'Yes means yes' law passes in CA.

[regexcellent]

I categorically refuse to believe that women raping men is a thing that actually ever happens.

[self biased]

I categorically refuse to believe that women raping men is a thing that actually ever happens.

facepalm.gif.

[Kidlicious]

A student at Columbia University is carrying a mattress around with her everywhere. Link won't work for me. I think the rules have changed for us.

[AAAAAAAAH!]

This?

Emma Sulkowicz is a senior visual arts student at Columbia University. On the first day of her sophomore year, she says, she was raped by a classmate on her mattress.

"Rape can happen anywhere," she explains in the video above. "For me, I was raped in my own dorm bed. Since then, it has basically become fraught for me, and I feel like I've carried the weight of what happened there with me everywhere since then."

Sulkowicz' senior thesis, titled "Mattress Performance" or "Carry That Weight," is a literal expression of that emotional weight. In what she calls an endurance art piece, she will drag her mattress everywhere she goes on campus until her rapist is expelled or leaves. The project, she says, could extend for one day or for the entire remainder of her time at Columbia.

"The past year or so of my life has been really marked by telling people what happened in that most intimate private space and bringing it out into the light," she says. "So I think the act of carrying something that is normally found in our bedroom out into the light is supposed to mirror the way I've talked to the media and talked to different news channels, etc."

When Sulkowicz's case made it to a university hearing seven months after the actual incident occurred, administrators were confused about how anal rape could happen and she had to draw a diagram. The experience left her feeling physically ill.

Two other women came forward to say they had been assaulted by the same student, but all believe their cases were mishandled, in part by mistake-riddled record-keeping on the part of university authorities (note: aliases were used in early reporting on the case to protect the identity of those involved).

Their alleged attacker was found not responsible by the university, and remains at the school.

"I was so naive that I guess I thought they would just believe me because I was telling the truth," Sulkowicz told The Huffington Post in February. "I didn't expect the school was going to try to not take my side."

Sulkowicz was one of 23 students who filed a federal complaint against Columbia for mishandling sexual assault cases, in violation of the gender equity law Title IX. The U.S. Department of Education has yet to determine whether it will investigate the university.

"Carry That Weight" is especially powerful protest against injustice, while also forcing her community to face the emotional and physical trauma of sexual assault. While one of her rules for the performance is that she can't ask for help carrying it around, Sulkowicz said others are allowed to offer their help.

"I'm hoping that not only do I get better at carrying the mattress, but... I'm very interested in seeing where this piece goes and what sort of life it takes on," she says.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/03/emma-sulkowicz-mattress-rape-columbia-university_n_5755612.html

What rules have changed?

[Lorizael]

I categorically refuse to believe that women raping men is a thing that actually ever happens.

A good male friend of mine was raped by a woman. They were dating. She was underage and he was a couple years older. She demanded that he have sex with her. He refused. She told him that if he didn't have sex with her, she would tell her father--the sheriff--that he did have sex with her. He gave in.

[Kidlicious]

gribbler, do you think she is telling the truth? If she is she wants to let the whole world know she has been raped? Why aren't people treating her like a whore in this "rape culture?"

We don't know if she is telling the truth. Statistically she probably is, but she acts like she is lying.

[AAAAAAAAH!]

It's possible that three different women all made spurious accusations against the same guy but I wouldn't say it's terribly likely.

[Kidlicious]

So she got raped? Do you think she has psych damage?

[AAAAAAAAH!]

Well if someone is carrying a mattress around everywhere they go they must have some sort of psychological issue.

[Kidlicious]

Mkay. Study rape trauma. Come back after.

[AAAAAAAAH!]

You first.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Personally, I'm not all that keen on demand the expulsion of a student prior to a conviction. If it was directed specifically at the school or the cops, that'd be another thing.

[Kidlicious]

You first.

Making excuses for your ignorance is stupid.

[Bosh]

I remember reading a collection of several accounts of rape from the POV of rapists and aside from being disturbing as **** one common thread was that the victims very often froze up in panic and didn't do or say anything. Because of that I think "yes means yes" and focusing on positive consent is a good way of going about anti-rape education as "she didn't say no" includes a lot of quiet as a result deer in the headlights panic. Can't really comment on the specifics of enshrining that idea in law in this case though...

[Kidlicious]

I remember reading a collection of several accounts of rape from the POV of rapists and aside from being disturbing as **** one common thread was that the victims very often froze up in panic and didn't do or say anything. Because of that I think "yes means yes" and focusing on positive consent is a good way of going about anti-rape education as "she didn't say no" includes a lot of quiet as a result deer in the headlights panic. Can't really comment on the specifics of enshrining that idea in law in this case though...

Will you still believe...

Woman = victim
Man = priviledged