LETTER: Rape, sexual harassment no joke

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by Maya Chalich

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It is highly ironic that less than a week after a woman was gang raped on our campus the Backpage editors would be so insensitive as to print a selection such as the one which appeared in the Sept. 22 issue of the Thresher .

I quote (italics mine), "I guess the guy squirrel wasn't wit it because he turned around and started bashing the girl squirrel and his penis was of course all big and red ... and so he was bashing the sh-- out of her ... and she was almost dead, but then he cut her arms off and when she got out of the hospital with no arms, the boy squirrel mailed her arms to her and so the girl squirrel was opening the package with her toes and it was her arms and she started to scream real loud and he was in his tree and he was laughing and that's just wacky. ... I never seen a squirrel laugh so hard. "

This was signed Alexei, but as I do not think his/her identity is particularly relevant, I will here only address the Backpage editors and anyone who has anything to do with the publication of the Thresher .

The actions and thoughts of these two squirrels are personified to the extent that the piece is itself the description and glorification of a woman's torture.

The actions of these squirrels, and of the male in particular, are clearly associated with the human phenomenon of rape.

So this excerpt can only really be understood as one man abusing one woman.

Although the story is fantasy, the rape reported on the front page was very real.

Things like this do happen to real women.

The fact that the Backpage published this does not necessarily mean that they are condoning violence against women; however, it does show a definite lack of interest in its treatment of the issue.

In this instance, I do not find the blatant misogynistic bent of the Backpage amusing.

Nor do any of the women I have spoken to. Nor do I know any men on campus who really think it's funny to read about the battery or mutilation of a woman, albeit in the guise of a female squirrel's persona.

Maybe this would have been funny had it been published at another time and place, but as it stands, it is especially insulting since it appears in an issue where the headline of the front page and a follow-up article in the interior of the Thresher are dedicated to Rice's anti-rape stance.

What does it really say about the Thresher 's dedication to the equal treatment of Rice's female student body when we are portrayed with such hatred on the Backpage of a student-run paper?

And I really wonder if they are just as aware that the publication of such blatant misogyny on the Backpage of any university's student paper constitutes a form of sexual harassment?

Needless to say, with the publication of this letter, I will be labeled as over-reactive. However, violence against women is no laughing matter.

Just ask any woman who feels the necessity to use the escort service at night because she fears for her personal safety.

Maya Chalich

Wiess '98

This item appeared in the Opinion section of the September 29, 1995 issue.

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