American University Paper Runs Rape Apologist Column

by Roxann MtJoy · 2010-03-31 08:00:00 +0200
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It looks like Washington D.C. colleges are a hot bed of sexual health issues this week. The same weekend that that Georgetown University students chained themselves to a statue to protest lack of birth control access on campus, a student-run newspaper at American University published a column that blames feminists and gay-rights activists for taking the fun out of sex and questions the validity of date rape.

American Univesity paper The Eagle ran Alex Knepper's column "Dealing with AU's anti-sex brigade" on Sunday. In it, Knepper makes such enlightened observations as "the goal of contemporary feminism and Gay Party activism is not to explain sex, but to abolish its passion," and "Feminism envisions a bedroom scene in which two amorphous, gender-neutral blobs ask each other 'Is this OK with you?'" And here I thought feminists and LGTBQ activists just envisioned a world where everyone was treated equally and fairly.

Moreover, Knepper seems to think that sexual consent is tricky subject that feminists let get in the way of all the sexual good times. He claims that date rape is an "incoherent concept" and establishing consent in casual sexual relationships can be hard. Funny, "yes" and "no" seem like fairly easy to understand concepts. He writes: "Let’s get this straight: any woman who heads to an EI party as an anonymous onlooker, drinks five cups of the jungle juice, and walks back to a boy’s room with him is indicating that she wants sex, OK?"

Thankfully, I am not the only person to think Knepper's column is outrageous. An anonymous member of the American University community removed The Eagle from newsstands and posted signs saying "No Room for Rape Apologists." Others piled a few thousand copies of the issues against the door of the editor's office. On Thursday, The Eagle plans to run a column by Women's Initiative Director Sarah Brown to counter the one written by Knepper.  While I hardly think that any of this will get through to Knepper, I do hope that it gets people thinking more critically about the issues of date rape, feminism, and masculinity. Knepper has got it wrong on all three counts.

Photo credit: Maria Cabello

Roxann MtJoy is a freelance writer who previously worked as a case manager at a domestic violence shelter. She is currently attending graduate school for theater in Mount Vernon, N.Y.
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