The Bowdoin Orient

April 13, 2001
Volume CXXXII, Number 21

A Sympathetic Reaction is not Enough

   In bringing Dr. Gail Dines to campus this past week, Safe Space performed a great service to the Bowdoin community. Most people did not agree with everything Dines said, and some people agreed with nothing she said. However, for the first time in a long time, there was standing room only in Kresge Auditorium, and not for a concert or play, but for a lecture addressing the issue of violence against women.
   Although the general Bowdoin population is tolerant of groups such as Safe Space, the Bowdoin Women's Association, and WARRIORS, it is rare that students move beyond a general recognition of an issue to question the origins of such problems. When a student publicly shares his or her experience of surviving sexual assault or abuse, or some other type of socially influenced trauma, a collective sympathy is usually expressed by most of the student body. However, such sympathy is rarely translated into self-reflection or an actual deconstruction of the issue.
   In attending Dines's lecture, students were forced not only to acknowledge that yes, violence against women is bad, but they were challenged to think about why then, such a problem persists. Maybe Dines doesn't have all of the answers, or at least the correct ones, but she offered plenty of evidence which suggests there is an urgent need to begin critically thinking about the way in which our individual actions reinforce the culture at large, and thus, the persistence of sexual and physical violence against both women and men.
   If the student body cannot, or will not, acknowledge and work to eliminate sexual violence at Bowdoin, then there is nothing exceptional, smart, or prestigious about this institution. If you degrade or threaten women, treat them as sexual objects, or if you chastise or attack men who challenge such behavior, you have no place at Bowdoin.
   Why are members of the student body so hesitant to make such definitive statements? Perhaps out of fears-the fear of social alienation, ruining one's reputation or romantic prospects or fears of being verbally or physically attacked. After all, Bowdoin is a small place, and working for change, especially radical change, can be a lonely endeavor if most of the campus is unwilling to participate, regardless of their beliefs.
   However, just because people seem to accept or even thrive on the dominant culture, does not mean this is the case. Too may students wonder why, if they are adhering to the prescribed gender norms and sexual conduct of the dominant Bowdoin culture, they feel so bad while everyone else appears so content. But when the keg runs dry and students find themselves in a state of sober solitude, the memory of last night's hook-up, sexual or emotional mistreatment, or mere witness of degrading or violent behavior, causes most students to feel anything but content.