Don't Rape

I was weeding out old emails from my inbox today when I came across this. I received the following message in an email last year amidst the numerous reports of violence against women at the York U Keele Campus:


Open letter from Graduate Women’s Studies Students Association to the York Community.
Re: sexual assaults on campus.

We’re writing this letter because we’re angry.
Why?

First, because women at York are being attacked, sexually assaulted and raped. Like everyone, we have the right to study and work without fear of violence.

Second, we’re angry because instead of hearing a loud and repeated condemnation of sexual assault, we’re told how to avoid being raped. York administration’s security bulletin calls on us to be “vigilant” about our safety. Women have heard this before: don’t make the same mistakes as ‘those’ women; don’t go out alone at night; don’t be in the wrong place at the wrong time; basically, don’t get raped.

We’re angry because this is about our bodies, our lives, our dignity. But our anger about York’s official response does not stop with administrators: when they imply the perpetrators are strangers with no ties to York, no one has to take responsibility. Rape is a public relations nightmare, but denying its rootedness in the York community will not protect us.

Sexual assault and rape at York is done by people from York. We’re angry because we want to trust the people we live, work and study with. We want to be in a community that does not tell us, tacitly or officially, “don’t get raped,” but instead, values women enough to say, “don’t rape.” Rape is not accidental, and it is not isolated. It thrives in a culture that is tolerant of violence, especially violence against women. Currently, it thrives here, at York.

We want this culture to change, and that takes work. Security cameras and extra lighting are not the kind of “vigilance” we need.

We want to feel safe and respected. So you be vigilant: don’t rape.

The GWSSA


- Alice