No One Should Be Laughing

I went into the "Building a Safe Community" meeting during first-year orientation week desperately wanting to absorb all that I could. I tried to listen to the messages that the various peer-counseling groups presented and ignore the distractions of the two girls whispering in front of me and the guy next to me cracking his neck and smirking in between his sighs of boredom. The presentation did not focus on addressing the gravity of sexual violence, but raised comical questions about whether or not a woman lying down on a man's bed and winking constitutes "asking for it." Although all the groups had the best of intentions, the short skits trivialized the serious issues they were addressing.

Concerned about the lack of serious discussion about the very real issue of sexual violence, I asked several of my classmates what their thoughts were on the meeting. One said she found the skits entertaining and felt they did not focus enough on the "message that rape is not the woman's fault." Another friend found the meeting "a little silly." and continued, "Everyone was laughing, including the actors." This approach, according to my friend, "makes it seem like calling the number is a joke. I don't want to call that number."

I was shocked to hear that one in four college women have experienced rape or attempted rape since age 14, but disappointed that Peer Relations Date Rape Education (PRDRE) did not address this statistic but rather moved on to propose a series of amusing questions about what constitutes date rape. One of the boys who lives across the hall from me said, "although they were taking the problem seriously, the atmosphere wasn't serious."

Even though this meeting and the Sexual Assault/Sexual Harassment (SASH) Advisor program are an important beginning step, Harvard needs to address the needs of its female students with more direct action. Harvard presents an attitude that each student must "find her own way." This attitude neglects the needs of both first-years and women in post-traumatic stress situations. Women who have been sexually assaulted are not in the position to read through a pamphlet for help or seek out a SASH tutor. Harvard needs a stronger support network of counseling, outreach and sexual violence education to prevent sexual violence and to ensure that women who are victims of sexual aggression have a clear place to turn and an unquestioned knowledge of where to turn in such a situation.

When I spoke with several of the women in my dorm about their understanding of the resources available for women at Harvard, I received discouraging responses. My roommate knew that the SASH tutor for our yard is actually our proctor who lives downstairs, but she was unsure of what exactly that meant. Two of my friends who live upstairs knew who the contact person was but could not envision themselves talking to her. Although in my dorm we live with our SASH advisor, the students in most first-year dorms have never met the person they are supposed to turn to if they are the victims of sexual violence.

It is difficult for most first-year women to envision themselves as victims of sexual violence in this community that is supposed to be a safe home for the next four years, but we must all face the reality of sexual violence in our society. As Peer Relations Date Rape Education (PRDRE) reported at the "Safe Community" meeting, the beginning of college is statistically the time a student has the highest risk for being affected by sexual assault. This is a situation that Harvard University must face head on and deal with to create a truly "safe community" for all its students.

The general sentiment among most first-years I encountered was that although the idea of a "Safe Community" meeting is a good one, the issues could be addressed in a more appropriate format. One person commented that the speakers needed to "talk to us more, be real and not make a joke of it." This University, which is supposed to be one of the best in the world, has no clear dedication to the serious issues affecting women undergraduates. Harvard University needs to take sexual violence seriously and address this problem by improving the education during first-year orientation week, increasing student awareness of the availability of Sexual Assault/ Sexual Harassment (SASH) Advisors and ensuring that all students know where to go if they are victims of sexual violence.

Two and a half weeks into my life as a Harvard student, I am still overwhelmed by everything going on here. I hesitate to criticize this new community but the lack of education and awareness regarding sexual violence I have observed here is disappointing and frightening. As a community and an institution of higher learning, we need to address these issues assertively and work to raise the general level of concern about sexual violence at Harvard and elsewhere.

Irene B. Janis is a first-year in Wigglesworth Hall. She is a member of Coalition Against Sexual Violence.