In February, Jezebel covered a story about a student at Dartmouth College that encouraged the rape of another classmate on an anonymous site. The details of the post is written like an instruction manual on how to rape this particular girl. Here is a sample of what was written:
Start kissing her. She might be reluctant. Just tell her to relax. She’s easily persuaded. Keep on going...Start groping her, then stripping her down. Does this sound rapey?It really isn’t, trust me. She just likes playing hard to get so she might give you a cutesy look and say something like “Let’s do something else.” She’s toying with you....
The post only gets more graphic. The victim of this post is not revealed but states that the author had raped her and has since continued to torment her. She states that when she reported the assault the college did nothing. This is online sexual harassment at its absolute lowest and cruelest level. It is unfortunately common for students to have abusive chatter written about them online. Various girls and boys being called "sluts, fags etc," but to use the campus website to encourage raping another student is psychotic and and has taken online sexual harassment to its absolute depths. This is an example of how consent is still unappreciated, and that the culture of women are just “Playing Hard To Get,” is still EVERYWHERE. A comment on the site reads something like, “I’ve had suitors insist to me that I was ‘playing games’ and ‘playing hard to get’ when I would flat-out tell them I wasn’t interested. There is a certain type of man who hears ‘yes’ no matter how many times the women reiterates ‘no!’” The author of this post has since been identified and has been disciplined. The exact punishment is never stated but chances are that justice will not be served.
Also I'm just going to throw this out there…I did not hear that much coverage on this incident. Did anyone else, or did I just miss this? If it was not as reported then I think Jezebel did right in posting and commenting on this article. I have not read much about this on other feminist sites. But it is an important incident to discuss for not only to spread awareness of online sexual harassment but also to discuss the current and controversial ideas on the Rape Culture that exists today.
Thoughts?
-Maddie xx