CAUTION: This article contains explicit language and discusses cases of sexual violence at Cornell University and the U of M.
As a woman, I am so angry.
I am exhausted of reading the handbook of How Not to Be Murdered 101.
Why am I anticipating a crime a man hasn’t yet committed? or anticipating being followed when alone and walking. “You are alone,” says many universities, for it will be your fault if you are assaulted, harassed and killed because we will make a man who says “Grab her by the pussy” the president of the United States before we believe women.
The system has failed, assaulted and driven over women when they have been kicked down, doubted and blamed women when men assault and kill women “because what in the world was she wearing?”
A bear would not invite 56 of his friends to assault someone, for if a bear were to kill me, he would kill me out of necessity, not for degradation and pleasure. People would believe me if I said I were attacked by a bear — they would euthanize the bear, not make the bear write an essay. In every lifetime I would choose to meet a bear in the forest before I met a man.
Cornell has failed Jane Doe; the system has punished Jane Doe, for they will allow a woman to be assaulted by seven fraternity brothers for seven hours and the punishment will be an essay. These are not the Cornell 7, these are the Cornell rapists. The glamorization of seven in the title turns them into a group of vigilantes — stop giving these men the opportunity to hide behind a showy name and headline. These men are rapists.
We need more men to call out misogyny, bigotry and homophobia, even if it means losing a few friends, because silence is support. After all, not a single member of the 50-person group chat at Cornell reported the assault to police. NOT A SINGLE ONE.
These men were not only complicit in a crime but were invited to join, with the group chat stating, “free pussy upstairs” and asking, “Shop still open?” The definition of a good man cannot simply be not being a rapist.
What exhausts me the most is the collective amnesia. The world forgoes remembering Gisèle Pelicot, the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial which saw all five players acquitted, the Epstein files and the many news articles flashing missing and murdered Indigenous women across the screen of your television. We are sensationalizing male abusers, giving them a platform to degrade, prosecute and attack women. Every month the world is collectively reminded of how women are failed, and we behave as though it’s the very first time.
I have known Jane Doe, all women know a Jane Doe and have heard the stories of Jane Doe. Any woman could be Jane Doe if we chose a different route home, wore different clothes, didn’t guard our drink that night, overlooked carrying pepper spray, forgot to text a friend when we were leaving, forgot to lock our door or made them think “you were asking for it.”
Universities keep promoting the brand and image of community, such as “We are all Bisons,” until you are sexually assaulted.
The U of M continues to deny responsibility for the sexual assault of a female student in Arthur V. Mauro Student Residence, arguing in court the victim is partly to blame for failing to lock her door on the day of the attack on Oct. 25, 2024.
Failure to lock your door should not result in assault. Why should a woman who is a student on your campus have to read a handbook on how not to be assaulted in her own dorm room she pays to be safe in? Where and when did we forgo compassion and security for money making and university aesthetics? Because it doesn’t feel like it’s a big deal until it’s your daughter, your friend, your wife.
Protect your daughter– no, EDUCATE YOUR SON. It is not a woman’s job to avoid assault. It was never about what she was wearing but the inability to hold men accountable. Enough is enough. Not one more Jane Doe.
