Rape prevention is everyone’s job

Greg Jerrett

The subject on everyone’s mind this week is rape. And well it should be. It should be the main focus of discussion at every fraternity, dorm and club on campus where men gather.

Women are the victims, but rape is a man’s issue. It is our disorder; we are the ones responsible for it.

A lot of people are taking this opportunity to slag off the frats, and I will be the first one to say that isn’t fair.

Rape isn’t a fraternity issue per se. But the fact that frats are filled with young, testosterone-soaked men should make it their concern.

And if you think that sitting around saying you never raped anyone makes you completely innocent, then you are wrong.

Rapes keep being committed because of the environment that men operate in.

We grow up victimizing each other and keeping score.

I don’t know any man who doesn’t honestly know how he ranks with other men.

We know where we stand in comparison to our friends and our enemies in terms of money, women and success.

And we are self-conscious about it while we try to pretend that we are in total control.

The problem with discussions of this kind is that most men don’t want to hear about it from women.

They hear the same old terms such as “objectification of women” being bandied by people they dismiss as “feminists,” and their eyes glaze over.

They especially don’t want to listen to this stuff from a really “sensitive” guy who is very much in touch with his feminine side. And who can blame them?

There is nothing quite so frustrating as being lectured to by a man who gives you the impression that he is entirely ashamed of being a man and would switch sides if he could.

I don’t come off as overtly “sensitive”— in fact, I am pretty much an ape, and I’ve beaten my chest with the best.

As a former “Beer Bong King from Hell,” (at an ISU frat that I won’t name) maybe some of you guys will listen to me when I tell you to reign it in.

A lot of men treat meeting women like hunting. They scout out good locations to meet women who will make likely targets.

Then they send their wing man in to distract the friend while they ply their mark with sweet talk while lowering her defenses with liquid panty remover so they can win one for the team.

When they do, they get bragging rights. They tell all their friends about what they did, how they did it and what color the Catholic school jumper was that they had the woman wear.

We have all listened to the stories, and we know who the “legendary” ones are.

Living with testosterone poisoning is bad enough, but any time you get a large group of men together, the peer pressure combines with it to create a synergistic effect that is ten times worse than either one on its own.

And the message you send to every guy listening to you with admiration is that there is nothing more important than making the best possible showing in the great evolutionary rat race, and that means getting laid.

The male biological imperative says do it with as many women as you can and utilize whatever works.

I am not one to discount nature.

You cannot control your nature unless you understand it.

But the bubonic plague is natural, too, and no one is arguing that we should ignore that while blaming the victims for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

So I am telling you young guys out there to do yourselves a favor, do the women on campus a favor.

Understand your nature and curb your natural instincts.

Exercise some control.

Because the next woman you try to get over on is someone’s daughter or sister.

She may even have friends who are apes like me.


Greg Jerrett is a graduate student in English from Council Bluffs. He is the opinion editor of the Daily.