Reconsidering how we discuss gender violence

Dear Monday Monday,

I think the way you have chosen to use the Monday, Monday column as a forum to discuss feminist issues on campus is interesting. From one woman to another, I want to ask you to consider something as you go forward writing this column.

Please be careful what you choose to write about this semester. Satire, as a form of comedy, can inadvertently trivialize enormously serious issues. For example, you casually pass over the topic of sexual assault, by asking your readership, “Who is responsible for all the rapes… on this campus?” For those who haven’t experienced rape personally, or discussed it with a friend who has, rape jokes (and satire as a form of comedy) can perpetuate a larger series of tropes, stereotypes and trivializations around sexual assault, victims and perpetrators. When we make a joke about something like this, we are perpetuating the notion that we don’t have to take the issue seriously, or that all perpetrators and victims can be categorized in the same way. But you, as a feminist woman, know that we do have a problem of sexual assault both on Duke’s campus and worldwide. It’s an enormously complex issue that can’t hold individuals of a single identity group responsible. By making jokes about topics like sexual assault, we’re simply ignoring the reality of this all, which is that sexual assault changes lives for its male and female victims drastically, irreversibly and in personal and extremely intimate ways.

From what you have written about, I can tell that you are very aware of gender issues on campus, especially referencing the invisible backpack metaphor of oppression. I don’t want to ask you to stop writing satire; I think you can create a funny column that fosters healthy campus change, but just keep in mind this friendly reminder: Writing about these sensitive issues in a column trivially could easily make them seem that much more trivial to others who read your work. It is important to keep in mind that this trivialization can inevitably be subliminally accepted by some of these readers, who, perhaps unlike you, might not be as aware of the truly devastating impact of sexual assault, relationship abuse and other acts of gender violence we see both on campus and universally.

Megan Weinand, Trinity ’12