I have a daughter, who I one day hope will want to go to college. Against that backdrop, this article makes me so angry I don’t even know how to express it. The saddest part is that I don’t see any reason to hope that there’ll be meaningful change in campus culture anytime in the next 15 or so years.
http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/a-rape-on-campus-20141119?page=4
There’s a reason many countries got rid of university fraternities a while ago.
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And a lot of American colleges and universities got rid of them too.
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Ugh man. I don’t want to be “that Dad” (whatever that may mean), but my stomach sank while reading this. Brutal.
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“””
Their other two friends, however, weren’t convinced. “Is that such a good idea?” she recalls Cindy asking. “Her reputation will be shot for the next four years.” Andy seconded the opinion, adding that since he and Randall both planned to rush fraternities, they ought to think this through. The three friends launched into a heated discussion about the social price of reporting Jackie’s rape, while Jackie stood beside them, mute in her bloody dress, wishing only to go back to her dorm room and fall into a deep, forgetful sleep. Detached, Jackie listened as Cindy prevailed over the group: “She’s gonna be the girl who cried ‘rape,’ and we’ll never be allowed into any frat party again.”
“””
I had to stop reading at this point; I’ll finish it tomorrow. I know that people don’t believe rape victims, and invent all sorts of bullshit excuses to blame the victim, but debating whether helping someone who has been viciously assaulted will hurt your social life? Someone who is standing in front of you, someone who needs a hospital? In some ways those people are as bad as the rapists: both groups place such little value on other people that it makes me feel ill.
Thinking more about this before posting, I’m stunned. The woman is saying “I want to be able to go to gang rape parties”, and the men are saying “I want to join the rapists society so I can host gang rape parties”. The woman is stupid, and the two men are evil. I guess I’m judgemental.
AFAIK Ireland is not as bad. But it’s over 10 years since I graduated from college, and I wasn’t going to many parties anyway, so maybe I’m just deluding myself?
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John Tobin Yeah, this whole article is pretty rage-inducing (in that helpless rage kind of sense). Just wait until you get to the end (spoiler: it gets worse).
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