Though we haven't done much discussion in this class on gender and how it directly relates to the pervasive rape culture of our school (and our country), I thought it would be timely to do a post on the recent events and buzz surrounding Michael Dixon.
As everyone at Mizzou now knows, Dixon was named in two separate rape allegations in the past week. Nearly everyone I've spoken with about it is either confused or misinformed about what happened, what it means, and perhaps most importantly, what actually constitutes rape.
The Maneater recently published an editorial addressing many of the arguments that "Dixon supporters" have been using- and shockingly, there are quite a few. The hashtag #FreeMikeDixon has been all over Twitter. The editorial brings up several great points- that reporting rape in this culture that we have created is almost more trouble than it's worth, and inflicts even more pain on the survivor.
It's important to look at the gender constructs that have created this culture... where did it come from? At the very heart of the matter, I believe that most people as humans believe that rape is wrong... so where did these shades of grey and victim blaming come into play? How did we, as gendered and sexualized human beings, get to this point?
Several of our readings have touched on this point, and how we can prevent and hopefully reverse it. Jeanne Flavin suggests that we need to get rid of the "patriarchal structure"and blames it for the unequal and anti-woman culture that we live in. This may be the case... but what steps can we take today to begin reversing this structure? I believe it will take the large amount of men and women who are sick of the horrifyingly frequent sexual assaults and rape on our campus to begin the movement and truly unify us as One Mizzou.
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