We Need Sexual Violence Awareness

To the editors:

In yestersday’s column “Violence and Valentine’s,” Stephen E. Sachs ’02 raises some important issues but ultimately misses the point of V-day and the Coalition Against Sexual Violence (CASV) poster campaign. To be fair, Sachs is correct about many things in his column. First, he is right to suggest that awareness about sexual assault should not be limited to Valentine’s Day. The reason Valentine’s Day is “uniquely suited” for remembering sexual assault is precisely because it is the perfect opportunity to remind ourselves what love is, and more pressingly what love is not: love is not violence, love is not disrespecting people’s bodies and decisions, and love is not pressuring someone into sex because you bought her flowers. Unfortunately, many times acts of violence such as rape are committed under the guise of “love.”

In reality, these actions have nothing to do with love, but rather are about power, fear, and false ideas of entitlement. While we take Valentine’s Day to remember the difference between love and violence, we hope that the V-day initiative will inspire people to think about and take actions against sexual assault every day of the year, as Sachs asks.

Sachs is also correct that as part of the fight against rape and sexual assault we need to find “real solutions.” CASV advocates changing both Harvard’s sexual assault policy and laws in nations around the world. However, the purpose of our V-day campaign was not to highlight those efforts, but to raise awareness about the prevalence of sexual assault, both on Harvard’s campus and around the world. We also hoped to show that many victims never report their assaults to the police, that many more people are victims of rape and sexual violence than one may estimate and that many rapes are committed by acquaintances, friends and significant others. Without awareness of how grave and widespread this issue is, it will be impossible to change policies and laws, even at Harvard.

Sachs is mistaken in his claim that raising awareness is only a means to an end. He argues that the only message he sees in the posters is “don’t be a sexual predator”—and that this message is insulting. However, I would argue that raising awareness is the key to ending sexual violence. Ultimately, no law or policy can truly stop rape and sexual assault. For rape to disappear from any society, there needs to be a change in the mindset of individuals who believe that they are “entitled” to women’s (and men’s) bodies. No one has the right to disrespect the body or decision of another person—even if that person has been drinking, even if that person invited you into her or his room or even if that person is your spouse. We applaud individuals like Sachs who already practice this mindset of respect and speak out against individuals who commit these actions. But until every individual adopts this mindset, rape will still exist in society, no matter what the laws say. And as long as people continue to commit sexual assault, CASV will continue its fight to raise awareness about sexual violence—in the hopes that some day, our work will finally be complete.

Betty C. Luther ’03

Feb. 19, 2002

The writer is a member of the Coalition Against Sexual Violence.