Alpha Xi Delta sisters fight sexual assault

[SWTXBelle]

http://www.buzzfeed.com/alisonvingia...rape-on-campus

"After those first discussions were met with overwhelmingly positive responses from their peers, the duo decided to get the help of their sorority sister and PR major, Julie Gelb, to create “Girl Code Movement,” a college-focused, anti-sexual assault organization that attempts to unite college women nationwide to “become active operatives to stop a rape from happening.” Their mission is to empower students on campus to look out for women and possible victims by being active bystanders who identify and help possible victims."


I find it interesting that so many of the strategies discussed were part of my pledge training. As part of our pledge period, we were instructed to never go alone to parties, to stay with my sisters, never leave a drink unattended, make sure your friends don't attempt to drive if they've had too much to drink, never go into the bedrooms of fraternity members at mixers and don't ever walk with a cigarette. All but one of those are still really good advice - I don't know that walking with a cigarette is still a thing.

[andthen]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

http://www.buzzfeed.com/alisonvingia...rape-on-campus

"After those first discussions were met with overwhelmingly positive responses from their peers, the duo decided to get the help of their sorority sister and PR major, Julie Gelb, to create “Girl Code Movement,” a college-focused, anti-sexual assault organization that attempts to unite college women nationwide to “become active operatives to stop a rape from happening.” Their mission is to empower students on campus to look out for women and possible victims by being active bystanders who identify and help possible victims."

Wow good for them in trying to form an organization to not only help empower women and others but also to hopefully bring more awareness to this issue. I hope that their movement will progress to other college campuses.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

I have really mixed feelings about this, because teaching women how to not be victims is a really problematic way of addressing rape culture. Bystander intervention is a good idea, but a lot of the language on their FB page makes me cringe. Overall, I guess it's a good start?

[33girl]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

I have really mixed feelings about this, because teaching women how to not be victims is a really problematic way of addressing rape culture. Bystander intervention is a good idea, but a lot of the language on their FB page makes me cringe. Overall, I guess it's a good start?

Exactly, teaching someone how not to be a victim assumes that victim is the default setting. I'd rather see an emphasis on safety in general for ALL students of ALL sexes.

These girls need to read The Morning After by Katie Roiphe. Because umm, yeah, we already had this.

[DrPhil]

I commend them for being active and having a voice. I guess the target audience is college students so my expectations should be limited to that environment. I won't rant about societal and world culture and societal and world gender dynamics because college campuses are pretty good at fooling students into thinking their campus bubble is protecting them from the world.

I see what DeltaBetaBaby is saying and there's so much that goes into this topic. Most community efforts only address one aspect and it's usually what they consider the most available aspect to address--tell women to feel empowered and to be more aware of their surroundings. It is a good idea to increase safety and reduce the likelihood of victimization for victim prone populations.

Unfortunately, that is also one sided. And this continues the perpetual victim mode that most women around the world are placed in. This is a result of patriarchal cultures in which women are taught to be safe whereas men (who have a higher rate of victimization for all acts except for sexual assault and rape) are taught to nonchalantly live their lives. That imbalance makes it difficult to see empowerment for women beyond the notion of "empowerment to prevent sexism/patriarchy/misogyny/victimization." There is cause for alarm when any power minority group is only able to feel empowered when consciously combatting inequality/victimization.

Originally Posted by 33girl

Exactly, teaching someone how not to be a victim assumes that victim is the default setting. I'd rather see an emphasis on safety in general for ALL students of ALL sexes.

These girls need to read The Morning After by Katie Roiphe. Because umm, yeah, we already had this.

I agree. People keep reinventing the wheel. I don't want to throw away the wheel. I just want there to be more.

[txpacer]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Exactly, teaching someone how not to be a victim assumes that victim is the default setting. I'd rather see an emphasis on safety in general for ALL students of ALL sexes.

I love, love, love the program that our chapter brought to our university every year. It is called Girls Fight Back (and they have Students Fight Back seminars as well to encourage men to come out). The speakers emphasize that while it is good to make yourself a bad victim, women shouldn't be constantly afraid of being victimized, that women aren't the only ones victimized, etc. The program focuses, instead, on setting clear boundaries and how to save yourself. They give a lot of tips on what to do if you find yourself in a bad situation (the items that you can use as weapons, some basic evasive moves, what not to do), but they stress that their seminar is not a substitute for a physical self-defense class. I HIGHLY recommend their program.

[SWTXBelle]

I actually debated about posting this, because the topic is so fraught with potential landmines - the largest being fighting the "blame the victim" mentality that can inadvertently be a by-product of any attempt to warn women to steer clear of potentially dangerous situations.

I think of it as analogous to why I lock my car doors - I shouldn't have to, and if I fail to it doesn't mean I was "asking for it", "it" being theft of the car or contents, but the reality is that I need to or I do risk being taken advantage of by those who would seek to do me harm. It is admittedly a very fine line between "be careful" and "if you don't do these things, you deserve what you get".

It's important to make it a topic of discussion, which the group certainly has. Too often colleges attempt to sweep sexual assault under the rug, so if nothing else let's hope the group starts a necessary discussion by college administrators.

[andthen]

I agree their Facebook language they may want to re-evaluate. As teaching women to not be victims can be easily be misinterpreted especially with such a sensitive topic. I hope they are doing research and perhaps reaching out to established organizations like rainn.org at least they are generating publicity to their cause. It's a start and hopefully a positive work in progress.

[DrPhil]

We tell people to lock their doors and we also tell people not to burglarize and steal cars. They not only know it is illegal but they know that under no circumstances is it acceptable. Unfortunately there are environments in which they can get clout for burglarizing. That, and the need for money/materials, is what keeps the cycle going.

We need to tell potential perpetrators of sexual assault and rape about the law and social unacceptability. But first it has to TRULY be socially unacceptable. Unlike burglary where there is a relatively small subculture of acceptance, components of sexual assault and rape are acceptable in the mainstream culture and various subcultures.

[DubaiSis]

It seems the wheel does need to continually be reinvented, generation after generation because things like empowerment are not easily handed down. While these things have all been said before, not necessarily to these girls or in a way that sounds current to them. They do need to be very careful about wording to make sure it sounds like empowerment and not blame, but I applaud the effort. Now to get the guys on the same page...

[DrPhil]

It makes more sense to unite efforts across organizations to strengthen the wheel and pass the wheel from generation to generation rather than every generation believing they need to reinvent the wheel. When I read that Facebook page I wanted to know whether this organization was going to form a united front with other organizations.

http://diverseeducation.com/article/51978/

http://www.rapeis.org/activism/campus/campus.html