Are you kidding me? One of the most ridiculous/fucked up articles I’ve read in my four years at Wes was in the last issue of the Argus titled “Students Feel Safe Despite Assault Alert” –umm what!!!!! Who have you been talking to?
I always feel unsafe and this was just another reminder that another person has been forced to figure out how she’s going to try to feel safe again.
All the people interviewed talked about walking around on campus and feeling safe. But what was missed in this article and in the people interviewed was the fact that this incident happened IN a house, at a party. And that enormous majority of fucking sexual assaults and rapes in the U.S. happen inside, in dorm rooms in houses, with people we know. So it’s not just those outside perpetrators, the fucked up ideas people have of the people from Middletown- an elitist divide with undertones of racism and classism, of who belongs here on this campus, which this University promotes, because according to statistics the majority of sexual assault and rapes that occur to people of our age group are perpetrated by people we know, who live on our halls or we see at MoCon. Just because we have escort shuttles taking us to parties doesn’t mean we keep the rapists out of our beds. I think we need to re-think where and why we feel safe, how much racism is and classism is caught up in all that. I don’t feel safe in Frat houses.
The article keeps talking about students knowing about the resources available on campus to “keep them safe.” What about the resources for those who are assaulted? Do people know about them? Also, why aren’t the people in our Wesleyan community who are the ones committing these acts known and visible as blue light phones? I would feel more safe if I knew who not to go near.
This is no isolated incident. Anyone who knows, is, or has heard of someone who has been sexually assaulted is aware that this affects everyone. To make this seem like it was one incident on its own perpetuates this violence to continue to be perpetrated against us all. Writing an absurd article like this one also inherently disrespectful to the woman who was assaulted two weeks ago, because what the article basically says is that: it’s too bad that happened to you, but everyone else feels safe. Yeah, a real supportive community, Wes. No, fuck that, because most of us are survivors, and you’re asking if we feel safe, did we ever feel safe? Will we ever feel safe? And don’t give me that shit about, well then there’s nothing we can do because it’s just happening all around us- we have no other choice but to do something if we really care about each other. It’s fucking ridiculous that this shit “happens everywhere.” We shouldn’t just have to accept that. Fuck that, sexual assault and violence is the same wherever it happens, we shouldn’t just have to put up with it. It’s not okay in Iraq with fictitious wars and that shit isn’t okay here either.
So what the fuck are we doing about this shit, Wes? Public Safety and Middletown Police can’t come into everyone’s house-nor do we want them to- WE need to do something Wes, why do people let their friends’ rape and sexually assault people? This attitude that rape and sexual assault is inevitable is almost what scares me the most. Like we’re just waiting for our number to be called, but until then at least we feel relatively safe. NO, fuck that! We’re talking about ourselves and our friends, with an understanding that it’s our friends or at least people we know who are doing this shit. We need to look out for each other: if you’re at a party and notice someone is potentially vulnerable, don’t just leave them there by themselves, look out for them. This all is not inevitable. We shouldn’t feel defeated by all this, we need to be more enraged that it continues to happen.
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