September Event Update

We have some awesome social justice opportunities coming up! Please join us if you can, and spread the word!

Thursday, Sept 17th- Take Back the Night!, Stotler Lounge
6:30-7 Rally 7-7:30 March
Just Read Portion: 7:30-8:30 - Coffee and Discussion/Debriefing @ Memorial Union Cafe (this is the same time as the speak out, if you wanted to attend that)
Take Back the Night is a national movement created to raise awareness about violence against women in our society. At the rally, keynote speaker, Kelley Lucero, with The Shelter will share her story. Following this, we will storm the streets as we march through campus raising awareness and visibility! To conclude the evening, there will be a Speak-Out to give survivors of rape and sexual assault a chance to speak out about their experiences. Join us as we shatter the silence to end the violence!

Monday, Sept 28th - Kristen's Story
7pm, Jess Aud
Just Read portion: directly following speaker - Discussion @ location TBA (Berg? It's close.)
"Kristin's Story" is a mother's tale of her daughter's rape and subsequent suicide. A vibrant 20-year-old, Kristin, committed suicide shortly after she was raped by a friend in 1995. Her mother, Andrea Cooper, now shares her daughter’s tragedy with college students across the country in order to educate and inspire others to get help.

Erin and I are also compiling a list of documentaries we'd like to watch. Let us know if you're interested, and we can find days that work for everyone.
-Stephen Fry's Secret Life of a Manic Depressive
-Stephen Fry's Last Chance to See

MORE TO COME - Also, add your own stuff to the list. :)

Topic Follow-Ups

People have been sending me some great articles on previous topics that I want to share!

Environmental Justice:
Greening the Internet: How much CO2 does this article produce?
Karma Credits

Legal Justice for Rape Victims/Rape Culture:
California officer admits to sexual assault while on duty
Why Do We Rape, Kill and Sleep Around?

Potter Fans for Social Justice!

Legal Justice for Rape Victims: Discussion Questions

Hi everyone,

Just a reminder that we have a Just Read meeting tonight at 7pm in Kaldi's Cafe. The topic is Legal Justice for Rape Victims, and hopefully you've all had an opportunity to look at the articles. If not, they are posted here on the blog (secret hint: scroll down). Since the discussion questions were a little lengthy this week, we decided to email them out so you would have a chance to look over them.

Also, we are still looking for people to sign up for a week to run the discussion. This is a great way to raise awareness on an issue you care about! Alternatively, it can be a great excuse to do a bit of digging and learn more about a topic you've been curious about. Please email me or Amy if you're interested.

See you tomorrow!


Legal Justice for Rape Victim discussion questions:

In what ways are rape survivors re-victimized by the legal system? How can we reduced this victimization?

Is the victims' duty to their own recovery paramount (especially given the frustrations the articles illuminated that often arise in dealings with the legal system), or does responsibility to society (i.e. to do the utmost to prosecute a rape) override that duty?

The incidence of victims being charged medical expenses, the under-funding and under-development of community-level rape prosecution organs, the under-processing of rape kits, and the chronic dubiousness law enforcement officials treat victims with all coallese into a perception of rape cases not as being not unlike civil suits for limited wrongs, and prosecution by the state as a favor or service rendered. Yet the threat of re-occurrence, a feminist reading of the rape act, forcing witnesses to testify, and indeed some historical/cultural perspectives (Lucretia vs. King of Rome) read rape as a crime against society as a whole. How do we reconcile our responsabiliy to a victim's recovery with an urge to promote an understanding of rape as a public outrage that cannot be trivialized, or indeed, remain private?


With juries, there is an unwillingness to convict in rape cases if they think the punishment does not match the crime. This means that victims who do not experience a socially accepted 'real rape' are less likely to get legal justice. There are various ways to approach this problem, including creating gradations of rape (which could devalue a victim's experience and further the real rape myth) or working on a grassroots level to change minds (a much longer process). What might be an effective compromise? (Again, this is in some ways a question of society vs victims rights.)


What can be done to change public opinion about 'real rape?' In a real way, how can we go about promoting awareness of the reality of rape, to deconstruct the myth of 'Real Rape?'

5/28 Legal Justice for Rape Survivors

Meeting: Thursday 5/28, 7pm, Kaldi's Cafe on 9th St

Topic: Legal Justice for Rape Survivors
Please read the first two articles and one article from each category.

Rape Reporting Rates

Is Rape Serious?

Evidence Collection

Missouri State Funding for Rape Evidence Collection

MS Magazine Rape Kit Backlog

Texas: Rape Victims Billed for Evidence Costs

Law Enforcement

CoMO's DOVE unit

Rape Victim Jailed for False Report
Curvature commentary

NYPD Officers Accused of Rape

Legal

California: Rape victims can be forced to take witness stand

False Reports (PDF)
Other Voice Publications

Secondary Victimization of Rape Victims