Secretive Harvard club: We don't allow women to join because we are probably rapists

[doggie]

well if this is true it is some fucked up shit. 

http://gawker.com/men-s-only-harvard-club-says-barring-women-protects-the-1770703379?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link

Quote

A secretive men’s-only club at Harvard this week broke its decades-long silence to explain its gender policy: Women shouldn’t be allowed in for a myriad of reasons aside from not having a penis, chief among them that they might be sexually assaulted by one of the club’s members.

The comments apparently came in response to the university’s efforts to make the school’s so-called “final clubs” coed. Unsurprisingly, not everyone is in favor of that, including the 225-year-old Porcellian Club, which counts luminaries like President Theodore Roosevelt, Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, and, more recently, the Winklevoss twins among its illustrious alumni.

As part of its efforts to integrate the clubs, the school this month made public data indicating that female Harvard seniors who participated in final clubs, as members or as guests, were more likely to experience “nonconsensual sexual contact.”

Speaking on behalf of the Porcellian Club, officer Charles M. Storey protests the idea of admitting women by pointing out that their inclusion could only lead to more sexual assault.

 

[libriatrix]

I love your title! More people need to rephrase articles and blogs about rape to make the blame clearly belong with the rapist. It's not that the club is afraid that women will passively "get raped", leaving the actor of the situation completely out of the sentence, what they truly are saying is "some of us are rapists". When you phrase it that way, it can start to shock people out of their complacent victim-blaming.

[Palimpsest]

Oh, but the letter-writer (Charles Storey) says he was so misunderstood.  He didn't mean to say that. Yeah.  Pull the other leg - it's got bells on.

This kerfuffle is because the University is finally (being pressured into) doing the right thing.  There have been a lot of leaks about the forthcoming Sexual Abuse Report.  It is reputed to be scathing and there will be a lot of push-back at the recommendations.

Another article: http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2016/2/8/sexual-assault-report-delayed/

 

[AmazonGrace]

Wouldn't it make more sense not to let men join?

If they're rapists they could rape other men too.

[alexandracabot]

It's astonishing to me that he's saying his words "came out all wrong" when they were written in a letter that he sent to the Harvard newspaper. 

Notice he's not actually saying that he was wrong. He still firmly believes that it is women themselves that cause sexual assault by being present near men.

[doggie]

2 minutes ago, alexandracabot said:

It's astonishing to me that he's saying his words "came out all wrong" when they were written in a letter that he sent to the Harvard newspaper. 

Notice he's not actually saying that he was wrong. He still firmly believes that it is women themselves that cause sexual assault by being present near men.

well he was just misunderstood and all  not his fault.

[AnywhereButHere]

Misunderstood? Sure buddy. Actually, I think you were understood only too well, but thanks for the honesty. Now everyone should know who to stay away from on campus. Not exactly great advertising for your institution. So your club, which has produced past (and presumably) future leaders, is filled with dishonorable men who can't control themselves. Good job.

Sounds like a Law & Order episode waiting to happen.

[ShepherdontheRock]

Well, I guess they're at least self aware and making an effort to stop themselves from potential victims.

[anjulibai]

If these clubs include and condone members that commit sexual assault, then the university needs to disband them, centuries old traditions be damned.