The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

‘Rape Culture’ in Tuscaloosa?

Posted on | February 1, 2016 | 26 Comments

Lindsay Macher, Cameron Ridgeway, Jessica Morgan, Jilisa Milton, Rachel Ledbetter, and Isabelle Beauregard are members of the “Feminist Caucus Executive Committee” at the University of Alabama where, to judge from their rhetoric, every male student is a rapist and every female student is a victim:

Sexual assault is often a difficult topic to speak about, especially for those of us who are survivors. We do not choose to share a personal story in this article, as it would most likely be exploited and undermined for faux campus initiatives.
The “It’s On Us” initiative on our campus has done nothing to eliminate rape culture and has only perpetuated it. It is impossible to end sexual assault without first addressing the social mechanisms on which it thrives. One doesn’t have to be a scholar in feminist theory to realize that the toxic representations of women in the media and general attitudes towards women and members of the LGBTQ+ community on campus create a culture where victims feel responsible for their attacks and perpetrators feel justified.

(How many victims? How many attacks? How many perpetrators? Could we get some estimate of the scope of this problem in Tuscaloosa? Never mind. We must endure a lecture about “social mechanisms” and “toxic representations of women.”)

The first meeting of “It’s On Us” that a representative of UA Feminist Caucus attended featured a speaker from the Women and Gender Resource Center explaining the extent of rape culture as it relates to our campus, with suggested measures of bystander intervention. Her lesson was extremely helpful in dismantling rape culture and preventing sexual assault through the use of societal pressure, and some of the suggestions from the group were encouraging. However, as women who have a 1 in 5 chance of facing sexual assault (notwithstanding other factors such as race and gender identity) during our college experiences, the initiative has only left us concerned.

(There it is again — the infamous “1 in 5” statistic that refuses to die, no matter how often or how thoroughly it is debunked. It’s a zombie statistic, and no flamethrower can ever kill it.)

When it has been proven that membership in a social fraternity significantly contributes to the likelihood of perpetrating sexual assault, it is difficult not to be wary of an initiative spearheaded by greek students. Initially, we gave it the benefit of the doubt, thinking, “Who better to solve this problem than those who are prominent within it?” However, Jordan Forrest’s article about her project stated “We do not let our friends walk alone late at night or ignore their requests for a designated driver. We hold our friends and ourselves accountable, and we never blame the victim.” While we admire the intentions of those who came together to write these articles and lead this initiative, it must be noted that the very sentence that warns us not to blame the victim is preceded by victim-blaming through false notions of “accountability.” The goal of this initiative was to create a culture of accountability, but this accountability seems to be only for those more likely to be targeted rather than those who may perpetrate it.

(Translation: All men are rapists.)

This is one of the main problems of “It’s On Us.” At the first meeting, some members of the task force suggested solutions to a hypothesized situation including a man displaying potentially aggressive behavior towards a woman at a bar. Their solutions included interrupting him or trying to distract him while simultaneously taking care not to offend him. Without sternly expressing that this behavior is threatening and unacceptable, we challenge nothing and change nothing, hardly providing the safety that the initiative claims to create.
Another “solution” of the campaign that assisted in victim-blaming was the campus walk. Members of the task force walked around campus after dark and pointed out places that could be more well-lit. This is problematic because women (as the campaign frequently assumes all victims are cis women) should not have to walk in large groups or in well-lit places to avoid being assaulted. We should not be responsible for preventing violence against ourselves. The only suitable way to prevent sexual assault is to teach people not to sexually assault others.

(Yes, this the “only suitable way to prevent sexual assault”! Many will recall that, on Sept. 11, 2001, we realized the only way to prevent terrorism was to teach guys named Mohamad not to fly commercial airliners into skyscrapers.)

Providing better lighting is treating a symptom of a larger epidemic, and an ironic approach considering the University’s late-night shuttle service hardly works.
Secondly, this idea of “stranger danger,” in which women are only attacked at night by “bad guys” is a false notion. Eighty-two percent of assaults are perpetrated by someone the victim knows, including their intimate partners or spouses. The walk, as well as the whole campaign, did little but give a group of people two hours of self-righteousness while doing nothing but furthering myths about sexual assault.

(Every man is a rapist and rape is an “epidemic” in Tuscaloosa. To believe otherwise is a “myth,” saith the Feminist Caucus.)

It goes without saying that no one was inspired to come forth and tell their story at any of the events for “It’s On Us.” To foster true change, our campus needs to listen to victims, rather than blame and criticize them, and remind them that they are more than their assault or merely a story to use as our own resume-builder. We need to have a solid pushback on men who refer to women as sexual objects.

(Obviously, “men who refer to women as sexual objects” are rapists, because all men are rapists, saith the Feminist Caucus.)

We need to focus less on what White House initiative we can complacently adopt, but rather on our own specific needs, catered to our own environment.
This starts with recognizing where we are failing. We need more campaigns that publicly promote consistent training about consent, frequently muddled at this university, along with fully-inclusive sex education, which is much harder than signing a wall on the Quad and then returning to a life of perpetuating violence. We need to analyze the deepest parts of rape culture, not just scrape the surface. Ending the stigma about women’s sexuality and the social construct of virginity are good starting points. From there, we can expand into heteronormative expectations of men and women within the gender binary and then further into queer and trans erasure.

(Yes, “the gender binary” and “heteronormative expectations” are “the deepest part of rape culture,” saith the Feminist Caucus.)

By following this progression, eventually we can manage to achieve what seems to be the impossible: the destruction of a culture that justifies and covers up sexual assault.
While the idea behind “It’s On Us” is well-intentioned, our campus’s handling of it has been nothing more than a moment of self-glorification. Fixing this complex issue requires difficult self-reflection on the part of every individual on this campus.

In other words, once they have banished males from campus — or perhaps criminalized heterosexuality — the Feminist Caucus will have achieved “the destruction of a culture” in Tuscaloosa.

This is what “fixing this complex issue requires,” they imply, but dare we suggest an alternative? Go to Auburn.

If you hate the University of Alabama so much — you accuse the administration of “perpetuating violence” and blame your fellow students for “rape culture” — why not get the hell out of Tuscaloosa?




 

Category: Education, Feminism, Sex Trouble

Comments

26 Responses to “‘Rape Culture’ in Tuscaloosa?”

  1. Australian Uses ‘Flamethrower’ on Robbers | Regular Right Guy
    February 1st, 2016 @ 3:36 pm

    […] ‘Rape Culture’ in Tuscaloosa? […]

  2. Fail Burton
    February 1st, 2016 @ 3:47 pm

    People who have a naive, paranoid and activist view of the world tend to become propagandists when addressing a situation based on facts and so resort to myths like rape culture. Goofball commie actress Vanessa Redgrave gave a speech at UCLA in 1970 and instead of depicting any actual plight instead used Brecht’s mythical play St. Joan of the Stockyards to show how oppressed people in Chicago were starving, because German cow-operas are just like documentaries. I’m surprised he didn’t have frickin’ Indians in it. Redgrave had to do that or she might notice in fact how prosperous America was. That always poses the question that if such daffy people have so few facts on which they base their beliefs, why then the certainty?

    Probably stupid is the answer, unless you believe in urban meat famines and university rape war-zones.

    And by the way, the 1 in 5 stat is true if you include cat-calls, husbands and lingering looks. Then, yeah – it’s just like the Second Congo War.

  3. Joe Joe
    February 1st, 2016 @ 4:44 pm

    This is a national activist initiative. They just filled in the blanks with “Tuscaloosa.”

  4. RS
    February 1st, 2016 @ 5:03 pm

    Stacy, you’re falling down on the job:

    We do not choose to share a personal story in this article, as it would most likely be exploited and undermined for faux campus initiatives.

    Read, “Our bullshit would be subject to examination and demonstration that it is, in fact, bullshit.”

    When it has been proven that membership in a social fraternity significantly contributes to the likelihood of perpetrating sexual assault . . .

    Uh, huh. Written by girls who were turned down at Chi Omega at Alabama.

    Their solutions included interrupting him or trying to distract him while simultaneously taking care not to offend him. Without sternly expressing that this behavior is threatening and unacceptable, we challenge nothing and change nothing, hardly providing the safety that the initiative claims to create.

    We DEMAND that you strong dudes get in a fight for our honor, in conformance with Feminist precepts about us being strong womyn and all.

    Except when we want to channel Scarlett O’Hara.

    Eighty-two percent of assaults are perpetrated by someone the victim knows, including their intimate partners or spouses.

    Inasmuch as we know that “PIV is always rape, OK?” and marriage is institutional patriarchal slavery, it’s good to see husbands thrown in there.

    It goes without saying that no one was inspired to come forth and tell their story at any of the events for “It’s On Us.”

    Maybe because, you know, there aren’t that many fucking stories, you twit.

    We need to focus less on what White House initiative we can complacently adopt, but rather on our own specific needs, catered to our own environment.

    I hear there’s a lot of open land in Nevada. It would be a suitable environment for your group. Knock yourselves out.

    We need more campaigns that publicly promote . . . fully-inclusive sex education,

    Kegger at the ATO house this Friday!

    Ending the stigma about women’s sexuality and the social construct of virginity are good starting points.

    Oh, for the love of . . .Either you’ve had sex or you haven’t. That not a social construct. That’s an historical fact. And by the way, what’s this stigma, of which you speak? If we believe Darwin, ever since single-celled organisms decided to stop having sex with themselves, women’s sexuality has been pretty much accepted in the natural world.

    I need a drink.

  5. RKae
    February 1st, 2016 @ 6:05 pm

    How did we arrive at a place where we have people who believe…
    1.) All men are rapists
    2.) All women are victims
    3.) A gender binary is bad

    ????

    Hey, feminists, who’s pushing a “binary” here?

  6. RKae
    February 1st, 2016 @ 6:06 pm

    Here’s the world they desire:

    http://nypost.com/2016/02/01/she-was-her-husband-now-shes-her-wingwoman/

    This married couple are both looking for the same thing — Mr. Right.

    Three years ago, Claire Atkins was stunned when her husband of six years, beefy bodybuilder Marcus Atkins, told her he wanted to be a woman.

    She stood by her man as he sold off his motorcycle to pay for his new 36E breasts, changed his name to Celeste, and this past December, completed the transformation with gender reassignment surgery.

    Now Celeste has a new role in Claire’s life — as her wingwoman as they both prowl the English countryside for the man of their dreams.

  7. Zhytamyr
    February 1st, 2016 @ 6:18 pm

    These young “ladies” are going to sooo surprised when they end up lonely and alone in a house full of cats.

  8. NeoWayland
    February 1st, 2016 @ 6:22 pm

    Some of them have fish…

  9. kilo6
    February 1st, 2016 @ 7:12 pm

    I can’t even imagine the utter trainwreck that these people will become later in life.
    It’s like an updated version of The Island of Dr. Moreau except the victims are volunteering

  10. Fail Burton
    February 1st, 2016 @ 7:21 pm

    It’s amazing how these women assume misogyny where there is none in evidence and cannot see their misandry. I know of no ideology calling out all women as having it in for men. Why doesn’t the U of A just call this the hate speech it is?

  11. gwallan
    February 1st, 2016 @ 7:22 pm

    “It goes without saying that no one was inspired to come forth and tell their story”

    Absolutely guarantee that if I were to tell my story they would do everything they could to silence me.

  12. mole
    February 1st, 2016 @ 8:44 pm

    Virginity as a social construct?

    Surgeons are constructing social constructs now?
    http://www.meclinic.com.au/body/vaginal-surgery/hymen-repair.html

    So Im guessing the number of rapes reported to the police from that place is a number between none and zero.
    Sexual assault is not someone dropping the hard word on you ladies, seriously, its not, all you do is say no and feel slightly flattered someone found you attractive.

  13. CrustyB
    February 1st, 2016 @ 8:59 pm

    No wonder America has turned into a faggot culture.

  14. Fail Burton
    February 1st, 2016 @ 9:03 pm

    This brand of feminism was manufactured from whole cloth by a handful of mentally ill and sociopathic lesbians. Their superficially plausible inventions about the oppression of women have a powerful appeal to the weak-minded and those prone to paranoia and self pity.

    Nazism was also made up out of whole cloth by a handful of sociopaths. Feminism is hate speech without the armored divisions.

  15. Mike G.
    February 1st, 2016 @ 9:11 pm

    So much to unwrap, so little time. Lets just focus on these two sentences.

    Members of the task force walked around campus after dark and pointed
    out places that could be more well-lit. This is problematic because
    women (as the campaign frequently assumes all victims are cis women)
    should not have to walk in large groups or in well-lit places to avoid
    being assaulted.

    Even a full grown man has better sense than to walk in dimly lit passage ways without some trepidation. It’s called being aware of your surroundings. DAMHIKT.

    As many have noted in the past…these women want to abjure responsibility for their own actions or lack thereof.

  16. Mike G.
    February 1st, 2016 @ 9:18 pm

    Uh, huh. Written by girls who were turned down at Chi Omega at Alabama.

    Rumor has it Stacey was turned down at Chi Omega.

  17. The Iowa Caucus Is Rape Culture : The Other McCain
    February 1st, 2016 @ 9:36 pm

    […] Studies jargon — the gender binary! heteronormativity! social constructs! — about “rape culture” in Tuscaloosa, we must realize American culture so thoroughly corrupted that nothing can save us from the […]

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    February 2nd, 2016 @ 9:06 am

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  19. Quartermaster
    February 2nd, 2016 @ 10:54 am

    Had he been admitted it would have spawned the following headline: “Fox meet hen house.”

  20. DukeLax
    February 2nd, 2016 @ 3:05 pm

    Gender-feminists now “Empower” themselves by Inflaming the public with rape hysteria. By Inflaming the public with rape hysteria…they can attack all hetero-males, and when gender-feminists set up their federal funded perversions and manufactured statistics Alliances with state law enforcement…Gender-feminists used these perverted and manufactured statistics they got from law enforcement……To become a national Super-Power!!

  21. DukeLax
    February 2nd, 2016 @ 3:08 pm

    Roman dictators used to hang heads on poles in the town square…so people would fear them, and never question their authority. Gender-feminists “Lynch” guys in a very public fashion…so people fear them……and never dare to speak out against them.

  22. DukeLax
    February 2nd, 2016 @ 3:11 pm

    After Gender-feminists set up their federal funded perversions and “manufactured statistics Alliances” with state law enforcement ( around 25 years ago)……they soon after used these cooked up Rape statistics to Inflame their way to Empowerment.

  23. DukeLax
    February 2nd, 2016 @ 3:13 pm

    why would they need men around….when the new perve run Federal government gives them mens resources for free??

  24. Dana
    February 2nd, 2016 @ 4:32 pm

    This is all the fault of Bryn Mawr, for being so expensive that all female college students can’t abandon these rapey coeducational colleges and be safe on campus.

    Still, I do have to wonder why so many women do go to colleges where they expect to be raped.

  25. JohnnyL53
    February 3rd, 2016 @ 4:47 pm

    Mandatory Ludovico treatment for all men with double dose for fraternity members. Will not be covered in your Obamacare policy so the out of pocket becomes an additional form of punishment.

  26. News of the Week (February 7th, 2016) | The Political Hat
    February 7th, 2016 @ 5:48 pm

    […] “Rape Culture” in Tuscaloosa? Lindsay Macher, Cameron Ridgeway, Jessica Morgan, Jilisa Milton, Rachel Ledbetter, and Isabelle Beauregard are members of the “Feminist Caucus Executive Committee” at the University of Alabama where, to judge from their rhetoric, every male student is a rapist and every female student is a victim. […]