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Show j Sexual Assault at the Dance: Patriarchy at Westminster College, or Why Feminism is Still Needed By Hans Romo As the dust settled and the heat dissipated from The Depot this past weekend, one thing was clear: along with the carefree fun, consensual romantic encounters, and other calculated risks college students engage in, came the presence of unwarranted and unjustifiable sexual assault against members of our community by other members of our community. In the immediate aftermath of the Halloween Dance, my conversations with both young men and young women revealed that there was a substantial amount of nonconsensual groping of attendees clothes and various body parts. My purpose in writing this article is to channel my sense of righteous moral outrage into a more productive voice of prophetic realism, along with reason and logic, to present evidence for the greater need of empathy and respect for fellow persons on our campus. Further, a moment must be taken to address the scope and archetypal model this proposition should follow. The tradition began in the realism of Amos, carried on by Elizabeth Stanton and Susan B. Anthony in the 1800s, picked up again by Simone de Beauvoir and Betty Friedan, and most recently led by the impassioned voices of Catherine McKinnon and Andrea Dworkin. Feminism should not be a dirty word, but rather a rallying cry for both women and men to stand on the shoulders of giants that have accomplished work and laid the foundation for todays struggle. Those that tell you today Feminism, defined as the concept and movement directed towards the equality of men and women and greater empathy for ones fellow humanity not the is no common misunderstanding of longer needed or even wanted voice the opinion of man-hatin- g, ignorance and oppression no matter their motivations. Lastly, this brief project seeks not to be right, but rather to spark the needed conversation and informed discussion to discover what is right. As evidence for the continued need of Feminism today, one need look no further than Westminster College campus. Although one might easily present an indictment of this college campus as a whole for its systematic use of patriarchy, often it is easiest, as well as perhaps most meaningful and productive, to attack the open displays of the oppression of women and prevalence of patriarchy where it rears its head. In this instance, the most effective area to present evidence for the degradation of women at this institution is the recent Halloween Dance. In speaking with the young women that attended this recent school function some of whom demonstrated rage, Westminster College, not as an institution but in some abstract use of the term, has demonstrated its need for continuing Feminist voices. That of which is being spoken of is not some sense of Victorian era morality that states women are not to be sexual beings precluding them from engaging in certain behaviors or modes of dress, but in the sense of the masculine notion whether alcohol induced or not that one has a right to another individuals body consent to have and need not receive physical interaction. Nor is the stance that this form of degradation is the worst type of abuse that can occur to an individual, as this would be to enforce the mirror position of patriarchy on the other end that a persons worth lies in their sexual purity. The indiscriminate groping that took place at the Halloween Dance is a clear indication of the presence of patriarchy and oppression in the modern epoch, specifically here at un-coerc- ed |