History of Feminism
Related: About this forumAmherst College: “Roasting Fat Ones Since 1847”
The administration opted not to punish the individual students responsible for the shirt but rather to hold an unadvertised, effectively closed-door discussion with a handful of students and frat members. According to a friend of mine who was present, the boys-will-be-boys type comments made prior to the meeting (We were just a bunch of drunk guys sitting around on a Friday night designing the shirt) were replaced by apology (We didnt mean to offend anyone)and then some confusion and discussion over the real impact of the offensive joke.
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The administrations inadequate response to the t-shirt incident was not an anomaly and seems part of a larger pattern of forgiving instances of violence against women on campus. According to a Title IX committee meeting I attended last spring, Amherst has expelled only one student for rape in its entire historyand only after a criminal court sentenced him to time in jail. Meanwhile, our disciplinary committee has found other students guilty of sexual misconduct but ultimately permitted them to continue their Amherst educations. Faced with the non-choice of staying on campus with his/her rapist or leaving, many sexual assault survivors I know take time off, transfer, or drop out altogether. If the fundamental injustice of this doesnt already make you cringe, consider this: Research has shown that rapists rape again and again; repeat offenders perpetrate nine out of ten campus rapes, and thus continue to pose a threat to students.
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But many more of us are to blame. Everyone who knew about that shirtregardless of if they bought it, wore it, praised it, or privately condemned itis at fault. Hundreds of us saw or heard about it and did nothing. We didnt speak up. We didnt write about it. We didnt demand justice or discussion. If we were outragedand Im sure many of us werewe didnt voice it.
Had the t-shirt depicted a pig roasting an African American (or a Jew or a Native American), I believe the students responsible would have faced punishment. At the very least, there would have been public outrage. Articles would have flooded The Student and The Indicator. It might even have made national news.
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Often when women raise these issues for discussion, we are met with cries that we aren't helping, we are only giving horrible people attention, and that it is really better to stay silent, as if ignoring the problem will make anything better. This woman disagrees, and so do I.
The Magistrate
(95,255 posts)The fraternity should be closed and its leading student officers expelled.
In the comments at the link, that 'philocompo' fella needs a serious attitude adjustment....
redqueen
(115,103 posts)It is frustrating.
CrispyQ
(36,516 posts)If you're thin & look good in your clothes, you're a slut & should be fucked.
If you're heavy & don't look so good in your clothes, you're a cow & should be BBQ'd.
* I believe the original cartoon showed the perpetrator of those thoughts as a pig. What a horrible insult to a fab creature.
NYC_SKP
(68,644 posts)I'm embarrassed for our species.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)bring up... what about men, when women speak up. or plain and simply.... shut up women.
so i am not going to really pin it on repug nor romney.
i am so bothered about what is allowed on du of late, after election, i am considering walking.
i read a post with tons of "quotes" about totally repulsive slurs against women and it is allowed to stand on du.
i am not really in the mood to hear how we on du are oh so innocent with our declared feminist males demanding us women to walk feminism THEIR fuckin way.
MADem
(135,425 posts)Not only is the subject matter depicted on the shirt ghastly, hateful and stupid, but the quality of the artwork is poor. If one is going to be a bigot, it amplifies the crime to be a clumsy one.
It's just a big "fat one" of a fail. I think there should have been consequences for the students, and the fact that there wasn't is troubling.
This is supposed to be one of the best liberal arts colleges in the nation. Sure doesn't look that way from here.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)i guess like with northwestern i will shoot off an email to the chancellor telling him why there is no way in hell i would give MY money to a school that dismisses womens concerns so cavalierly.
redqueen
(115,103 posts)Last edited Wed Oct 10, 2012, 01:08 PM - Edit history (1)
The situation at Amherst is sadly typical.
For example: http://m.gawker.com/5950277/wesleyan-sued-over-rape-factory-frat-house
http://articles.cnn.com/2009-12-15/living/sexual.assaults.college.campuses_1_rapes-students-today-sexual-assault?_s=PM:LIVING
http://www.thedaily.com/page/2011/03/19/031911-opinions-column-campus-rape-valenti-1-2/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marion-just/college-women-rape_b_1951300.html
kath
(10,565 posts)seabeyond
(110,159 posts)of a fetish sex class allowed one of the lecturers on stage, strip down, spread her legs and be brought to orgasm a couple times by a fuck saw vibrator for the entertainment of the students.
i am waiting for the day when a man gets on stage, strips down and jacks off for a class of students.
Response to redqueen (Original post)
MadrasT This message was self-deleted by its author.
redqueen
(115,103 posts)Because lighten up, it's just a joke.
Because feminists are cool now and like jokes too.
But seriously?
Because hardly anyone protests. Don't want to be mocked for being an easily-offended prude do you?
ismnotwasm
(42,012 posts)What to know what it reminds me of?
I had a very tattooed friend, I didn't really look at all of them. A group of friends were out for coffee and I looked at the one on his arm and hand. In short, it depicted a women being sodomized by a skeleton, clearly screaming or in pain, her hands on a couple of gravestones. On each gravestone there were four letters that spelled out 'Love'. Very disturbing. I asked him why he would possibly get something like that. He told me he got it after a bad break up. I told him he should get it altered or removed, and it was one of the most fucked up tattoos I had ever seen.
But it was hate art. While these tee shirts aren't what I'd call art, they represent hate. Period.