This week has been a hard one for those of us tuned into rape culture in the media. Between the astonishing number of Twitter users who felt that “rape” was an apt word to describe the Broncos’ Super Bowl loss to the Seahawks and the army of Woody Allen apologists calling Dylan Farrow a liar for writing about childhood abuse, there was barely any time to register the story coming to light about the University of Akron discouraging students from filing sexual assault reports.
So when Jaclyn Friedman took a moment Tuesday night to congratulate Ohio University for filling Baker Ballroom with an engaged audience of students, faculty and staff, her praise was deserved. That packed room, in which student senators, professors, resident assistants, activists and administrators could all be found among Friedman’s listeners, braving the icy weather to learn about “How Reclaiming Sexuality Combats Sexual Violence,” certainly constituted hope for humanity.
Despite this column’s name, I’ve written about almost no aspect of Ohio University that could be construed as inspiring. Although noting that Friedman’s address pointed to many issues OU continues to struggle with, (lack of transparency about mandatory reporting, alcohol culture colliding with rape culture and a host of sexist, racist, heteronormative beliefs perpetuating sexual violence) the fact that this lecture and its follow-up sessions Wednesday happened at all indicate an encouraging interest in building a safer and more supportive campus.
There are other hopeful signs: Ohio University: It Happens Here went live Monday night at ithappenshereohio.wix.com/ithappenshereohio. Inviting survivors to submit writing about their experiences with sexual violence on campus, It Happens Here creates space for survivors to anonymously publish their stories in their own words.
Bill Arnold from the Women’s Center created a “Healthy Masculinities Working Group” and a “Bystander Intervention Working Group,” both of which meet in Baker Center every Friday. Delfin Bautista of the LGBT Center and Brenda Strickland of the Survivor Advocacy Program, of which I am a member, have teamed to better train OU SAP for responding to victims of gender and sexual minorities. Hollaback Appalachian Ohio also offers self-defense workshops and ways to hold street-harassers accountable.
This academic year has been a wake-up call to many about the dark underside of OU’s “student-centered learning experience,” and yet important work remains to be done. But these tragedies turned into teachable opportunities. These heartwarming moments when Bobcats come together to see whether we can learn from our mistakes or not gives me hope.
“I’ve never seen a community with such multi-level engagement in this issue,” Friedman concluded her Wednesday breakout session. At least here at OU, if I’m a dreamer, I’m not the only one.
Bekki Wyss is a junior studying English literature. Did you attend Jaclyn Friedman’s talk? Tell Bekki what you think at rw225510@ohiou.edu.
