from.the.passenger.seat.

BRAVE Violates Consent Law while Promoting Consent »

bewires:

A few important clarifications about this article

(please note, I am writing this for and by myself and not as regards my affiliation with BRAVE)

• The law was not technically broken. The passages of the law mentioned ban sexual material; the point of the posters was to demonstrate that there is a difference between a naked and a sexual body, which ought to be respected far more than the trappings of rape culture currently do. Administration’s stance was that whether or not the law was actually being broken was a little too risky on the same weekend that FOX news had their eye on bard

• It is not a consent law. Consent laws concern rape and assault, and affiliating public decency misdemeanors (misdemeanors, not laws, by the way. There’s a difference) cheapens the hard work that went into creating events like Slut Walk and Take Back the Night. Yes, there were complaints about the posters as offensive or forcing people to confront issues like rape and assault, but NOT TALKING about these issues is part of the cause. Anyone who was personally offended or triggered, I am very sorry you had to go through that, but I maintain that nothing can change if it isn’t talked about. Additionally, there are a lot of resources available to help with issues such as triggering.

• Slut Walk had over  50 participants. More than fifty, I repeat. That is amazing for a Bard event that isn’t a party, and I personally am very happy with how it went and that we managed to pull it together. In future, we will plan it better (I know there were complaints the route wasn’t announced in advance, that will be different in the future). Ultimately, THAT is what was important to me in the lead-up and execution of the event. The issue with the posters was irksome and regrettable, but as was said by most of the people interviewed here, which the article chose to ignore, the fact that Slut Walk was such a success is far more important.

• The Free Press asked to have some of the image files of the posters for the article, and were denied as the article was purportedly about Slut Walk rather than about the posters. Clearly that didn’t happen. Instead, they used an image pulled off Overhead at Bard on Facebook, depicting one of the posters. They did not ask for permission for this. Keep in mind that all the posters do depict BRAVE members; members who go to school here and have pictures they took for a good cause put in a newspaper and on the internet without their permission, and in an article that sidelines the cause for which the pictures were taken.

This is important.