The Day after IWD

IWD and Feminist Coming Out Day were kind of like Christmas to me. The buildup was filled with excitement and anticipation. And just like the day after Christmas or your birthday, I felt the sadness that the day had passed and wondered if we would remember in a week all the important sentiments the day signifies. I still felt inspired by all yesterday’s pro-woman activism, news, and events when I woke up this morning…until I saw the email circulated by fraternity brothers at USC.

If I could speak to these boys (because, let’s be honest, they are FAR from being men), I would say the following:

Dear kappa sigma brother(s) at USC,
This is FUCKING DISGUSTING. I hope your fraternity chapter is suspended. You seriously wrote this: “Non-consent and rape are two different things. There is a fine line, so make sure not to cross it.” This actually makes me nauseous; you are an embarrassment to the people (men AND women) who work to end sexual violence. I hope your mothers, sisters, girlfriends, female friends, and enlightened male friends see this and are horrified that they associate with someone like you.

With a fuck you,
Morgan

The dis-membering of women in this email by referring to only their body parts demonstrates to me how the objectification and devaluation of women’s lives STILL exist. So to anyone who was wondering yesterday why we still need an International Women’s Day and a Feminist Coming Out Day:  THIS IS WHY.

Sidenote: Kappa Sigma at my undergraduate institution had a reputation as the “rape fraternity” and I find it fascinating that this happened within the same fraternity at another institution.