If you or a friend were sexually assaulted, where would you go?If you are a student on Marquette’s campus, chances are you do not know the answer to this question. The reason? Marquette does not have a safe place for women to seek help after a traumatic event such as a sexual assault.This is why Marquette needs a Women’s Resource Center. Such a place would have friendly, knowledgeable staff with the answers to questions about sexual assault, as well as other vital issues women must deal with in our day-to-day lives: stalking, discrimination, women’s health and wellness, sexual harassment, and a host of other topics. It would be a safe place for women to get real information and tangible resources, such as a lending library, phone contacts, and informational brochures and programs. It would ensure that programs such as HAVEN and V.O.I.C.E. are better equipped to do the amazing work that they do, and might (do I dare hope?) inspire Marquette to formulate a comprehensive policy on sexual violence. (Y’all should check out the policy in the Marquette planner—it’s vague and about one-quarter (or less) the length of any other university’s policy.)If we want to see a Resource Center on campus, however, we have to make the administration aware not only of the pressing need at Marquette but also demonstrate an ENORMOUS amount of student enthusiasm. (Enough enthusiasm to warrant scare-CAPS, guys!)So, get excited, get enthused, and prepare for more forthcoming information on the campaign for a Resource Center!P.S.: If you want to read a story that will show you exactly WHY Women’s Resource Centers are necessary things on (more than) occasionally-misogynistic college campuses, here’s an interesting link about frat boys harassing a Women’s Resource Center.
Filed under: Resource Center, Uncategorized | Tagged: student involvement, Women's Resource Center
Dashaway
femmemeister
Bento
How about going to the local emergency room when sexually assaulted?
Is a WRC staffed with qualified individuals to properly handle a rape case?
Also, if one fosters an US (women) versus THEM (men) policy in life; you shouldn’t be surprised when it backfires on you now and then. The victim card seems to be accepted less and less nowadays.
A WRC seems separatist as well. Shouldn’t a student resource center encompass all race, gender, and class?
The policies and practices that divide us make us weaker as a society, I think.
rb, a resource center would provide…*drum roll pleas*… RESOURCES, not treatment. Here’s an example of a *resource* for you: information of WHERE your ‘local emergency room’ is. Chances of rape are highest during a women’s first few months on campus–naturally then, since she may not be familiar with the area, she may not be *aware* of the closest sexual assault treatment center. A center that houses this information is just one of the many resources it could offer.
“The victim card seems to be accepted less and less nowadays.”
Please don’t start spouting rape myths, but if you do, all the more reason for a space that provides programming on sexual violence AWARENESS and PREVENTION.
“A WRC seems separatist as well. Shouldn’t a student resource center encompass all race, gender, and class?”
A WRC is not separatist. But if it makes you feel better, refer to the post above which proposes calling the center something like a gender relations resource center. Whatever the case, it would have the same mission and in no way would it be “separatist.” Quite inclusive actually. Take for example the issue of sexual violence. 99% of perpetrators of sexual violence are men, yet historically the problem has been referred to as a “women’s issue.” Maybe we should be thinking of it as a “men’s issue” if we want to work to stop it which can be done by examining our popular social constructions of masculinity that feed into this notion of violence and produces a rape prone culture. A center like this would work on issues of RELATIONS between genders (no ‘us v. them’ situation here) and how negative relations produce problems like sexism, heterosexism, and sexual violence. This isn’t a partisan or divisive issue. We all need to work together to solve these problems as they affect everyone. I wonder why you seem so adamant against supporting a place that would work to do just that.
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