Kappa Sigma Email "Targets" Women

Clearly, feminism is still needed in this world. No matter what one person tells me, I will always stand beside my feminist ideals and especially during times like these.

Recently, the USC Kappa Sigma fraternity sent out an e-mail explaining how to target women as sexual conquests. Women in this context aren't real humans. If you think I'm joking or going overboard, read the e-mail that was sent out. The fraternity brother has been quoted as saying, “Note: I will refer to females as "targets". They aren't actual people like us men. Consequently, giving them a certain name or distinction is pointless.” He doesn't even give her vagina any credit (even though that's the only part these fraternity brothers should care about, right?). He calls it a “pie”. Something to be eaten, to be bought, to have brought to you, to be served to.

The woman clearly has no agency and has no part that is even remotely female (not even her title). She is placed in a ranking system by comparison to celebrities who are airbrushed. If a brother gets even close to this he “should be lynched”. Lynching is something that is racially charged and was a tactic used to scare other African Americans in the deep south from pursuing any avenue that deals with getting ahead in life. It was used by white supremacists. This shouldn't be something taken lightly or joked about.

Cheating seems to be something that is taken lightly with these men. What if someone they deeply cared about (say a 7 or better known as “wife material”) cheated on them? Oh but they're men … they can take it like they dish it out, right?

Another thing not to joke about is rape. Rape is such an emotionally charged word and one that can affect not just women in particular, but also men.

“Non-consent and rape are two different things. There is a fine line, so make sure not to cross it.” Let's get one thing clear; not receiving consent for a sexual act one is about to commit is rape. Don't think that just because she's too drunk, too drugged out, or is too scared to actually say no means that the person can move forward without asking for consent. Consent needs to be coherent and it needs to be sober.

The descriptions of the “pies” here are not only racist, but also very creepy. If someone were to describe me (and particularly my vagina) by a type of pastry, I would be very freaked out. I don't want anyone eating my vagina like a piece of desert. It doesn't taste like pie so don't treat it like that. Treat it like you're supposed to – with respect.

This idiot also thought that it was smart to tell his fraternity brothers to not “fuck middle-eastern targets. Exhibit some patriotism and have some pride. You want your cock smelling like falafel? Filth.” I keep thinking we're past this specific racist ideology, but I guess not. Racism like this leaves a gross taste in my mouth. I have no other words other than that … they can speak for themselves.

Luckily the authorities at USC have described this as “repulsive”, “ridiculous”, and “insulting”. These words can't even begin depict my facial expression while reading this e-mail.

It sucks that all that I know about fraternities is negative press. They really need to get back to their foundations and start regulating those who are ruining the image of fraternities and the Greek system in general. 

Take Back the Night; Spring 2011

AS Women’s Center

BMU 002

Chico, CA 95928

TAKE BACK THE NIGHT

Raising Awareness about Sexual Assault and Violence against Women

CHICO, CA- 

Take Back the Night is an opportunity for students and community members to come together and recognize the ongoing issue of rape culture and violence

against women.

This is a night to acknowledge and empower survivors of sexual assault, a night to empower and educate friends, family and supporters, a night to reclaim our right to feel safe and secure after dusk. Join us to TAKE BACK THE NIGHT!

Monday, March 7th

10:00-2:00pm 

Free Speech Area, Informational Tabling

Tuesday, March 8th

10:00-2:00 pm

Free Speech Area, Informational Tabling

7:30 pm

BMU 210, Women Only Survivor Speak Out: A place for women to speak out about their experiences in a safe and supportive setting. Women are encouraged to share personal stories, or express their experiences through conversation, poems, journal entries, etc.

BMU 304, Gender Inclusive Workshop: An interactive workshop focused on combating rape culture in our community and society. The discussion will include ideas about how individuals can aid in eradicating the perpetuation of violence against women.

8:30 pm

Common Grounds, Keynote Address by Professor Kate Transchel, History Department

9:00 pm

Free Speech Area, Silent Candle-lit March: A silent march to raise awareness about sexual assault and violence against women.

                                                                                                                                For further information, contact:

                                                                                                Jillian Ruddell, Director of the AS Women’s Center

                                                                                                (P) 530-898-5724

                                                                                                Email:ASWOMENSCENTERSD@CSUCHICO.EDU

NPR and the Laura Logan Comment Controversy

I’m sure most of you have heard about the Egyptian riots, President Mubarak stepping down, and the jubilation that came afterward. At this point, it’s old news, but what’s been in the headlines recently is the CBS reporter for 60 Minutes, Lara Logan who was attacked and sexually assaulted when she was reporting on the excitement in Tarhir Square.

On NPR.org, they posted a short article about the incident and provided the formal statement that CBS gave all of their reporters and fellow news outlets:

"On Friday February 11, the day Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down, CBS Correspondent Lara Logan was covering the jubilation in Tahrir Square for a 60 Minutes story when she and her team and their security were surrounded by a dangerous element amidst the celebration. It was a mob of more than 200 people whipped into a frenzy.

"In the crush of the mob, she was separated from her crew. She was surrounded and suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating before being saved by a group of women and an estimated 20 Egyptian soldiers. She reconnected with the CBS team, returned to her hotel and returned to the United States on the first flight the next morning. She is currently in the hospital recovering.

"There will be no further comment from CBS News and Correspondent Logan and her family respectfully request privacy at this time."

Short and to the point. More importantly, it states that she is safe and recovering in a hospital. That’s all that should have come from this article; a terrible, awful thing happened and now she has been returned to the states. She’s safe. Good.

Instead, on NPR, people posted dreadful comments that insinuated victim-blaming. How people can possibly blame Ms. Logan for what happened, I have no idea. She was doing her job, reporting on the chaos and exhilaration from the mob of people in the square. She was doing exactly what other reporters were doing that night.

Except for one thing: she’s a woman. So clearly she should be careful where she reports and be on guard at all times. She might be sexually assaulted if she’s not careful and on the look out. This is our community and society giving into rape culture yet again and accepting that women are prey and men are predators.

I personally applaud NPR for sending out a statement regarding such behavior, “Blaming the victim is an old, tired game. Please don't.” Thank you. Exactly.

Victim blaming is so old and juvenile so stop complaining about how NPR is impeding on your freedom of speech. NPR is a private company who has the right to remove and regulate comments on their website if they wish, especially if they are negative. They have policies that posters need to follow by.

So bravo NPR. You have my personal full support.

Rant of the Week: The Concept of Consent

I’ve been lagging in my rants and I know it. I apologize. I blame school, being sick, and … school.

Recently, at CSU Chico, we had our annual Take Back the Night which is an event to raise awareness about sexual assault, domestic violence, and rape. Every year we have a few workshops – one that’s gender neutral and one that’s a women-only survivor speak out. Then we have a keynote speaker who usually gives an amazing speech (it never falters). Afterwards, we meet out in the free speech area, light candles, stand in a circle, grab some posters, and then we silently walk down the streets of Chico without breaking the line of people in order to protest these horrendous and horrific occurrences that happen every day, every hour, and every minute of our lives.

I’m still coming off of the high from the adrenaline rush I received from working this event. We had over 250 people in attendance and the survivor speak out was jam packed. There were women expressing themselves wall-to-wall in that room. I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing to be quite honest. Was it just because there were a lot of supporters of the survivors or are there more survivors this year? It’s a little bit unsettling to think about.

Now, at our Take Back the Night, we have a gender-neutral workshop that helps address the issue of bystander awareness. This is a seminar that was given by the fabulous David Hugens with the assistance of Jessica Arriaga, Kathy Eytchison, and Raina Hernandez. The workshop described the effects of rape culture, victim-blaming, and the just world hypothesis. The group explained the dire consequences of other schools and societal institutions that have been mentioned in the news such at the Yale fraternity incident (other rant on that, found here).

Just this morning, David sent me a link to this article written by a man named Edward Pasteck. He recently came back from France and found it fascinating how the men there can just do what they want without requiring any consent from women. However, I find this statement and idea rather contradictory; there has to be consent from the women otherwise the men wouldn’t have to try at all. Consent isn’t just vocalizing a yes or no answer, it’s also physicalized in body language.

I’ve never been to France, I have met very few French people in my life, but I can give a perspective on the whole American aspect he puts into this idea of “consent”. “One lesson from Paris is that sex shouldn't be an activity to which we need to consent if a decision will suffice.” As a woman who has lived in the liberal state of California all her life, I find it to be hugely empowering to be able to say no to a man without being pressured any further. I like a good make out session without sex. Cuddle me into oblivion, I’m all for it! But in my experience with men in America is that I have to tell them yes or no and usually it’s in a rather aggressive manner.

The difference between the French men described in this article and men here in the states is that the French no when to stop. They won’t continue. The women will turn away, say no, and expect to be left alone. Here, if I say, “No thanks. I’m not interested.” I’m labeled as a bitch or a lesbian or they keep trying to change my mind.

Pasteck moves on in the article describing a specific incident where he was completely infatuated about a French girl named Madeleine. “Lovesick and unsure of what to do, I complained about Madeleine to a female French friend who said to me, "Have you tried getting her drunk?" Obviously my friend's recommendation was based on the assumption that after getting drunk Madeleine would be easier to seduce. This idea of plying a woman with alcohol (something that is applauded by American men in private) often enrages American women because they view it as an assault on their right to consent. Is this really a good thing?”

Okay … Edward … alcohol is the number one drug used on women who are sexually assaulted. Alcohol can take away a person’s judgment. I don’t know how many women I have seen and heard stories from that they were very drunk (sometimes to the point of blacking out) where they were then taken advantage of. I always compare it to if you were to sign a document in front of someone, it wouldn’t be legal if you were blacked out drunk or under influence for that matter. So yes, it is a good thing that we have a standard to hold people to.

“Sometimes we act spontaneously and even surprise ourselves. Is there a greater expression of our autonomy than acting spontaneously?” I’m all for acting spontaneous, but I’d like to do it on my own accord. I want to feel comfortable with what I’m doing. The moment I don’t feel comfortable, I want to have the right to say no and stop. It’s called safety, which is a word that he doesn’t use once in his article. The concept of consent is based on the idea of safety and respect (another word he never uses).

“Thinking about sex as decision — and not an action requiring consent — may in this way be empowering. A decision is an action that can be neutral and value-independent in a way that offering consent simply cannot.” The fact that many, many women don’t have the power to make this “decision” to have sex is the sole reason why we have the concept of sex. There are two people making a decision by the way (I think he’s forgetting this). What if one person doesn’t want to go any further than oral sex and the other person wants intercourse? There needs to be a line drawn and that line is called consent.

Finally, his last statement, really gets to me: “I'm not suggesting that a woman have sex with someone she doesn't want to, but I'm hoping we can start having more guilt-free sex by any means necessary. If we turn the volume down on consent, perhaps we'll get closer to this kind of liberation.” If we’re going to start having more “guilt-free sex” then we need to start by making it okay for a woman to have consensual sex i.e. sex that she actually wants to have. I’d rather not “turn down the volume on consent” because then that’s just going to open a huge flood gate. Rape is a persistent issue in America. In 2008, it was reported that 90,000 women were raped in the United States. This isn’t an issue that’s going away any time so removing the concept of consent isn’t exactly the best idea. Without the definition of consent, what can rape victims say about their assailant? “He decided to have sex with me and I didn’t.”? So long as rape is rampant, consent will still be needed for both men and women. 

Rant of the Week: Women Voting

It sends a pain in my stomach when I hear women saying that they’re not going to vote tomorrow. Really? REALLY? Come on … r-really? Ugh. Okay. Time for a lesson in women’s suffrage movement.

Susan B Anthony (left) and Elizabeth Cady Stanton (right)

Ya’ll have heard about Susan B. Anthony, right? Good. She and this wonderful woman named Elizabeth Cady Stanton worked together to gain the right for women to vote. They were first working together to abolish slavery and then thought, “Hey women are oppressed too …” So Stanton decided to create a group called the National Women Suffrage Association. They created a whole new constitution for themselves which you can read about on Wikipedia if you so choose to. Then came the Declaration of Sentiments which is amazing and wonderful in itself. Due to WWI however, the suffrage movement was put on hold. But the women didn’t stop. State after state started to create laws that allowed women to vote. Soon enough this went to the federal government and it became law (hello nineteenth amendment).

Now, in text books, they’ll tell you about how women protested outside of the white house fence and rallied and created pamphlets and blah, blah, blah (hell, sometimes they don’t even go into that). But what they don’t tell you are the women who went to jail, who were protesting by not eating within those cell walls and were ultimately force fed food down their throats. They won’t tell you about women who died while still fighting for this right. So many women fought for my right to vote that I can’t possibly take it for granted. Ladies, we’ve only had the nineteenth amendment in affect for 80 years. That’s not that long…seriously.

Ever since women have been given the right to vote, they have been mainly leaning toward the democratic ticket until this year. This election is crucial not only because there are so many women running for public office, but also because some polls are predicting that women are looking to vote more for republicans than democrats. This is could be a prominent change in history if this ends up being the case. It would be the first time that women voted more republican than democrat since it was first measured by gender since 1982.

Look, I don’t care if you are a republican, a democrat, an independent, a tea partier, or a Stephen Colbert enthusiast; I just want you to vote if you are registered and over the age of 18. Please vote. It does matter. And especially if you’re a woman, it means a lot. Don’t take it for granted. We worked so hard for it. I know I didn’t go as in depth about the history of the suffrage movement as I should have, but really, who wants to sit around reading a history lesson? I don’t. 

So I leave you with a funny photo from the Huffington Post where you can find more moderately useless signs from the Rally for Sanity and/or Fear. GO VOTE!!

Rant of the Week: Rape at Schools

I hope you all have been keeping up with the news lately and seeing the disgraceful way schools have been treating sexual assault or the threat of sexual assault. I can’t even convey my anger about it (it would make this blog explode, I swear to you), but I can explain to you from a feminist perspective why this is wrong and perpetuating rape culture in our society.

First on the list: High School Cheerleader

A girl at a high school was sexually assaulted by a star athlete. She refused to cheer for him during a basketball and was ultimately kicked off the cheer squad. She said, “As a team, I cheered for them as a whole. When he stepped up to the free throw line, it didn't feel right for me to have to cheer for him after what he did to me.” When a woman (or a man … a person really) has been sexually assaulted, it can take an emotional, physical, and mental toll on them. Especially when that person has to go back to high school – a rather small, intimate setting if you think about it. She has to see him on a day to day basis and she’s even being harassed by other students in the cafeteria to which the administration responded by telling her to just stay out of the cafeteria. Obviously the school district doesn’t want to go through this whole legal debacle that has unraveled, but the young woman is going to keep fighting. "If everything works out the way that we're hoping … then it makes a point that it's not all right," she said. "And if we keep fighting for that, then maybe other people will too."

Second on the list: Yale Fraternity Delta Kappa Epsilon

A fraternity at Yale had their pledges go through the Old Yale Campus blindfolded (where most of the first year female student housing is) and they were told to chant, “No means yes! Yes means mean anal!” and “My name is Jack! I’m a necrophiliac! I fuck dead women!” They were promoting anal rape and having sex with dead women …. Now, this might be a little overzealous in deconstructing their statement, but if I were a freshman at Yale in those dorms I would be terrified. I would be thinking that they were going to come and kill me and then fuck my dead corpse.

The fraternity since then has apologized for what they have done, they have spoken to the campus Women’s Center and tried working with them. The Yale Daily News then came out talking about what was the right kind of feminism. First off, there is no such thing as the “right kind of feminism” (feminism is supposed to be all encompassing for men and women in order to better our world for gender equality for all). The news paper went on to say, “Feminists at Yale should remember that, on a campus as progressive as ours, most of their battles are already won: All of us agree on gender equality”. No. The battle hasn’t been won. If the battled had been won, then we wouldn’t need to address rape culture at an Ivy League College … a college that is supposed filled with the best and brightest.

Third on the list: Columbia…

An all-male a capella group called Kingsmen on campus posted images of a fellow member with the caption “rape me” underneath it. This was right after the Yale debacle. Wow. Stupid much? They even issued a statement saying it was “[an] utter lack of judgment and an embarrassingly complete sense of tunnel vision.” Which sounds exactly like what the fraternity said after their chant, “a serious lapse in judgment by the fraternity and in very poor taste.” Yeah, poor taste doesn’t even begin to describe how disturbing both of these events are. The word “rape” is being tossed around like a rag doll these days. When someone gets angry about the usage of such a strong, hurtful word, it’s totally justified.

What irritates me is that these schools (the high school not included) thought that by apologizing for this was the end all of the situation. Good for you. You found out you were wrong. Now do something about it. Take action. Go to Take Back the Night at a local campus. Speak out against sexist comments within your group/community. I hope that all of these organizations can learn something from this and understand that rape isn’t a joke. It’s an epidemic.

In light of the high school event, I’m really glad that this young woman is taking the initiative to fight against the status quo. She wants to let people know that this isn’t okay. It’s not. Rape culture is so engrained in us and these events just make it clear that our society doesn’t take rape as seriously as they should.

Rant of the Week: “Mancession”

What the hell is this? I thought we had been in a recession … not a mancession. Since when were men scarce in our society? I live with two. I have a father, a few uncles, a bunch of friends and lovers who are men. I can’t see any recession of men on campus (in fact the frats are taking over with breast cancer awareness month). In magazines they – oh!! Oooooh! Wait…. That’s what this is about? It’s about the image of a man? Jesus … okay. Where do I begin?

So the huge surge of boy-men in magazines and high fashion advertisements seemed to have caused some fear. Fear of what? That “real” men are a dying breed? I’m not more attracted to you because you look like you could chop down an oak tree (and if you boast about that, I will probably turn away from you).

Because of the recession, men have lost their stereotypical gender role of being the bread winner and being “the man of the house” which in itself is an interesting phrase considering that women are usually the ones who run the home. That has always been their sphere to rule even though the man has been the one to provide for it. June Cleaver may have been spending her husband’s money, but she was the one feeding him, taking care of his offspring, and all with a smile on her face.

The recession has created this idea of what it means to be a man or to be a woman. Since women now are 51% of the workforce, there are more men who are considered stay-at-home-dads. Now, I would consider my father a stay-at-home-dad since he was the one usually doing the laundry, the cooking, the cleaning, etc. My mom did of course contribute to these tasks, but from what I can recall as a small child, I identified her as the main money-maker. Without her around, we wouldn’t have lived in the condo that we did, or had food on our table, nor would I have been able to flourish as a young actor. She was the provider and for that, mom, I thank you. Because you are a working woman, you’ve shown me that gender roles don’t necessarily fit everyone (thank god).

Anyways, what I was trying to get at is that even though my dad was around more at home, he wasn’t an less of a man. Hell, I don’t even think my dad cares what defines him as a man, to be quite honest (he doesn’t really pay attention to this stuff…the man wears Hawaiian shirts for crying out loud). Even with the recession and his job of painting houses and fixing them up dwindling down, he hasn’t ever expressed to me that he feels less of a man (but maybe that’s his manly side hiding his emotions).

When reading the NYTimes article about this sudden splurge of manly-men in advertisements, on runways, and fashion spread, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at the statement from Sam Shahid, creative director of Shahid & Company,"In tough times, people want a strong man.” This is the same man who helped create Calvin Klein advertisements that are degrading to women and create an infantilizing image that young women are supposed to strive for.

Which leads me to my next point: why isn’t there a fear of a womancession? Where’s the shock and horror at the fact that women are portrayed as objects or infantile children or as stupid, vapid, dumb creatures that need a man’s help? Hello?  Why aren’t women looked at in this recession in a positive light? It’s a great thing that we’re moving up in the work world, right? Why must we immediately go to a negative of a man being less of a man?

Well, due to this huge uproar over men losing their masculinity in the job market, the fashion industry as decided to combat this is by changing the way men should look.

Cue the “Mad Men” theme music.

“What they want, in short, is Jon Hamm. That Mr. Hamm’s square-jawed Don Draper so persuasively resembles an archetypal father on a time-travel visa from an era of postwar expansion and fixed gender roles can hardly be incidental to the success of “Mad Men.””

Yes please. Let’s go back to the 1960s where gender-roles were still clearly defined, women were “lucky” to get sexually harassed at work, they hardly ever worked the same jobs as a man, and they instead were their assistants, waitresses, or wives and mothers to their children. Yeah, I’d love to see a man’s privilege sky-rocket and all that equal rights stuff just flutter out the window like a forgotten Calvin Klein receipt.

The fear of being less of a man because he doesn’t have job seems logical by sociological standard, but trivial at the same time. It’s been a huge staple in our idea of the “American Dream”, but as we can clearly see in history and in our world today, that dream changes with each generation.