As a college student, I am absolutely in shock that the misogynist ramblings of this misguided (and probably dangerous) amateur made it onto the pages of your newspaper.
I’m not sure what the point of printing and mass-distributing this absolute filth actually was. Was it to alienate over half of Fairfield’s student body? Because patronizing your classmates by calling them “young swans”, “sluts”, and “hood rats” is a great way to make them feel like trash. So is the threat of not only finding humor in her humiliation, but dismantling her social life by making it a joke among all your bros.
Calling a woman you’ve had sex with the night before “your victim”? Really? This kind of language is the reason why 1 in 20 college women are raped every year. This happens on our campus, and it happens on your campus.
To run a piece like this is to deny the existence of sexual assault, which is an incredibly dangerous falsehood to promote. Promoting a rape-friendly environment is promoting rape. Taking one class about feminist literature (as Surette claimed to have done) doesn’t give you a free pass to behave like a misogynist pig.
This is a very real phenomenon happening on campuses all over the US, and justifying poorly written hate speech because it’s ‘satire’ is not the way to combat it.
You may not have made the individual decision to run this piece, but you need to recognize that from a public standpoint, this article was published with the tacit approval of your name and your school’s name. Right now, your school is standing strong as a vocal promoter of collegiate rape culture, and you should be ashamed of yourself.
Sincerely,
Maggie Carr
Boston College, A&S ’10
Vice-President/Student Coordinator, ASTEP@BC
Student Board, Arts and Social Responsibility Project
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