We are proud feminists

We are feminists. As one of the organizers of this year's Take Back the Night march and the president of the Organization of Women Leaders, respectively, we have devoted much of our time and energy to promoting the causes of women at Princeton. In his Monday oped, John Andrews tookboth the march and OWL to task. In doing so, he reminds the campus community of the very attitudes about date rape, sexual freedom, and feminism that we must work to change.

Andrews' article is riddled with inaccuracies and half-truths, the kind of journalism that results when a writer chooses to criticize events he has not attended.

He quotes a commentator who called Princeton's Take Back the Night march "radical and millennial," neglecting to mention that the statement was made in 1991. TBTN has changed significantly since then, becoming a march against all sexual violence. Every year, more men join the march. No one is pressured to speak about their experiences; too many people have stories they choose to share. If marching to raise awareness about sexual violence — a real problem on this campus and elsewhere — makes us radical and millennial, then we embrace those labels.

Andrews' piece also questions the accuracy of Department of Justice estimates, used by TBTN organizers, that roughly 12 percent of college women are sexually assaulted during their university careers. He claims that "assertive and goal-oriented" Princeton students would not fail to report an assault, but he ignores the fact that we live on a campus where offensive comments were yelled out the windows of Holder Hall during this year's TBTN march. He ignores the fact that ours is still a community in which the woman who charges rape can become a social pariah. He ignores the emotional, physical and psychological burden placed on women — no matter how smart or talented — who are sexually assaulted. Perhaps if Andrews had attended TBTN or any one of OWL's discussions on issues of sexual violence, he would not have so drastically missed the point.

The most disturbing part of Monday's oped piece is not Andrews' disregard for the truth, or his inability to discern one feminist group from another. It is his central argument that the "feminist ethos of sexual liberation" makes women culpable for their own rapes and victimizes "decent" men.

The logic behind this view is obviously flawed. Women today may wear short skirts. We may enjoy flirtation and even sex. We may engage in the "hookup culture" that Andrews derides as immoral.

What is it about these acts that makes rape more permissible?

Surely, no means no, regardless of whether a woman is a virgin or owns a miniskirt. Andrews wants us to believe that a man who hears explicit music or engages in any kind of sexual behavior cannot be expected to understand a woman when she says, "No."

We believe men deserve more credit, and women deserve more respect.

OWL and TBTN are affiliated only in the sense that we advocate equality for women. John Andrews lumps us together as feminists eager to erode the social fabric of our campus and play the victims to brutish men.

Perhaps he thinks feminist is a dirty word. We are proud to be the real feminists of whom Andrews speaks. The women of this campus believe in equality between the sexes when it comes to success, sexuality and safety.

We come together not to promote victimhood, but to finally put an end to it. Katy Glenn '05 is an organizer of Take Back the Night. You can reach her at kglenn@princeton.edu. Katherine Reilly '05 is the president of the Organization of Women Leaders. She can be reached at kcreilly@princeton.edu.