Negative attitudes spawn
negative behavior
The Emerald ran a letter regarding rape culture at the University. The author complained all men are treated as perpetuating this culture solely because we have penises (“A penis is not guilt by association,” ODE, Feb. 15). As a male student and a member of the Sexual Wellness Awareness Team, I find this argument ignorant of the real issues of sexual violence on campus. The majority of men don’t rape, and it’s wrong to classify all men based on the atrocious actions of some.
Rape culture isn’t the result of all men raping, it’s the result of attitudes like the one in that letter, of non-rapists who don’t consider the fight against sexual violence their problem. Instead of confronting the objectification of women, many take part in it (calling someone a “pimp,” for example) and think we’re immune to criticism because we’ve never violated anyone. This attitude creates a society where men often see women as sexual objects; consequently, some men don’t believe they need consent to get what they want from a woman sexually.
The attitude of some men that “it’s not our problem” is why one in six college women will be sexually assaulted. As men who don’t rape and don’t want to be treated as assault perpetrators, it’s our duty to join women in the fight for a society where women are treated as sexual equals.
This isn’t to make sex better just for women, but to make it more enjoyable and healthier for both partners.
John Fillmore
senior
business administration
University needs to play fair
with neighborhoods
Now that the University planning and housing departments have changed their proposed day care center site location to the homes of other students, do you think they will invite the families that were told to leave their homes for the first site back? I don’t think so. That might interfere with University Housing Director Mike Eyster’s plan to replace fifteen family homes with a new matching vinyl mega-complex. If most of the Moss Street homes sit empty until further notice, there will be far less opposition when the University rolls in to tear them down.
Congrats to University President Dave Frohnmayer for committing to turn over a new leaf on the University human rights record. A great start would be to allow University student families on housing department waiting lists to occupy twenty homes, most that have been empty for years.
Don’t block affordable labor of historic preservation students from showing that 100-year-old neighborhood the respect it deserves.
Zachary Vishanoff
Eugene