Itty Bitty Goes to Uni

Itty Bitty's gr. 11 class went on a field trip to UWO today, the grand finale being a 3 hour psych lecture at MY campus, one floor up from where I was in lecture.



I was a giggly fool all day, 'cuz I had PLANS with Itty Bitty. See, Itty Bitty has an interest in Law (from a purely social justice framework of course, otherwise I'd have to drown him) and there just happened to be two fantastic lectures on Main campus this evening that we attended.



The first one was the presentation of a paper by Pamela Cross--a feminist lawyer--called "The Vengeful C**t Asked for It: Constructions of Women as Evil in Our Analysis of Rape ". One of the audience members mentioned this little gem that has been making the rounds of feminist philosophy depts:

How to Prevent Rape

A lot has been said about how to prevent rape. Women should learn self-defense. Women should lock themselves in their houses after dark. Women shouldn’t wear short skirts. Women shouldn’t leave drinks unattended. Perhaps they shouldn’t dare to get drunk at all. Instead of further curtailing women’s freedom, how about:

If a woman is drunk, don’t rape her.

If a woman is walking alone at night, don’t rape her.

If a women is drugged and unconscious, don’t rape her

.If a woman is wearing a short skirt, don’t rape her.

If a woman is jogging in a park at 5 am, don’t rape her.

If a woman looks like your ex-girlfriend you’re still hung up on, don’t rape her.

If a woman is asleep in her bed, don’t rape her.

If a woman is asleep in your bed, don’t rape her.

If a woman is doing her laundry, don’t rape her.

If a woman is in a coma, don’t rape her.

If a woman changes her mind in the middle of or about a particular activity, don’t rape her.

If a woman has repeatedly refused a certain activity, don’t rape her.
If a woman is not yet a woman, but a child, don’t rape her.

If your girlfriend or wife is not in the mood, don’t rape her.

If your step-daughter is watching tv, don’t rape her.

If you break into a house and find a woman there, don’t rape her.

If your friend thinks it’s okay to rape someone, tell him it’s not, and that he’s not your friend.
If your “friend” tells you he raped someone, report him to the police.

If your frat-brother or another guy at the party tells you there’s an unconscious woman upstairs and it’s your turn, don’t rape her, call the police and tell the guy he’s a rapist.
Tell your sons, god-sons, nephews, grandsons, sons of friends it’s not okay to rape someone.
Don’t tell your women friends how to be safe and avoid rape.

Don’t imply that she could have avoided it if she’d only done/not done x.

Don’t imply that it’s in any way her fault.

Don’t let silence imply agreement when someone tells you he “got some” with the drunk girl.

Don’t perpetuate a culture that tells you that you have no control over or responsibility for your actions.

You can, too, help yourself.

It was fascinating, and I'm pleased that Itty Bitty was interested and challenged.

Next we were off to hear Professor Jeremy Waldron, Professor of Law and Philosophy at New York University speak on the topic "Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment: The Words Themselves".

We really enjoyed our adventure today! It certainly brightened up my otherwise rotten November.