I am writing to respond to the Between the Lines column from Feb. 14 entitled Weapons for Valentine's Day. Author Jason Lea decries sexual assault. Victims are clearly identified as women. But which gender is missing here? Who committed the crimes of rape and sexual assault? Not once in the column does he use the words male or men.
We need to state the obvious: 90 percent of all such crimes are committed by men. We must stop using passive language like a woman was raped
especially when we know the gender of the offender, and say instead, two men kidnapped a woman on North Congress Street or, A male stranger raped a woman in Grover Center.
We must get to the bottom of why men feel free to assault women. Men who love their sisters and mothers and female friends must hold other men accountable. Yes, this means challenging crude jokes and locker room bragging, as well as actual assaults they hear about or see their friends commit.
Just as we can understand male pattern baldness as a male problem, we need to explore the reality of male pattern violence which is characterized by its far greater overall prevalence than female pattern violence. It is also often characterized by motivations of aggression, revenge, competition for dominance, competition with other males or feelings of ownership, control or entitlement toward women.
You can stop continually reminding women to be careful, as the author does -we already know all that stuff and have been warned about predatory men since we could walk or talk. Why is there no advice or challenge given to the other half of the population? Why are they not even named?
Yes, women can commit assault, but the focus needs to be on the 90 percent of men. Enough of repeating over and over, but women can be violent
too. No one is saying that all men rape. The point is that it IS mostly men who rape. Note the difference here.
What kind of education is Ohio University providing to make sure men cease this horrific behavior? How could changing the climate here to make it safe for women help OU with recruitment, retention and scholarship? A student I know who was raped in an OU residence hall several years ago was unable to finish the quarter and was totally distracted from her studies for many months while trying to pursue justice in the legal system.
Men, it's time for you to come together at a high level and admit who is doing what to whom and make a plan to stop it. Instead of requiring only women students to attend health education classes at Hudson to get pelvic exams and/or birth control, let's insist all OU male students attend mandatory anti-violence, unlearning male privilege sessions.
To sum up: men can and must acknowledge that it is men who commit sexual assault. You guys who care need to use every opportunity to deal directly with the attitudes and behavior of other men. Will this be hard to do? Probably. You'll get better with practice. Just get started. Men can stop rape.
-Rev. Jan Griesinger is the Director Emerita of United Campus Ministry. Send her an e-mail at aa747@seorf.ohiou.edu.
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