More Seattle/UW news

Apr 04, 2007 10:59

kyonkun pointed me toward today's issue of The Daily, our campus newspaper, for more news about Monday's murder.

Today's issue presents some interesting juxtapositions. ( Good, bad, and in-between )

sexual violence and harassment, in the news

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Comments 13

kyonkun April 4 2007, 18:50:01 UTC
I really hate to admit this, but I have to if I'm going to be honest. Occasionally when thinking about what happened, I have flashes of feeling and thought that (and I have to be really honest with myself, and not sugarcoat it) actually blame her. Of course I don't blame her directly, or consciously, but what I mean is that my train of thought wanders to statements like, "But why didn't she know when she met him that he was mentally unstable?" etc. And I find I have fallen into the trap I know that many of the people who should have been helping her (police, etc.) fell into -- the responsibility was unfairly placed on her, consciously or not ( ... )

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sigelphoenix April 4 2007, 19:26:37 UTC
Well, I mean of course we all have that mindset drilled into us, so it's not like you're weird or unusually bad. Like you said, it's all about recognizing that bias and realizing how misogynistic it is.

Re: making (female) victims get their own help, it's so true. One of the things that pissed me off about Emmert's email is that he directed people to grief counseling and stuff, but said NOTHING about all the campus resources for people going through domestic violence. UW does a really poor job of advertising its services (mainly because that makes the university look bad, like it has a violence problem), so women are left to do their own hunting.

Oh, and I agree, there's a tendency to blame the woman for not recognizing that her date/boyfriend is an abuser/rapist/whatever. Of course, if women act overly suspicious about men, they're "bitches," right?

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Jonny kyonkun April 4 2007, 21:50:14 UTC
I don't think that careful people, women or men, should be looked down on. We live in a dark world and, besides the Shadow, "who knows what secrets lurk in the hearts of man" (humanity)? I find myself tensing at time when people who are bigger than me walk by me in broad daylight. I may be a freak but with the incidence of random violence so high, does it hurt to be careful? If a woman acted overtly suspicious of me I would laugh to myself, knowing that she need not fear me but that she should be very careful in general ( ... )

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Re: Jonny sigelphoenix April 5 2007, 06:14:01 UTC
No, I think this is related stuff. I agree that we should be more allowing of people who are careful, even when it's awkward or impolite. My big issue with the idea of being careful or safe is that usually people are told to be wary of the wrong thing because of stereotypes - the stranger rapist, the black man, that kind of thing.

And yeah, we have a huge emphasis on individualism and taking care of yourself, like it's a weakness to ask for help. That's pretty much exactly the reason we judge poor people so much (and I know I'm guilty of it too).

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Her name is Rebecca Greigo. peartreealley April 5 2007, 01:39:32 UTC
I've been writing and deleting responses to your posts all day, because I've felt frustrated by them, but could never hit upon why they bothered me so much, because you have (as usual) good points about the issues and problems with society and domestic violence being ignored or not being taken seriously ( ... )

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Re: Her name is Rebecca Greigo. peartreealley April 5 2007, 01:44:36 UTC
The horrible irony here is that I transposed the letters in her last name. It's Griego.

I suck :P

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Re: Her name is Rebecca Greigo. sigelphoenix April 5 2007, 06:07:04 UTC
First of all: I'm glad you told me that you have a problem with what I wrote. Disagreement doesn't make me feel warm and fuzzy to be sure, but I sure as hell prefer that you shared it with me rather than just sitting on it, even if it wasn't comfortable to say ( ... )

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Generic vs. personal peartreealley April 5 2007, 13:55:05 UTC
I wasn't feeling warm and fuzzy while writing it, because I hate disagreeing with my friends when they are passionate about something (and not necessarily "wrong"). (And I didn't expect you to change your post, because it's YOUR post. I just had an opinion on it that wasn't all "YES I AGREE YOU ARE TOTALLY RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING" and decided to speak up, for better or worse ( ... )

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kyonkun April 6 2007, 03:03:10 UTC
President Emmert released another e-mail, which I'm sure you've seen by now. Added details such as specifying the incident (I think the last one's ambiguity was more for respect of the family, though) and more emphasis on relationship violence, and attention brought to SARVA Week.

You told me that when you sent him an e-mail, you didn't do much. I didn't believe you. And now I am positive that your e-mail is one of the factors that prompted this second e-mail -- yours and the many others like you.

So don't ever tell me that you don't do much, okay? You don't know how much I admire you and how proud I am to be associated with someone like you.

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sigelphoenix April 6 2007, 17:44:25 UTC
"Associated"? What, do we have some sort of official consortium of powers? :P

Che.

*hugs*

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