Editor in chief: Laura Cadiz
Editorial Editors: Bret Jacobson, Laura Lucas
Newsroom: (541)346-5511
Room 300, Erb Memorial Union
P.O. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403
E-mail: ode@oregon.uoregon.edu
Monday
May 22,2000
Volume 101, Issue 157
EiWerakl
Men, speak out
Men can be victims of rape too, and most importantly, they can be vital components to stopping sex crimes against both genders
Men are almost always the perpetrators of rape and can often be the vic
tims of the crime, despite some long-held notions to the contrary. Orga
nizations such as Sexual Assault Support Services are attempting to
educate and raise awareness that rape is a major men’s issue. Men
are becoming aware of the problem of rape and trying to stop it.
It’s a positive trend that people accept that there is sexual assault
against males and that they need support just like female victims. Men
go through the same terrible shame and humiliation as their female
counterparts but are often expected to be tougher and get over those
feelings faster. Male-targeted sexual crimes often are not consid
ered “sexual offenses” under the law but, rather, assault cases.
This is testament to the old notions that men aren’t often vic
tims of rape.
Groups such as SASS play an important part in challeng
ing those harmful stereotypes and offering a new perspec
tive for those who don’t realize men can be sexual assault
victims. Changing any perception is arduous, difficult
work that will take tremendous effort from dedicated
people, but accepting the idea of men as rape victims
could be especially hard because it deals with the social
roles of gender.
Most of the male survivors of sexual assault cases
who go to SASS were abused as children, as is the case
with women. Getting people educated to that fact will
ideally help prevent future assaults by making sure
child victims of abuse are treated as early as possible.
The classic ideas about male-on-female rape are
also changing. While until recently men weren’t ex
pected to do much to prevent rape except not commit
the crime themselves, women were expected to take
the responsibility of rape prevention and self-defense
classes. Those low expectations for men and absurd
ly high expectations for women in preventing sexual
assault are ridiculous and should have their end in
sight as signaled by groups such as Men Against Sex
ism, which tries to focus attention on efforts men can
make to stop rape.
The group tries to redefine the classic idea of mas
culinity and hopes men can be seen as unique indi
viduals who want to share their emotions. They were
involved in the Take Back the Night celebration and
women’s issues overall. They also claim that more
men are showing interest and support for women
and the Take Back the Night event.
These are just small first steps in tackling the prob
lem of rape. The efforts by men to take responsibility
for the problems of sexual assault, along with raised
awareness about the role of men as victims, are note
worthy efforts that should be applauded, and more
importantly, continued.
This editorial represents the view of the Emerald editorial board.
Responses may be sent to ode@oregon.uoregon.edu.
Giovanni Salimena Emerald
Letters to the editor
Men can stop sex abuse
Over 98 percent of all sexual as
saults are perpetrated by men.
This statistic is shocking and proba
bly a little unnerving for most men,
but it deserves serious attention if we
are ever to effectively confront sexual
abuse. With Sexual Assault Aware
ness Month upon us, I wanted to
write a letter that would help to locate
men within the conversation about
“violence against women” and to talk
frankly about what it is that men need
to do to help eradicate sexual abuse in
our society.
There is nothing inherent in men
that causes them to rape women. It is,
instead, the lessons that men learn in
our society about their supposed “nat
ural tendencies” that gives them the
idea that sexual coercion and assault
are ever justifiable. This ideology is
one of the primary reasons we see so
many instances of sexual abuse per
petrated by men.
As long as men believe that they are
unable to control their sex drives,
they will continue to feel justified in
making sexist jokes, leering at
women, coercing a drunken date to
have sex and raping women.
On May 23 at 2 p.m. in the EMU
Ben Linder Room, there will be a
workshop on “Men’s Role in Ending
Sexual Assault.” This discussion for
men provides a powerful opportuni
ty for men to stand in solidarity with
women against the problem of male
violence against women and to en
gage in dialogue with other men about
this issue and what we as men can do
to stop the violence.
Sean Potts
UO Men Against Sexism
Aren’t we here to learn?
We are writing this letter to share
our disgust with the behavior of cer
tain members of the University com
munity regarding Students for the
Ethical Treatment of Animals’ 100
hour vigil. Although we recognize
that many people believe animal
rights are a controversial issue, people
would be better off educating them
selves than engaging in the immature
behavior that we witnessed.
As participants of the vigil, we ex
perienced everything from rude and
sarcastic remarks to having raw meat
and firecrackers thrown at us. We
were compared to Nazis (we are still
not sure where the logic of this con
nection is), and there were attempts to
steal some of our possessions. It is ob
vious that such individuals engage in
these activities because they feel
threatened and have no logical way to
back up their opinions. SETA wel
comes intelligent discussion of ani
mal rights issues (this is one of the
main purposes of the cage), but com
ments such as “Umm, this is a good
burger, want some?” do not qualify.
This group of students (99.9 per
cent white males) were attempting to
anger us and belittle our ideas. In
stead, they proved to us that they
have no educated viewpoints about
why animal rights are not an impor
tant and necessary issue. We are not
writing this letter to whine. Rather,
we are disappointed that on a Univer
sity campus there are people who
would rather degrade themselves to
throwing water balloons than allow
themselves to learn about something
that might cause them to change their
ideologies and behaviors.
Jennifer Neary
Sara Stewart
Rocky Stewart
SETA
Thumbs
To opportunity
abounding
The unemploy
ment rate in Lane
County fell to 5.1
percent in April,
reflecting a trend
throughout the na
tion toward more
jobs, according to
the Oregon Em
ployment Depart
ment.
To surviving in
style
Nine students
wounded in the
Columbine High
School shootings
graduated Satur
day in Columbine’s
class of 2000.
To a fiery faux pas
interior Secretary
Bruce Babbitt said
Thursday that the
government is
wholly to blame
for flawed thinking
that led to the Los
Alamos, N.M.,
fires. However,
Babbitt said the
government would
do whatever possi
ble to compensate
victims.
To the final lie
Researchers pre
sented a study to
the American Soci
ety for Clinical On
cology saying that
terminally ill can
cer patients rarely
get a straight an
swer when they
ask their doctors
how long they
have to live. Ac
cordingtothe
study, doctors ei
ther lie or refuse to
say.