This past Sunday all Greek students were required to attend "Title
IX Training." This particular session was focused on sexual assault.
Two students acted out a scenario. In the end, the girl was
drinking to the point of incapacitation, she was falling in and out of
conciseness, and she had been throwing up. The guy was intoxicated but
not to that extreme. He had sex with her, and she didn't remember it
happening the next morning. It was more than clear to me that he raped
her, but I was shocked at some of the things that people said. The first
person to speak was a guy who said, "just because you regret it the next
morning, doesn't mean it's rape." I was appalled. Eventually,
after everyone got a chance to put their two cents in, the students leading the
session explicitly said that it was rape. They said that no one is
responsible for the crimes committed against them while incapacitated.
Even after stating all of this so clearly, people still had the audacity
to speak up saying, "she shouldn't have been drinking so much," or,
"he was drunk too, it wasn't his fault." The whole thing was very eye
opening for me.
Hey Ellen-
ReplyDeleteHaving spent four years on this campus, I regrettably completely understand what you are saying. It is really hard to wrap my mind around the fact that in a community where I respect so many people and like to think that people uphold the university's values that there are people that believe that it is a woman's fault if she is raped. I hope that the people that were speaking up against the presenters at least have a different perspective to reflect on. Thanks for sharing!
Ellen, thank you for sharing this story in class today. Following the Title IX training, all of my friends involved in Greek Life were blowing up my Facebook timeline in such anger and confusion. This is why education and sex ed are both such important topics. Something that may seem obvious and terrible to us may have a total opposite effect on someone who has not been properly educated.
ReplyDeleteWhen this was discussed in class, I was blown by what was said and done at that event. I am sorry that they encouraged you all to watch that, and im sorry about the comments that were made.
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