Conservative take on sexual assault harms efforts to fix problems

The Digital Collegian (Penn State) ^ | Friday, April 15, 2005 | editorial

[Willie Green]

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.

Irony has never been so transparent.

The visit of conservative and self-proclaimed anti-feminist Phyllis Schlafly to Penn State Wednesday has been denied by Young Americans for Freedom as a counter to Take Back the Night but acknowledged as a "happy coincidence."

While 200 people marched through campus to fight rape and sexual assault, Schlafly spoke to a group of 100 listeners about why women should carry guns to deter such crime.

The absurdity that 20,000 female college students should need to carry firearms to protect themselves from rape is as obvious as it is outrageous.

In fact, it is hardly worth a rebuttal.

Truth is, rape and sexual assault are not political issues. They are issues of safety. No woman, conservative or liberal, should need to carry concealed weapons to ensure her safety.

Despite not mentioning Take Back the Night during her speech, Schlafly's presence on campus clearly demonstrates the need for such activism.

Those who participated in Take Back the Night should be commended for taking a stand against an issue that is too often ignored by public officials.

And those participants should be motivated by the festering ignorance of public figures such as Schlafly, who uses hypocrisy to gain a following.

This woman, who holds a law degree and was appointed to the Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution from 1985 to 1991 by President Ronald Reagan, says that women should stay home instead of pursuing a career.

It is ridiculous to ask women, half of this country's work force, to delay their careers until each of their children graduates from high school.

Schlafly said in her speech that feminists seek preferential treatment for women, not equality for all. She even said that feminism is the "big lie of the century." This is a statement made out of pure ignorance of the feminist movement. Ask any women's studies professor or student.

"Feminism," along with liberalism, has been thrown into the grab bag of progressive terms that have been twisted into carrying a negative connotation.

To be a feminist does not require one to participate in bra burning and flag-waving protests. So-called anti-feminists such as Schlafly perpetuate the myth of feminists being radical women.

True feminists speak up when they encounter discrimination. They fight for equality of all people, and they hold peaceful demonstrations against sexual assault. Feminism is about equal opportunity for women, gays and lesbians, minorities, and any other oppressed group.

Anything else is a lie.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

And they are basically guilty of doing the very same thing that they are trying to stop.
They are forcing something on someone without their consent or not.

[Old anti feminist]

A..H..., I am not talking about rape! Women have great power to avoid getting into these situations. For God's sake I am a women and know what I am saying!

[freepatriot32]

ping to one of the dumbest articles ive read in a long time it took 5 minutes of my life i will never get back and several brain cells commited suicide to get out of reading the whole article and im kinda jealous of them now.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

Rebuttal to my post:
A example of the PC crowd forcing something on someone or the public without their consent:
Some states have had elections on Same Sex Marriage Bans ( whom the majority of the public have overwhelmingly voted for it ) but, the Libs/Gay agenda with their tyrannical judges cohorts have over ruled the publics consent on the issue, therefore, allowed ( forced the public ) to allow Gay couples to marry.
Therefore, it is basically a raping of the public by the Gay agenda, and the tyrannical judges, forcing the public to accept Gay marriage.

[absalom01]

Excellent choice.

One hopes to never need it, but better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

As I pointed out to my sweetie many years ago, "You get a lot farther with "NO" and a .38 than just "NO""

/cliches

[freepatriot32]

I just emailed the editor in cheif of the webpaper this pic

you can email him anything you want at at

jyoung@psu.edu

let him no there are still MEN and women around that wantot do evverything in thier power to make sure all women are protected from sexual predators an d that real mena and women do do everything they can to disarm potential victims because we as conservatives love women more then we love gaining the political power that you get from disarming everyone so they have to relay on the govemrnt to protect them since its illegal to protect themselves .

[freepatriot32]

and that real mena and women do do everything they can to disarm potential victims

Suppose to read dont do i gotta start proofreading before posting lol

[goldstategop]

Liberals can be so funny. They dismiss the importance of self-protection. Its so much easier to be a victim than to stand up for yourself. Hey, if they want to be targets, that's their affair. What it doesn't do is give them the right to tell me I can't defend myself from the bad guys because they have a problem with it.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[goldstategop]

Appeals to mercy works on decent people lik us in the forum. The odds are it won't work on a sociopath who has no conscience and can do anything he wants. If an unarmed woman is unfortunate enough to encounter a serial rapist, she'll be wondering for the rest of her life why she wasn't armed. Whoever wrote self-protection won't help women be empowered, has never run into a criminal and what the heck do you expect of a bunch of college kids? Its an editorial that from top to bottom, makes no sense whatsoever.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[GladesGuru]

The best answer to editorials such as this one is Katie Roiphe's book titled "The Morning After:Sex fear and feminism".

Even urban campuses like Columbia University could be much safer if both the general citizenry of NYC and the student population at Columbia were able to opt for having a gun.

[colorado tanker]

I had an interesting talk a few years ago with a woman judge who got a concealed carry permit from the local liberal police department back in the days when they wouldn't allow ordinary citizens to have them. She talked about the instant transformation she experienced when she was carrying, basically no longer walking the street in fear. I wondered, what if most women carried? Rapists would either have a very high death rate or would change their behavior. What's wrong with that?

[goldstategop]

Nothing. A thing like simple logic is lost on brain-dead college kids.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)