Our conversation in class today immediately took me back to something that I read in the Fall of 2012, concerning an incident on Miami University's campus in Oxford Ohio. You can read the link below if you want, but the basic gist was that a flier was found in a coed residence hall on their campus with "The Top Ten Ways to Get Away With Rape". Some of the most egregious ones listed in my opinion include:
- If a woman's window is locked, sneak in and rape her to teach her not to do it again
- Practice makes perfect, the more you rape the better you get
- If you're afraid the girl will identify you, slit her throat
- RAPE RAPE RAPE, it's college boys live it up
There are definitely other terrible ones on there as well. The most difficult part of this for me is that I just accepted a position in a masters program at this university, and as a part of it I will be in charge of running a hall by myself on campus. Being from Ohio, I am well acquainted with the rape culture that is incredibly pervasive on this campus, but I had completely forgotten about this incident. Though I hope I will not be put in a situation where I have to handle something like this, I know it is a possibility. The fact that things like this exist is just appalling.
Here is the link if anyone wants to read the whole thing: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/flier-found-miami-university-ohio-advises-top-ten-ways-rape-article-1.1184009
Rape is truly a crime that society tends to ignore mostly because they don't want to harm their reputation or image. I hope our society grows out of this and fights against this crime!
ReplyDeleteI can't believe they haven't caught the perpetrator yet... I hope they do soon. Threat to slit someone's throat is usually legally considered a threat of violence and should involve police action. Too bad reputation is so important in these cases...
ReplyDeleteJokes like these make me think of the debate I feel like a have once a month with people over the negative effects of racist and sexist jokes. I am still amazed that the vast majority of people in American society do not see the harm in this type of humor and cannot realize that the telling of these jokes actively perpetuates negative stereotypes. I just hope that some day people will be taught to think of the broader impacts of their humor rather than assuming that it is not harmful.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the comments, I was even going to ask if this was just a really, really terrible and stupid joke...The sad thing, like Kurtis mentioned, is that people honestly still see this as a harmless joke. It terrifies me to think that when people see this as a joke, they also see the act of rape as being a joke, especially among colleges. It almost feels like it is becoming the norm for rape to happen on college campuses. Hopefully they will eventually find the perpetrator.
ReplyDeleteEven if this was supposed to be some sort of sick joke, joking about rape just perpetuates the idea that it's okay. I can't believe this was found on a college campus.
ReplyDelete