Thursday, May 7, 2015

Killed for her feminism

I grieve for Grace Rebecca Mann, a young woman who spoke out against rape and misogynist song lyrics on her college campus in Virginia.

The rugby club was suspended after a feminist group highlighted the lyrics of their club song as depicting "sexual violence against women, including assault, necrophilia, and rape."

A college drop-out and former rugby player was allowed to move into the house this young woman shared with two other people, and he has now been charged with her murder in April.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/07/us/university-of-mary-washington-where-woman-was-killed-faces-scrutiny.html?ref=us

Things have changed since I was a college student and the so-called bra-burning in Atlantic City was in the news.

In 1968 people laughed at feminists.  The press looked away when presidents or public leaders had affairs.

In 2015 two women are running for president of the US.  Young women are challenging the horrific lyrics in songs of male clubs on their college campuses.

Gender politics has become much more serious.  

On the surface, both sides play by the rules, but unstable men on fringes of society act out the rhetoric of male supremacy.

Voices are silent now on the campus of the University of Mary Washington:

The campus of 5,000 students has been shaken, report Shaila Dewan and Sheryl Gay Stolberg in the NY Times.  

"The rancorous debate over feminism had fallen noticeably quiet."

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