Speaker: Safety tactics ignore real problem of 'rape culture'

While colleges around the nation and beyond are acting to keep women safe on their campuses, many of those actions are not addressing the issues of a "rape culture," Juliette Grimmett, rape survivor, advocate and educator, told a University of Idaho audience Friday.

She was the keynote speaker for Campus Safety Week.

"We have this idea that men are going to rape, and that's how they are," she said. "None of us should be OK with that."

Stanford banned mixed drinks from campus parties, safety apps for smart phones are touted by Elle and PCWorld magazines, and women going out are encouraged to use the buddy system - but the basic issue is not being addressed, she said.

"My assault happened 22 years ago even 22 years later the stories are exactly the same," Grimmett said. "What is missing in our dialogue is accountability."

Grimmett said responses to what she called rape culture are not addressing the problem.

"We're at a party, and there's a group of women that have the buddy system, and one of the women starts drinking and is talking to a guy. He starts touching her and she starts moving away. Her girlfriends see that. They get her and they leave," she said. "What is he going to do?"

"He's going to go to the next person," she said. "To me the fundamental problem to this approach and how we're doing this work is - we're not actually stopping it."

Grimmett said most are aware that men who assault women typically don't only do it once, yet the focus is based on preventing women from being victimized more than putting a stop to the behavior.

"We're focused on, 'lets keep her safe' and he's just going to move on. This has to stop," she said.

Not moving to put a stop to the behaviors that make women "clinch their keys a little bit tighter" when walking alone does nothing to eradicate rape culture, she said.

A rape culture, Grimlett said, is "a society in which prevalent attitudes and practices normalize, excuse, tolerate and even condone rape. A complex set of beliefs that encourages male sexual aggression and supports violence against women at the same time. A society where violence is seen as sexy and sexuality is violent."

Examples of rape culture were seen in media coverage of Old Dominican University in 2015, after photos of signs on campus went viral.

"Rowdy and fun, hope your baby girl is ready for a good time," the signs read. "Freshman daughter drop off, go ahead and drop off mom too."

Grimmett said many were outraged by the signs, but similar photos from other universities can be easily found online.

"They're all over the place," she said. "This is not a new practice."

Other examples Grimmett showed during the talk included college-age men holding and displaying signs with such slogans as, "Thank you fathers for your freshman daughters. She called you daddy for 18 years now its our turn," and "21 to drink 18ish to spend the night #momsdrinkforfree."

It's easy to dismiss the signs as misplaced humor, but a closer look at the intended readers show a more dangerous picture.

"Who are they talking to? Fathers especially. Who are they talking about? Daughters and moms," she said. "I can see these guys making these signs hysterical laughter. They can't wait to put these up, and we oftentimes think, 'They think its funny,' but think how intentional the messages are. We can't set it aside."

She said. "This is rape culture."

Campus Safety Week is held annually in memory of 22-year-old UI graduate student Katy Benoit, who was shot to death at her Moscow home Aug. 11, 2011, by her former professor and lover, Ernesto Bustamante, who killed himself Aug. 12, 2011.

Shanon Quinn can be reached at (208) 883-4636, or by email to squinn@dnews.com.