Rehashing issue won't help
Joshua Warner
Sophomore, Zahm Hall
I feel compelled, after Mr. Reyes' article, ("Men's Silence" April 9, 2000) to say a few things. I am not concerned about the lack of men's voices regarding the rape issue. I don't think rehashing the issue of rape in the next two months of Observers will do anything to either eliminate rape or help heal the people actually involved. At this point, it may hinder that healing process. It is a hard call to make.
On the one hand, awareness of rape is absolutely important. But at some point, we stop using The Observer to heighten awareness and start using it to simply vent our own opinions about issues. One is about information, the other is about hearing ourselves debate. We boil one incident of rape down to an opportunity for the whole campus to tell one young woman what we think she should do, and how everyone should respond to the issue. In being so inconsiderate of the emotional strain involved, we remove the victim and the perpetrator from the equation altogether. To talk too much about the issue of rape is to distract from the real issue at hand: the assault to the victim's, and the perpetrator's, dignity.
Many people on this campus have a problem with rape, but think pornography is just fine. There is no difference between denying the sanctity of a woman's body with our eyes, and denying it with our actions. This is the real issue we should all be confronting. Even with increased awareness, we will not eliminate rape until we grant everyone their inherent dignity.
At this point, it is silly to waste more Observer space talking about the issue of rape. We ought to be about the business of educating ourselves about rape, not reacting to the sensationalism generated by this fine student-run publication. We ought to be about the business of granting people's inherent dignity, and praying that we don't deny it to ourselves. We should simply be quiet, and support the victim and the perpetrator.
Talk is cheap, friends — cheap and powerless. But we are not.
All Viewpoint Stories for Thursday, April 13, 2000
