It has long been recognized that violence against women is fueled by indifference — whether it's the police in intervening, the courts in prosecuting or (worst of all) our community in failing to publicly oppose its persistence. For the past two years Take Back the Night marchers have been heckled as they moved through campus. This year, students are ignored as they staff information tables trying to raise awareness of sexual violence. Discomfort is now added to insensitivity in a culture that silences the survivors of sexual violence.
I think Bell Hooks was right when she said that love was needed to end domination. Love for a particular person or humanity as a whole is the primary motivation for many activists. For victims of domination, love in the form of self-esteem or as support from friends and family is crucial in overcoming the devastating effects of hate crimes.
Love alone does not resolve the problem. Justice comes from a body of laws and institutions that effectively prosecute offenders and a society that validates these findings. While many survivors do not even have the option of pressing charges due to lack of evidence or reasonable fears of revictimization, legal venues are still necessary in bringing the moral force of law to bear on the tradition of silencing still present in our world.
The past year marked important steps toward instantiating legal remedies designed to end sexual violence against vulnerable women and men, thereby ending the indifference to these crimes. In February, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia found three Serbian officers guilty of running a camp during the Bosnian war where Muslim women and girls were systematically tortured, gang-raped and intentionally impregnated as a form of "ethnic cleansing." An estimated 50,000 victims were held in a dozen similar camps. For the first time in history rape was recognized as a war crime — a crime against humanity — finally ending the age-old adage that rape is an "unfortunate excess" of war.
Hopefully this precedent will spur the Japanese government to recognize the estimated 200,000 "comfort women" who were forced into sexual slavery during World War II. These women were successfully silenced for 50 years, often by their own families. In August, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights found substantial evidence in favor of the women. Korean women rejected overtures of reparations by a private foundation and their national governments, saying that any resolution must come directly from the Japanese government. Many have yet to identify themselves as survivors, but an official apology might bring an end to their silence.
This past month's media coverage of the Human Rights Watch report "No Escape" highlighted the prevalence of rape in U.S. prisons. In every state, inmate after inmate testified to being forced into oral and/or anal intercourse while officials did little or nothing to stop it. Guards considered these encounters as sexual alternatives in all-male prisons, and when complaints were brought to their attention, they reportedly did not want to be part of such "lovers quarrels." Many survivors of this sexual violence were left HIV positive. Almost none received appropriate health care or counseling. Nearly half of all states do not even keep statistics on prison rape. And courts are increasingly unwilling to hear these complaints. Again, we are faced with evidence that indifference breeds sexual violence. Hopefully, public outrage will swell and institutional protections will be created for men left in such vulnerable positions.
Not all men are potential rapists. The rhetoric attributing all men with uncontrollable hormonal urges only serves as an excuse for the few who refuse to take responsibility for their actions. The men of Princeton should march on Saturday in solidarity with the women reclaiming the streets but also in protest over this unfair generalization.
Rape is not sex 'gone bad,' nor is it an alternative to sex; it's an act of sexual violence that is meant to express domination over and silence another human being. It may be difficult to think of acquaintance rape — still quite prevalent and underreported on our campus — in these terms, but it has the same results. It may be difficult to measure how much good love does, but silence does not help. Ignoring or deprecating the problem perpetuates the worst kind of silencing.
We are all degraded by the persistence of sexual violence in our local communities and in the world at large. While a lot of work must still be done, there are easy ways to start. Attend the Take Back the Night march on Saturday at 8 p.m. (departs from the University Chapel). Get a Take Back the Night button and purple ribbon. Display them openly with pride knowing that you are not contributing to the silencing factors in our community. Instead, you are creating a space where survivors of sexual violence feel safe in reporting these crimes and thus can begin healing. Helping to stop sexual violence is that simple.
(Amy Shuster is a politics graduate student from Washington, D.C. She can be reached at ashuster@princeton.edu.)
Read More
For the record, video cameras at CPUC meetings must not go
Alex Norbrook“The right to video record is essential as a tool of accountability. Video allows journalists, activists, and spectators to capture a moment beyond what is said — it can record how someone speaks, or how someone reacts to speech.”
“The right to video record is essential as a tool of accountability. Video allows journalists, activists, and spectators to capture a moment beyond what is said — it can record how someone speaks, or how someone reacts to speech.”
We need to keep breaking the glass ceiling of the ivory tower
Maria Luisa Vieira Parada“At Princeton, that means ensuring that there is upward career growth available for women. Women make up only 33 percent of tenured and tenure-track faculty, the people who could be potentially in line for higher administrative leadership at the University.”
“At Princeton, that means ensuring that there is upward career growth available for women. Women make up only 33 percent of tenured and tenure-track faculty, the people who could be potentially in line for higher administrative leadership at the University.”
Reactions: Guests respond to Eisgruber and Calhoun’s statements on protesting
Zeke DouglasRosenthal, Edward Yingling, and Wyatt BrowneGuests weigh in with their thoughts on free speech, institutional neutrality, and the role of the ‘Prince’ with respect to the University's statements on encampments.
Guests weigh in with their thoughts on free speech, institutional neutrality, and the role of the ‘Prince’ with respect to the University's statements on encampments.
