, it's good to connect with a lot these kids at this level and to9 see them grasp the information and grasp what's going and willing to do something about it."

"They talk like everyone's an adult here, they don't treat nobody like kids," says Hector Velasquez. a junior at Portland High. "I grew up around domestic violence. From the time I could walk until just a couple of years back I grew up around domestic violence, so I know how it is. And I've always been, since I was able to hold my own, I've always been the type of person to intervene. If I see something I don't like, whether it has anything to do with me, I will intervene."

Hector says the RSVP program has helped him realize that physically intervening is not always the best option -- there are other ways to help.

Program instructor Lauren Grousd says that's a lesson that kids have to be taught. "We have them think through the pros and cons of intervening in that way and seeing that there are lot of different options for being an active bystander and that's not the only way to address the situation."

Sophomores Nyador Guany and Ryan Jurgelevich say they've learned a lot after day one of the program.

Tom Porter: "What's sticking in your head about what you've learned today?"
Nyador Guany: "Just certain images and views kind of put a stamp on us, and how we see ourselves and how we should act."
TP: "Has it changed the way you think a little bit?"
NG: "It does because now I can realize how certain terms can be taken the wrong way."
Ryan Jurgelevich: "So much stuff, like, you know, the funny commercials we see on TV and how I think they're funny, and they break them down here and it's not so funny anymore, and it's really sexism and stuff like that."
TP: "So if you're back at school later in the week and you hear someone using abusive language what will you say?"
RJ: "Using abusive language, you just maybe take them to the side and make them realize what they're actually saying and how it affects the person they're saying it to."

Boys to Men's RSVP violence prevention program, now in its third year, is being offered to four high schools in Maine, and has received funding from the Project Safe Neighborhoods Task Force.