Feminism - more of it

[Shryke]

I figured this was best if linked to in the feminism. I don't normally put in trigger warnings for sexual violence, but in this case I am - it's a Rolling Stones article about sexual violence at the University of Virginia, and its utterly inadequate and inept response even in the face of a Title IX investigation. It's profoundly depressing.

Holy fuck yes that is a disturbing article. The story that starts it off is just on a whole other level of incredibly fucked up and disturbing.

[Summah]

That's probably one of the worst college stories I've heard. Sadly the women there would be much better off going to the police than the administration. I think this sort of thing is very good reason for (at least strongly considering) getting rid of the greek system, or at the very least banning specific frats when something like this becomes a pattern. Every large school I know of (my alma mater, my friends') has a rape frat, something that a lot of incoming freshman won't know. This is a systemic problem that's part of a much larger society wide problem, one that lets someone like Bill Cosby (allegedly) drug and rape women for 30 years and until recently, very few people believed that might be true, despite accusations at least 10 years ago. And 10 years ago there were 13 women (most of whom didn't know each other all as far as I can tell) telling very similar stories about Cosby drugging and raping them, now there are at least 15, including 5 or more who have gone public with their own names, most of them past the statute of limitations, and only now, and only after another man publicly called him a rapist are a lot of people taking this seriously.

[TerraPrime]

I figured this was best if linked to in the feminism. I don't normally put in trigger warnings for sexual violence, but in this case I am - it's a Rolling Stones article about sexual violence at the University of Virginia, and its utterly inadequate and inept response even in the face of a Title IX investigation. It's profoundly depressing.

That was a hard article to read.

[Shryke]

That was a hard article to read.

I actually read half the initial story and just skipped ahead to the meat of the article, then went back later and got to the part about her "friends" reactions the second time and realised that I was wrong and the story could actually get worse.

[deleted01]

What the bloody hell did I just read. That is absolutely disgusting. I have no words for how disturbed I am by that article.

[karaddin]

It put this piece I read yesterday in mind

http://m.nydailynews.com/opinion/patrick-blanchfield-masculine-mistake-article-1.2011600

Any idea of masculinity growing out of such rampant misogyny as frats/colleges like that is going to be inherently toxic and as far as I'm concerned needs to be burnt to the ground. Obviously there's more to it and the other girls putting their own social prospects ahead of their friends rape is all sorts of fucked up as well.

The whole thing is disgusting and leaves me with a "take off and nuke it from orbit, only way to be sure" attitude.

[deleted01]

What the hell is it with the social prospects thing? This isn't Victorian London. I don't understand this way of life.

[karaddin]

Wow. This is truly sickening. Those are some exceptionally shitty friends, too. Surely that Dean should get fired for this?

Well she's doing exactly what she's been told to do, I'd say her and everyone up the chain from her should go. Or beside, since a lot of it is probably on the same level as her.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Julian Blanc “Pick-Up Artist” banned from entry to UK over misogyny and racism:

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/%e2%80%98misogynistic-and-racist%e2%80%99-pick-up-artist-julien-blanc-denied-entry-into-uk/ar-BBeGvuH?ocid=ansNewsweek11

From the article:

Controversial California ‘pick-up artist’ Julien Blanc has been denied entry to the UK, after a petition to prevent him hosting dating seminars in the country branding them “misogynistic”, amassed over 120,000 signatures.

The UK home secretary, Theresa May, has banned Blanc from entering the country on the grounds that his activities are "not conducive to the public good", as the self-described “dating guru” was preparing to visit the UK in February as part of a world tour.

“Julien Blanc’s so-called pick-up coaching promotes behaviour amounting to sexual harassment and sexual assault which is why we welcome the decision to deny him a visa,” a spokesperson for End Violence Against Women, an organisation which campaigned to bar Blanc from the UK, told Newsweek Europe.

Blanc’s website boasts that he can teach paying customers routines to make themselves “more sex-worthy” in the eyes of any woman, developed by his expertise of possessing “intergalactic levels of sex-worthiness”.

His routines include telling a woman to “get on her knees, call him master and beg him to kiss her” which he guarantees has “always increased attraction”.

Images have also been circulating online of Blanc advising men to choke women and pull them towards their crotches, spawning the hashtag #ChokingGirlsAroundTheWorld on Twitter.

[sarcasm]Can’t imagine why they’d want to ban him from entering the UK.[/sarcasm]

[deleted01]

Fraternity and Upper Class culture. We don't seem to have Fraternities here, but it does remind me of the talk of what Cambridge students get up to.

True, there's been a lot in the media about our university culture recently too. But that article was utterly shocking.

[Prince Alexander]

Julian Blanc “Pick-Up Artist” banned from entry to UK over misogyny and racism:

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/%e2%80%98misogynistic-and-racist%e2%80%99-pick-up-artist-julien-blanc-denied-entry-into-uk/ar-BBeGvuH?ocid=ansNewsweek11

From the article:

[sarcasm]Can’t imagine why they’d want to ban him from entering the UK.[/sarcasm]

Good riddance (though this is just UK, not the world or the internet)

I view these clowns the same as most offesive pop feminists, both sides of spectrum of decent gender relations, with their own agendas and money/attention to make.

[protar]

I figured this was best if linked to in the feminism. I don't normally put in trigger warnings for sexual violence, but in this case I am - it's a Rolling Stones article about sexual violence at the University of Virginia, and its utterly inadequate and inept response even in the face of a Title IX investigation. It's profoundly depressing.

This is really disturbing and horrible. I read it this morning and the article's been stuck in my head all day.

[Inigima]

Don't poke my head in this thread much, but I was surprised not to see this mentioned. Get ready to be angry!

Meet Barbie the computer engineer.

In her role as computer engineer, Barbie is going to make a video game. Well, sort of. She's going to design a video game. But she needs boys to actually make the game for her.

Pretty bad! But it gets worse. Barbie breaks her computer, and Skipper's as well, by infecting them with a virus. Now she'll have to fix them! That's good, though, because Barbie can fix them, right? No, silly! Barbie needs boys for that! Computers are, like, hard. (She'll totally take the credit, though.)

This whole thing sparked a predictable reaction online, culminating in the Twitter hashtag #FeministHackerBarbie, used to rewrite pages more appropriately. Gizmodo has collected some of their favorites here. (A couple of these piss me off for other reasons, actually.)

In related news, InfoSec Taylor Swift (@SwiftOnSecurity) is rewriting the whole thing into a coherent whole as well.

Because if Mattel can't get it right, at least the Internet can. Mostly.

[TrackerNeil]

That was a hard article to read.

Made even harder by the last line, an admission of "one mistake." I don't know if anyone who goes off alone with a date should expect to be gang-raped, so IMO the victim only made a mistake in the way that Robb Stark made the mistake of trusting that bread and salt meant sanctuary.

Edited to add: I'm not being critical of the victim's word choice here. I imagine that if I had endured that, I, too, would be thinking that I'd erred as well.

[KiDisaster]

I figured this was best if linked to in the feminism. I don't normally put in trigger warnings for sexual violence, but in this case I am - it's a Rolling Stones article about sexual violence at the University of Virginia, and its utterly inadequate and inept response even in the face of a Title IX investigation. It's profoundly depressing.

I just don't understand how anyone can do something like that to another person. My mind can't even process it. How is there that little empathy in you? How do you not despise yourself for even thinking about doing something like that?

I guess the problem is people like this don't even see women as people. That's the only way it makes sense unless they're all psychopaths with no capability for human emotion but that's almost undoubtedly not the case. Suggesting mental illness is only making excuses for them. Fucking monsters. I think I might actually be sick.

[Spockydog]

I guess the problem is people like this don't even see women as people.

Indeed. 'Grab its leg,' was what one of the rapists said. Utterly sickening. Castration is too good for these animals.

[Mlle. Zabzie]

Yikes.

I went to a hard partying, in some ways greek dominated school. But wow. (And nothing at my school approaches the horror of that Rugby Road song. But maybe it's bc I went to a school that was co ed from its founding? UVA was one of the last big state schools to let in women IIRC).

[karaddin]

I guess the problem is people like this don't even see women as people.

Bingo. Its a type of misogyny far more common than people like to think, and for the most part its not shown openly but occasionally the curtain slips like with this shit and you see the deep rooted fundamental lack of respect for women as people.

[TerraPrime]

Some thoughts on the Rolling Stone article, in no particular order:

1. Surveys of US students, across institutional types, have shown that more college students rank social interactions as high as, and sometimes higher than,

academic quality in terms of what they find satisfying and important in their college career. This came as a shock to me when I saw the data, but that's what our students think, in general. This is corroborated by other lines of evidence, such as increasing number of students considering social activities that are optional and voluntary to actually be an integral component of their education, e.g. spring breaks.

So, in that context, the expressed concern over "social standing" makes a little more sense. The popular Fraternities there are like the "It" clubs where entrance confers status. It is not by coincidence that the Fraternity being featured is also home to the richer, wealthier sector even amongst Greeks.

2. What we are seeing is, I think, tribalism at work. One of the friends would not comment any more because he now identifies more with his fraternity than he does as her friend. The whole school's ethos is steeped in tribal identity via Jefferson. This, to be fair, is not unique to UVa, but is rather prevalent in most big universities in the U.S. Team rivalries in football fuel a lot of the tribal identity and provide "school spirit." In this sense, it is not unlike another institution where systemic rape has been an issue - the U.S. armed services. When you have individual identities subsumed by group affiliation it becomes easier, IMO, to dehumanize the "others."

3. The systemic flaw of allowing the school to handle criminal and felony issues is at the root of the problem. It pits self-preserving interest against advocacy for justice for the victims and the accused. This has to stop. There should not be an option to let the school's conduct review board carry out an investigation in lieu of going to the police. The schools should have a separate student conduct review and render judgement in addition to whatever police investigation leads to. So, a student might not be formally charged but the school's board may rule that s/he is no longer fit to be a student there any way and expel them.

4. The moral depravity and the disregard for human dignity are never a surprise when seen demonstrated by the socially privileged people, but in this case, it is nevertheless shocking because these are young adults doing this to their peers and in many ways enabled by the group from which they draw their victims. It's like vampires and vampire groupies.

[Shryke]

I would suggest that while I agree with your point 3, it's point 2 that is at the heart of this issue. (Which kinda relates back to 1 as well)

The biggest source of point 3 is all the work forging the school you go to into a tribal identity. That article basically read as "We can't stop people being brutally gang-raped because it would make our school/frat look bad".