Really, anytime you think, “Hey, I’m going to say this thing about rape,”
just take a minute and think “Does this make me sound a) like a rapist or b)
like an asshole?” If yes to either, resist the urge to speak, and if not still
reconsider but you can proceed with caution.
I received my Master’s degree in Women’s Studies with a concentration on
Labor and Welfare from The George Washington University a few years ago because
I’m a boss. Kidding aside, I enjoyed my time at GW, even with the short
comings, and there were many. Some were rooted in my program like the students
never knew what was going on because our department was everything you’d expect
a Women’s Studies department to be, i.e. hot mess. And then other things like
the resistance to call rape what it is were more structural.
Well I wonder where that institutional narrative on rape culture came
from? Oh yeah, the former President of the George Washington University, Dr.
Stephen Joel Trachtenberg. Erin
Gloria Ryan had a piece up for Jezebel, but I initial read about this from
my former-prof’s Facebook page. Apparently, on Wednesday, The Diane Rehm Show had guests discussing the role of Greek life in
on campus, but the conversation turned quickly to their role in rape culture.
Don’t fret, they had a champion in the form of Dr. Trachtenberg who had a
solution to campus rape: just tell women to drink less. And done, pack it up.
Dr. Trachtenberg defends frats because they are role models and not at
all responsible for sexual assaults:
Dr. Trachtenberg: My experience is that students that are in fraternities
have higher grades on average than unaffiliated students. Uh, they get involved
in philanthropic activities of one sort or another providing great numbers of
hours of service and fundraising on behalf of good causes. They have the
opportunity to get leadership training provided by the fraternities. They get
other kinds of training as well. Combatting sexual misconduct, values-based—
Rehm: And you don’t see them participating in sexual misconduct?
Dr. Trachtenberg: No no! I think it turns out that there are good and bad
in fraternities and out of fraternities. What we’re focusing here on is a
general situation. I think what we’re doing is creating a false correlation.
For example, we point out that the women don’t drink, don’t have
sorority parities which have alcohol. They don’t have to. They go to the parties
at the fraternities. So it’s not as if the women aren’t drinking. They are,
in fact.
Without
making the victims responsible for what happens, one of the groups that have to
be training not to drink in excess are women. They need to be in a position to
punch the guys in the nose if they misbehave. And so part of the problem is you
have men who take advantage of women who drink too much and there are women who
drink too much. And we need to educate our daughters and out children in that
regard.
Excuse me, what the fuck? I don’t understand how women are the “group”
that needs to be “trained.” Maybe train men not to rape? Just me? Dr.
Trachtenberg continues to be a condescending and patronizing jerk, so consistency
is good. Trachtenberg like so many before him places the responsibility for policing
behavior on women instead of the perpetrators of crime. This is the logic here:
I have to make sure I’m not drunk so I can make sure my friend doesn’t rape me
because he can’t be held accountable for his actions and see me as a person.
Let’s revise this for Dr. Trachtenberg: Without making the victims
responsible for what happens, we need to teach people about enthusiastic consent
so everyone knows they are responsible for their own actions. We need to take
rape accusations seriously so rapists know they won’t get away with it on
campus or off, and thoroughly investigate charges because so many rapes are
committed by so few people.
