Men must do more to fight rape and gender violence, Jackson Katz said Wednesday night.

Katz, a filmmaker, author and social theorist, spoke to a packed CUB Auditorium about what men can do to fight gender violence and how society has trained men to ignore it. V-Day WSU co-sponsored Katz’s visit to help promote the upcoming Vagina Monologues.

One of Katz’s central points was that men need to step up and interrupt the cycles of sexism and abuse.

“I have a big problem calling them women’s issues,” he said. “It gives men an excuse not to pay attention.” Katz said culture has shaped masculinity in a way that perpetuates sexual violence, especally on college campuses like WSU. Everyone in Pullman knows at least one rape survivor, he said.

Oftentimes, campuses spend all their resources on teaching women rape reduction and rape prevention instead of addressing men’s role in rape, he said.

“It goes on and on, the things that women are taught,” he said. “... But women aren’t going around raping themselves.” It’s not that most men are rapists, he said, but that men aren’t doing enough to prevent rape in society.

However, Katz’s said women deserve credit for decades of work to raise their own status in America.

“It’s women, like those of V-Day, who don’t sit down and shut up,” he said.

Students began lining up for Katz’s speech more than an hour before its start. V-DAY WSU organizers and actors, donning matching bubblegum pink shirts, hurried to find everyone seats while selling vagina chocolates and tickets to their upcoming event.

This year, V-Day has worked to include more men in the debates about women’s issues, said Amy Bergley, WSU V-Day director and a junior anthropology major.

Rose Keller, a V-Day actress and graduate student in sociology, said Katz’s message resonated with her own research.

“I’ve been active in women’s rights for a long time,” she said. “For me, it was really refreshing hearing it all from a man’s perspective. I felt empowered. There were so many males in the audience.” She agrees with the idea of men standing up for gender issues, she said.

“Men shouldn’t be ostracized from this cause,” she said. “They are just as affected by gender violence and patriarchy as women are.” Sam McQueen, a junior history major, said the presentation helped him relate to gender issues.

“I really enjoyed what he had to say,” he said.

V-Day tickets go on sale Monday.