In response to the letter in The Post calling for an apology from F--kRapeCulture, I want to say that I was among the crowd silently protesting KC Johnson’s lecture on Monday, and I am proud to have been there.
There has been an ongoing discussion about rape culture on this campus and on campuses nationwide. This discussion has often centered on the role of universities in responding to cases of sexual assault.
Many policies have been changed, but Johnson asserts that universities are not currently equipped to internally handle sexual assault cases. Instead he believes these cases should exclusively be handled in a court of law where due process is maintained. However, Johnson hides behind the pseudo-objectivity of due process to mask a denial of rape culture and perpetuation of victim-blaming.
We live in a society that normalizes sexual violence and assumes that it is a fact of life. In this rape culture, institutions such as the media and the law make sexual violence seem normal, common and put the responsibility on survivors to not get raped. Because of rape culture, victims of sexual assault (of all gender identities) remain silent rather than face a society that blames them for walking alone, drinking or wearing revealing clothing. Because of rape culture, we look for any excuse possible to forgive rapists and silence their victims.
Johnson continually denies the existence of rape culture and refuses to acknowledge biases and inadequacies in the criminal justice system that hinder and oppose due process. In our current system, the vast majority of cases are settled with plea bargains, deals that deprive all parties involved of the due process rights afforded to them at trial. We live with a criminal justice system that treats people differently because of their race, gender and socioeconomic identity.
I fail to see how even those who deny that rape culture exists can blindly accept that due process is upheld in the criminal justice system when we know that the system has been used to lock up an estimated 1 million African-American men (almost half of the U.S. prison population, according to the NAACP) in the last few decades. Inside prisons, rates of sexual violence remain high despite the 2003 passage of the Prison Rape Elimination Act.
With respect to rape culture and the criminal justice system, Johnson remains blind to systemic forms of sexism and racism that perpetuate hegemonic systems of power. Such denial warrants a public outcry.
As for the wording on our shirts, I find calling victims of sexual assault “comically unbelievable” to be far more rude and offensive than calling bullshit on someone who consistently undermines and shames survivors.
Katie Conlon is a junior at Ohio University studying history and a member of F--kRapeCulture.
