Until the Violence Stops

It's been a while since my last political rant, so here you go. The blog is red again in honor of V-Day. This is the only "holiday" I recognize today, since in my experience the heteronormative script sold everywhere we turn is far better at trapping women and children in violence than it is in producing true human connection, empathy and intimacy.

I will offer one fairly well-known U.S. statistic -- though the global picture is even more horrifying, this is directly related to where many of us are spending our time. One in four young women will be raped during the four years she spends in college. You can call me jaded, because, frankly, I was surprised it wasn't higher. Last year I was helping my roommate, who does sexual wellness/sexual assault prevention trainings on campus, compile workshop questionnaires. They were from a "what is sexual assault?" training for freshmen, and the last question asked them how they would support a friend who was a survivor. One student (he actually wrote his name on this) scrawled "rape 'em again and again" as his answer. These are the kids in our classes. The kids in my all-freshman section who looked like babies to me. They are raping each other and being raped on an ongoing basis even as they come to our classes the next day. And I was still told a few weeks ago by a male professor that "gender" doesn't enter into the subject matter of the classes he teaches at all. He is by no means an anomaly in that sentiment. Where is our social responsibility if we are teaching in a world of violence based in race, in gender, in capitalism, but in the courses we teach we pretend none of those things exist, or else give them five minutes lip service before moving on to focus our energies on a sycophantic obsession with the perpetrators of violence and oppression? I'm not going to go any further because A.'s last few posts have done the subject of social responsibility in teaching far better justice than I could, especially with regard to the problematic levels of privilege displayed by the students and the disturbing futility of the institution of the university today.

My handing out stories of violence instead of valentines doesn't mean I'm not a fan of love and expressing love -- I love my friends, my chosen family, animals, the whole damn world (with the exception of rapists, racists and rich people) very much. But further propping up of the heteronormative narrative in support of capitalism today is like supporting fundamentalist religious policies on war because Jesus was such a nice guy (or, as we all know, a total socialist pacifist). Right story, wrong interpretation. If love was really a core value of our culture, the number one cause of death for pregnant women would not be intimate partner violence.

Special love to Jess and the roomie today for the work they do in this field. Their jobs are not easy. And props to Saru for teaching radical feminism to undergrads fulfilling a requirement several days a week and not losing it completely.