Should Frats be Banned?

[libodem]

This article states 300% of campus rapes happen at a frat. No skin off my nose if they shut them down. They can start with Skull And Bones.

I want to see our girls protected. I think the "Don't Rape" messages is great. California has a new consent law for campuses. Good start.

I hope putting all the owness on guys will stop all rape. They must stop getting us drunk and stoned too!

As soon as women learn there is nothing they can do to prevent being a victim the better! The men have all the power. We must depend on them to do the right thing.

I'm trying to get this right!

http://www.alternet.org/culture/frat-brothers-rape-300-more-1-5-women-sexually-assaulted-campus-should-we-ban-frats

[NYC_SKP]

1. To clarify, frat boys are 3X more likely to commit rape. I see no use for fraternities.

I never messed with them. My former wife, however, was in a sorority and remained active with it long after college.

So, can we abolish one without abolishing the other?

I don't know. To be sure, the drinking and the drugs are excessive and need to stop being tacitly promoted and should probably be actively discouraged or banned.

I would, however, have to disagree with what you wrote here:

As soon as women learn there is nothing they can do to prevent being a victim the better! The men have all the power. We must depend on them to do the right thing.

There are dozens of resources women can utilize to reduce the likelihood of becoming a victim and to be empowered to self defend. And I wouldn't cede men all the power and sure wouldn't depend on them, or anyone, to do the right thing.

[yeoman6987]

2. At least keep them off campus

It would be better for all involved if the were off campus. Sororities should be off campus too.

[libodem]

3. Thank you for your disagreement

Because I like to understand this concept more clearly myself. Maybe I'm wrong but whenever I have suggested that women be educated to avoid certain pitfalls it is victim blaming and I'm a bad feminist.

I'm trying to be politically correct. I understand not blaming or assignment of fault after it happens. That would be cruel. I'VE been there. And i needed that kind of support. So I get it.

I just don't think being supported with empathy and understanding trumps the stranger danger talks for little kids or the warning about keeping your distance from the 'funny uncle'. Or the jock entitlement high school phenomenon or college Frats talk for older kids. Does warnings of danger make it more enticing like trying drugs?

So far what I get from my sisters is that warning and educational tactics equal victim blaming.

Men are 100% of the problem or we aren't getting this right? I think.

[NYC_SKP]

4. I think I know just what you mean.

It's a very difficult topic to broach and hard, sometimes, to speak openly without taking the risk of being misunderstood.

I was listening to the Prarie Home Companion yesterday and Garrison Keillor tells a story about a woman who was gardening when a bear came along, she called the rangers.

The rangers said that they could come tranquilize the bear and then take it miles away but it would cost $1,350. But who would pay the cost?

The story goes on to discuss the two sides of the matter of what to do: The Interventionist versus the Laissez Faire approaches.

--- The Interventionists say "But what if there was a child, is a child not worth $1,350?".

--- The Laissez Faire people say, "Teach your children to watch where they're going. The world is full of bears."

Garrison noted that both sides are right, it's not often that you get an argument like that where you get two sides that are absolutely right yet disagree completely.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/apm-prairie-home-companions/id215352157?mt=2

In the end, only WE can define our own experience yet we must be careful to respect others' expertise in their own experience.

Naturally, men can be said to be 100% to blame; where there no men there could be no man-on-woman rape. But this gets us nowhere.

This discussion reminds me of guns. We can get rid of guns but that won't do a thing to solve the violent and desperate mentalities that are behind gun violence.

I personally have no use for fraternities, I think they model and promote the "insider" 1% classist system in the real working world that is so hurtful and unfair to the rest of us.

Schools are supposed to be places of enrichment and education, and like the NFL, they should be held responsible if they don't do what needs to be done to prevent rape and other crimes.

Take care.

[libodem]

5. Your response

Was well thought out and asks pertinent questions.

Yes. What if both sides are right? Men and women need education. Both sides should be very aware of the consequences.

Will young women be kept home and away from higher education? Maybe not be allowed out? Have an arranged marriage? If we have no free agency to make our own decisions about premarital birth control, what we wear, what we drink, where we drink, who we drink with? If we are not in control of ourselves...who will be?