GPAC Denounces Sexual Assault Hazing at Top Prep School


(Washington, DC 21 Jul 2004) The Gender Public Advocacy Coalition (GenderPAC) today denounced a series of male-on-male sexual assaults at one of the nation's top prep schools that has apparently metastasized from early hazing rituals. The incidents at Groton, generally regarded as one of the nation's top prep schools, have become the focus of a five-year investigation by Massachusetts state authorities.

Said GenderPAC Executive Director, Riki Wilchins, "These incidents show that male-on-male violence and sexual harassment remain central to the rituals of school-yard masculinity, even among nation's most elite youth. We need for students, parents, and teachers to stop dismissing male-on-male assault as �boys will be boys;� we need for these out-dated, brutish attitudes to change.�

Aggressive male-on-male bullying has been shown to be a major factor in school shootings assaults. For instance, a recent study by masculinity expert Michael Kimmel found that 27 assailants in 28 recent school shootings were boys who had been mercilessly attacked in schools where violent bullying was tolerated.

Since 2003, student leaders in GPAC's 28-chapter GenderYOUTH Network have worked to combat such attitudes on campus and in local communities.


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Gay slur: Now you see it, now you don't
By MARY PAPADAKIS


COMMUNITY outrage has forced artists to cover up part of an artwork labelling Ian Thorpe gay.
The superstar has instead been labelled "icon" in the controversial Not Only But Also collage at Federation Square.

The collage caused a stir when it appeared in the Sunday Herald Sun last week, outraging family groups and sparking an investigation by Thorpe's management.

It featured a photo of Thorpe and the word GAY with an arrow pointing to his head.