Discussion to Class, 2/19

In class, we were able to discuss how different sources and mediums will give different perspectives on stories such as rape. We discussed the article that was posted by the mommyish.com blogger who’s tone conveyed a sense of sarcasm and wit, while if we were reading it from the New York Times, that sarcasm and wit would have been fact and intellect. I honestly, did not really like the mommyish.com article very much and reading the comments below confirmed my disliking even more. Writing a public response or an article to or about rape is a serious topic and I believe that it must be handled with class and maturity. I believe that this woman blogger sort of takes on an aspect of feminine, lady power and it takes away from her point; that the school actually handled the situation with quick actions, just like many other universities should start doing. However, the way that she conducted herself and this article lead to an array of comments, sharing stories and arguing. However, viewing it in a different lens, this could be a beneficial thing because it did get people talking about an issue that is clearly wiped off the table in many situations.

Another issue that was discussed in class was sexual assault in the military. An interesting facet that was brought up was the lack of actions versus the amount of trust that we see with entities all around the nation. It is hard to understand, especially in the military, why so many sexual assault altercations are swept under the rug, yet isn’t the military supposed to be an organization that protects our country and the people who belong to it? These men and women are risking their lives everyday to help citizens like myself and protect this country from war, yet they aren’t even protected themselves because they are at a high risk for sexual assault. And even with that being said, the military and government tend to sweep in under the rug more often than not, yet choose to share stories like the Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg falls asleep during the State of the Union address because she had too much wine. Although that is humorous, it has really no sense of rime or reason as to why that affects the rest of the nation. Rape continuously affects the nation and many young adults within it, yet it is barely reported of unless it involves an athlete.

I believe that one problem (of many) is that rape is a priority, but not a serious priority. I believe that it required a sense of communication that we have learned to not talk about and be okay with. It is like anything else that we have culturally altered over time. For example, the idea that it is not manly of men to show their emotions; that they must hide those emotions because real men don’t cry. Now that our society is striving for equality among genders and race, I believe that these types of cultural norms are becoming less of a norm. I know in my family that my parents have always taught my brother to show his emotion if he is feeling sad and don’t let it sit inside of you. I know my family may be like many others, however, there are probably a lot of other families that don’t do that. Learning and sharing new idea’s of equality and disarming hyper masculinity will help the culture of rape begin to shed a new light and new hope and begin to help rape become more of a priority.