Shutter Fraternities for Young Women's Good
 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...p_mostpop_read

From the Wall Street Journal. This woman is talking about, first, a story of sexual assault on someone else. Then, she talks about the "slur-chanting fraternity men" that are now on campus deprives women of an equal opportunity to education.

"I was a transfer student, and so my new friends had already been at the university two years and were in possession of valuable information, much of it learned the hard way: I was never, ever to go upstairs at a fraternity house. To do so was to invite assault. That I could be raped by a fellow student and that the event would somehow be my fault was an idea I found alarming and intimidating.

My fourth night at school, I went with some friends to Rugby Road, where the fraternity houses are located. They are built of the same Jeffersonian architecture as the rest of the campus. At once august and moldering, they seemed sinister, to stand for male power at its most malevolent and institutionally condoned. I remember standing there thinking I'd made a terrible mistake. It wasn't worth it, I decided. The next day I withdrew from the university."

I find that part that I quoted to be ridiculous. I kind of find the whole article to be inflammatory. Yes, a few people cast a negative light on the Greek System throughout the country, but this seems super reactionary.

Shutting down fraternities would not be an effective way to address rape culture on campus or anywhere else.

Closing fraternities is obviously the answer. No non-Greek men have ever assualted women on campus.

Wait. Scratch that. We also need to ban men from being in schools period. Assaults never happen outside of the university bubble.

Wait.

If she wants to get rid of that, she should probably close the basketball teams.

Shuttering (is this the new buzz word? I've seen it more in the last month than, well, ever) young women's vajayjays may be more effective. Obviously no one deserves to be victimized, but an ounce of prevention...

"The Greek system is dedicated to quelling young men's anxiety about submitting themselves to four years of sissy-pants book learning by providing them with a variety of he-man activities: drinking, drugging, ESPN watching and the sexual mistreatment of women."

...I don't even know where to start. This author has obviously had some terrible experiences, and apparently she feels the need to characterize a vast population with her misconstrued perceptions.

This article is deeply offensive to me. Sad that the WSJ would post such rubbish.

:eek::eek::eek::eek:

Normally, I LOVE Caitlin Flanagan's essays. This, however, was completely wrong. At least she admits that it's her mistrust of the fraternities that led to her not taking full advantage of the college experience. Otherwise, it's all bull. Leaving a school because the fraternity houses freak you out? I'm pretty sure she transferred from Berkeley, and she must have lived at home because she sounds completely clueless.

Here's a controversial thought: I wonder if more assaults are reported at fraternity houses because the victims tend to be freshmen (they've recently gone through that whole sexual assault reporting training during orientation), or because the victims tend to be sorority women (who get that education throughout their college experience in the name of risk management). Either way, it speaks to the fact that students should be regularly reminded of what to do when they're victimized.

Agreed- I read this last night and was really surprised it was via WSJ. She is obviously talking about things she happens to hear from whomever- I mean, if she hears that she could get sexually assaulted if she went "upstairs", and then she withdraws from UVA the next day after just looking at the fraternity houses? I don't think that she has much of an argument, because she's telling tales of third parties and just spreading around the misconception that all men who are members of a fraternity are Rapists In Waiting.

Really?

Ummm....no. I was being satirical.

Point being that there really isn't a way to stop sexual assault on college campi, short of gender segregation, and even then there will still be cases of same-sex assault and those who break the segregation.

Phew.

And yes, you're right that it's a pervasive problem not only on college campuses but in society as a whole.

I agree the article is crap, but saying women only report sexual assault because they can and were trained how to, and not because they were assaulted, is such a huge problem/false/contributes to rape culture I don't even know where to begin.

Reading comprehension fail.

She's saying that victims who meet those criteria may be more likely to report the crime (if it happens to them) because they know they CAN and are more trusting that something will be DONE about it.

Meaning, women who are not regularly reminded on ways to report sexual assault are that much less likely to report it if it happens to them.

As an aside, it irks me that colleges are trying to handle sexual assault themselves, rather than turning over such cases when they are reported to the police.

No violent crime should be handled "in house."

This.

And she was frightened into withdrawing from school by the mere sight of a fraternity house? Really? Architecture, as a general thing, doesn't usually frighten people that badly. Maybe it wasn't actually the house that did her in, but the landscaping. The shrubberies.

http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...RGtqsMdeFa1mi8