Monthly Archives: July 2011

On Preventing Sexual Assault

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Our very own Selena Shen has a great piece up at YES! Magazine that you should definitely take a look at if you haven’t already. Selena provides readers with a useful summary of some really important developments in the world of sexual assault policy reform. Here’s an excerpt:

On April 4, Vice President Joe Biden and Education Secretary Arne Duncan visited the University of New Hampshire, where they announced new guidance to colleges on sexual assault.

The guidance, in the form of a  “Dear Colleague” letter from the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights, reminds high schools and federally funded colleges of their obligations under Title IX, the Equal Opportunity in Education Act. The message is that schools must take responsibility for preventing and punishing acts of sexual harassment, intimidation, and assault, in order  to protect the rights of students to equal education.

Check it out!

Apply for our Campus Accountability Project Fellowship!

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So, we talk about our Campus Accountability Project all the time, and how we need you to help by submitting your school’s policy. Well, now you can help by becoming our CAP Fellow and helping us develop some awesome online organizing campaigns to continue growing the project! The fellowship description and listing can be found on Idealist, but I’ll re-post it below.

Students Active for Ending Rape (SAFER) is seeking candidates for our Campus Accountability Project (CAP) Fellowship. CAP invites college students to become advocates by researching their schools’ sexual assault policies, and finding out what their schools are doing to prevent and respond to sexual assault.

The CAP Fellowship will run from mid-August through December. The Fellow should expect to work for 10 to 15 hours a week. The position pays $3500. You can learn more about CAP here: https://safercampus.org/campus-accountability-project

The CAP Fellow will increase submissions to our Campus Sexual Assault Policies Database and help catalyze movements for sexual assault policy reform nationwide by:

—Designing and implementing two creative online organizing campaigns encouraging student submission to CAP

—Helping to organize and carry-out a $10,000 online fundraising campaign

—Working with relevant SAFER Board members to develop new outreach strategies

—Coordinating with our web developer on any necessary website alterations in conjunction with the campaigns

—Utilizing all social media platforms in collaboration with our Communications team to further the campaigns

—Assisting with publicity for the online campaigns

—Reviewing campus sexual assault policy submissions

Strong Fellowship Candidates will have:
—Successfully carried out online organizing campaigns

—Demonstrated experience with social media platforms and online communications

—Creative and innovate ideas for engaging student activists online

—Video and audio editing skills

—Strong writing skills

—The ability to work independently with limited supervision while remaining organized and detail-orientated

—Experience in social justice activism. Experience in the anti-violence movement is a plus.

Interested candidates should send a cover letter and resume to contact AT safercampus DOT org. We hope to fill this position by mid-August and applications will be reviewed as they are received. SAFER is committed to maintaining a diverse organization and we will actively recruit people of color, people with disabilities, and people with diverse gender and sexual identities.

Quick Hit: Book of Choices

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Here’s an amazing resource for those of you who live in New York State. It’s called the Book of Choices and it provides unbiased, accurate information and options for anyone who is facing an unplanned pregnancy. The website includes a list of over 75 abortion providers in New York State, as well as information about payment options, birth control methods, and resources for people who wish to continue their pregnancy. Thanks, NARAL – NY, for creating and maintaining this much-needed website!

Prepare Now for September: Safe Campus, Strng Voices Campaign

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September is National Campus Safety Awareness Month, and this year our friends at Security on Campus and PAVE have teamed up to launched the Safe Campus, Strong Voices Campaign.

The SCSV campaign focuses on raising awareness about sexual violence on campus, encouraging survivors of sexual violence to come forward with their stories, and bolstering advocacy efforts on campus. You can find out more about the campaign by checking out slides from last month’s SCSV webinar.

Schools that want to sign-on to the campaign can purchase campaign toolkits from the SCSV website. The toolkits include a whole bunch of awareness-raising materials, including the Speak Out Stand Up DVD which can be used at events for education programs. (Also, it’s hosted by Kristen Stewart who did this PSA that I love a couple years back). For the next two days the toolkit is being sold at a reduced rate for $65, so check out the site now. Looking forward to September…

White House challenges developers to create “Apps Against Abuse”

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For those unfamiliar with Challenge.Gov (as was I, prior to today) it is essentially what happens when government meets crowd-sourcing. The way this initiative works is that challenges are posted by the government, “citizens” then share various challenges with their friends via social networks, and hopefully “talented people find solutions to our problems.”

Recently, the White House has unleashed a challenge that can become a significant tool to activist communities fighting against sexual assault all over the country: Apps Against Abuse.

The challenge: Vice President Biden and Secretary Sebelius are honored to announce a challenge that encourages the development of applications that provide college students and young adults with the tools to help prevent dating violence and sexual assault. The application envisioned will offer individuals a way to connect with trusted friends in real-time to prevent abuse or violence from occurring. While the application will serve a social function of helping people stay in touch with their friends, it will also allow friends to keep track of each other’s whereabouts and check in frequently to avoid being isolated in vulnerable circumstances.

The primary users of the application may include (but are not limited to) college/university students, residential advisors, sorority or fraternity members, and young men and women who would like to be role models and promote prevention in our communities.  Everyone has a role to play in the prevention of violence and abuse, and while no one can do everything, everyone can do something. This application is envisioned to empower young people, in real time, to look out for their friends in order to prevent violence or assault before it occurs. The application should also be designed to provide potential bystanders with real-time support from friends and access to resources that will encourage them to intervene before abusive behavior happens and educate them about how to do so safely and effectively. This application is a step in enabling young women and men to take an active role in the prevention of dating violence and sexual assault.

This is an interesting way for the government to encourage young adults to take a more active role in their communities. The sheer fact that Government agencies are making a point to shed light on the  harsh realities that “young women face the highest rates of dating violence and sexual assault” and “nineteen percent of women (nearly 1 in 5) report experiencing sexual assault while in college” is an important and crucial step towards nationwide awareness, reform, and most importantly, accountability. It encourages college students, fraternity and sorority members, and RA’s to take on a more active role in protecting their communities and making campus communities safe for college students. Issues of sexual assault, while prevalent, are rarely talked about or discussed by members og the community to the point where those assaulted often feel alone in their experiences and hesitate to share their stories. Applications like this becoming campus wide can trigger much needed campus wide discussions on these issues.

However, while this White House campaign can challenge “talented citizens” to try and solve these issues – the bigger issue is making sure developers know and understand the many complicated factors that play a role in campus sexual violence: this is where you come in. We need to spread the word about this campaign and start a dialogue on what type of tool colleges truly need to make a significant affect on rates of campus sexual assault. What questions does this raise? How can possible applications make sure they include administration accountability? Should the app keep track of statistics for each campus community? How can we make sure that colleges will actually use this app, and more importantly, use it effectively?

So spread the word out to the talented developers who want to make the difference - or if you are a developer, take a crack at it and submit an application here. But most importantly, the developers who are taking on this challenge need to hear your voices - go to the discussion page and start this dialogue now!

 

 

Quick Hit: Getting Back to ‘No Means No’

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By the time I got involved in the anti-violence movement, most folks had moved away from talking about “No Means No,” to “Yes Means Yes.” The idea is that we shouldn’t be looking for an ‘absence of a no’ when with our sexual partners, but an enthusiastic yes. And I still think that this is a more effective way to have the consent conversation.

But sometimes a story comes across my radar to remind me that the “No Means No” discussion is still (sadly) relevant. Apparently, there are some folks still making their pathetic way through the world who want men to know that sometimes No Means Yes (and no, I’m not talking about a mutually designed role-play). Jezebel posted excerpts from one student’s academic paper on the popular “pick-up artist” Mystery (UGGGGGH) and his strategies for “seducing” women. A couple of those excerpts are re-posted below. This would be laughable if it wasn’t for the terrifying fact that a lot of the guys who read this garbage (and I’m sure plenty of women, to be honest) believe it.

An important part of Mystery’s (2007) seduction manual is convincing readers that no woman can resist the methods presented in the text. Therefore, any resistance that a woman might demonstrate is never to be taken as legitimate, but rather, as token resistance (saying no to sex when meaning yes). Mystery (2007) explains that token resistance is part of a woman’s “anti-slut defense,” meaning that women want to have sex, but do not want to appear promiscuous (p. 28). In this text, all resistance is conceptualized as token resistance, as a woman “wants things to happen, but she wants it to feel right and she doesn’t want it to be her fault” (Mystery, 2007, p. 148). This approach instills in the audience a belief that these techniques guarantee sexual desire from a woman, and that even if a woman says no, she really means yes.

…………..

Mystery (2007) depicts a woman’s lack of clearly signaling non-consent as approval to move forward. He tells readers, “If you’re undressing her and she says, ‘We should stop,’ just agree with her… and then keep going. ‘I know, baby,’ you reply as you continue to undress her. ‘We should stop’” (p. 202). Here, Mystery (2007) again suggests ignoring verbal communication entirely, implying that, unless physical force is used to stop the behavior, the woman is consenting to the activity. Thus, verbal resistance is ignored as pressure to have sex increases.

Unbelievable.

The Potential (and Failure) of a Cable TV Trigger Warning

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Last weekend my roommate and I were settling in to watch Splice on HBO. (I should warn you that this post will give away major plot points of the movie in case you were planning on watching it. In which case I should also tell you it’s a TERRIBLE film.)

If you’ve ever watched a movie on a pay-television channel (HBO, Showtime, etc etc) you’re familiar with “content descriptors.” I didn’t know that’s what they were called, but you know: “This program contains Adult Language (AL), Adult Content (AC), Graphic Violence (GV), Nudity (N), etc etc.” These have been around since 1994 so I’ve grown up with them, which was why I was really surprised to see that before Splice I warned not only about AC, V, and N, but also RP—Rape. The RP rating is described as follows:

This denotes the film or program may contain graphic scenes of forced sexual intercourse, depicted in a realistic and often violent, but fictional nature. Any program that contains such content is not suitable for children under the age of 18, or anyone who objects and/or is uncomfortable with scenes containing rape. The use of this content descriptor is strictly exclusive to films that are rated “R” or television series rated “TV-MA”, but is rarely used unless the program contains scenes of rape.

In theory, this is a super idea. It’s basically like a trigger warning, which I know a lot of folks would appreciate—they’re excited to sit down and watch a cheesey sci-fi thriller, they didn’t necessarily expect there to be rape involved, and with the RP rating they get to decide if they can deal with that.

HOWEVER, the problem with the RP descriptor is with its use. Or rather, its lack of use. I really cannot for the life of me remember seeing an RP rating before, and I watch a lot of cable TV. Correct me if I’m wrong, but True Blood, Game of Thrones…HBO has a number of shows (and movies) with explicit sexual violence that don’t get this rating. I tried to find a list of when that rating has been used, but one doesn’t seem to exist.

So what is different about Splice that it actually merits an RP? (description of the rape scene follows). Well, about 20 minutes into the movie I figured it out and was immediately really frustrated. Splice gets a rape warning because the rape in Splice is not only explicitly violent and forced (the woman was running from her attacker, the attacker pins her to the ground, etc), but the perpetrator is not entirely human. Dren is a mixture of human and animal DNA who, within the course of the film, switches genders from female to male, and with that transition becomes extremely strong, animalistic, and aggressive (yeah, I know). At the time of the rape, Dren is looking more animal than human, has sprouted dragon-like wings, and rapes the female protagonist with a venomous tail after having killed three other male characters.

Basically, it couldn’t be much more disgusting, violent, or removed from reality. So I have this theory. Maybe it’s super cynical, and the RP descriptor is used far more often than I think. But something tells me that somewhere in an office is a group of folks sitting around discussing what descriptors need to be used for a given film/program, and when it comes to rape there is a discussion going on about whether or not a given act of sexual violence is “actually forced.” You know, as in “well, is it really rape-rape?”

What do you think? Is the RP more common than I think? Is there an argument to be made for art being “open to interpretation” and not labeling experiences? (But in that case, why do we get to define “violence” right?) I’ll keep my eyes open for other “RP” uses, but I’d love to hear if you see it anywhere. (Update: see comments for info on the lack of an RP in an HBO show just last night)

The Trouble with Marquette’s Revised Sexual Misconduct Policy

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There have been some really important happenings in the world of campus sexual assault policy reform recently, and, since I’m currently studying Spanish in Panama, I’ve completely neglected keep you updated. Commence link overload…

If you’re a regular reader, you probably recall a post that I published a couple of weeks back that referenced a major story in the Chicago Tribune. Basically, the Tribune’s investigation revealed that “the rate of arrests and convictions” in cases of campus sexual assault “is far below the average for rapes reported nationally.” A few days later, the Tribune ran another muckraking story—one which called Marquette University out for violating state law by failing to report incidents of campus sexual assault to local law enforcement. The Tribune spoke to Roger Canaff, a former prosecuter, who speculates that Marquette officials refrained from reporting campus sexual assaults to the police in order to protect the university’s image:

“If you’re not following that law, if you’re attempting to handle sexual assault complaints internally within the university, I think the fair assumption is you’re doing that because you don’t want to bring outside attention onto this problem on your campus, so I can understand why people are angry about it,” Canaff said. “Obviously, I can’t get into what the motives of the university (administrators) are — I have no idea — but I think that would be a fair inference that people would draw.”

It’s entirely possible that Canaff is right, and one quote from a student survivor who spoke to the Tribune is particularly troubling:

“It has pretty much become my life. I’ll never just be able to forget that it happened, because it changed everything,” she told the newspaper this week. “I don’t trust anyone. I will never again trust the university. I will never again trust anyone in any position of authority because they worked their absolute hardest against me and lied to me.”

It goes without question that Marquette’s sexual misconduct policy needs improvement, particularly when it comes to the school’s treatment of survivors (as evidenced by the above quote).  Unsurprisingly, Marquette has revised its policy in response to criticism garnered by the article in the Tribune:

After an article in the Chicago Tribune this past week revealed that Marquette University had failed to report several sexual assaults that had occurred on campus to the Milwaukee police, the university has changed its policy. The university admitted that it had neglected to report several cases of sexual assault to local law enforcement authorities over the past decade, which is an apparent violation of state law. One woman claimed that she had been raped by a student athlete in February but when she went to the campus police, no report was taken and the police were not notified.

In a statement, Father Robert A. Wild, president of Marquette University, said, “We now refer any reported incident of sexual assault to the Sensitive Crimes Unit of the Milwaukee Police Department. We have also added a victim advocate to the staff of our Student Health Service and have more tightly restricted who on campus has access to reports from the Department of Public Safety.”

Did you catch that? Under Marquette’s revised policy, the university will report sexual assault incidents to law enforcement without the survivor’s consent. (Granted, this policy abides by state law.) But the logic of this newly enforced law is particularly troubling. This Journal Sentinel editorial speaks to everything that is wrong with a sexual misconduct policy that robs survivors of their agency:

Studies show that 73% of women who are victims of sexual assault are assaulted by someone they know, which makes it harder for them to come forward in the first place. If it’s left up to the victim, some may decide not to pursue the matter out of fear of being victimized again. Justice—and victims—are not served well by such a policy.

I could go on and on about the ways in which this policy hurts survivors, but Melinda Hughes of the Milwaukee Sexual Assault Response Team has already done it for me.

It needs to be noted that adult sexual assault victims everywhere else are given the right to decide whether their assaults are reported to police – there is no mandated reporting for adults, only for children. Sexual assault temporarily robs one of a sense of power and control over one’s life. Being able to make decisions about what course of action to pursue after the assault is crucial for victims to begin to regain a sense of power, control and personal autonomy. This policy change, directed by the Milwaukee County district attorney’s office, strips victims on one campus of this autonomy and may have the unintended consequence of silencing rape victims.

I truly hope that Marquette officials heed Melinda’s advice, because “justice” that harms survivors is no justice at all.