Kansas teacher educates on sexual assault through rap

? A Kansas high school teacher is educating his students about sexual assault by rapping about it.

The Kansas City Star reports that David Muhammad’s song “Fallen” was released Sept. 5. The social studies teacher wrote the song under the name “Brotha Newz.”

The song is inspired by things that trouble Muhammad about the way society talks about and addresses sexual violence.

Reports of two sexual assaults at Shawnee Mission East shook the school community at the beginning of the 2016-2017 school year. One of the victims was Muhammad’s student, prompting him to want to speak more about preventing sexual assault.

Muhammad said that commercials, television and movies seem to portray women through the lens of how men see them, often portraying women as sexual objects. While he also teaches women self-defense as a martial artist, he said that can sometimes seem to reinforce an unfortunate reality.

“We keep teaching women self-defense as if it’s inevitable that they will be attacked,” Muhammad said. “Where are the seminars that address men? How do we change a mindset?”

Muhammad hopes his song will spark a conversation about the importance of men talking to men about sexual assault, and challenge the ways some men are conditioned to sexualize women.

“My message is that there is no room for debate when a woman has been sexually assaulted,” he said. “The conversation needs to be: How do we teach men better ways to advocate for women?”