To the Editors:
In response to Mr. Banerjee's Nov. 24 letter (The Dartmouth, "To Whom Are We Speaking?), I would like to comment on his unfortunate pedestrian/sexual assault victim analogy. If the driver of a motor vehicle chooses to hit a pedestrian in the street when he could have stopped his car, that driver will be prosecuted for vehicular assault. Sexual assault is a violent crime that is specifically defined in the statutes of the states comprising this country. Having sex with a person who is incapacitated by drugs or alcohol and therefore not able to give consent is sexual assault by legal definition. Look it up -- this is a crime.
Women are not seeking sympathy; we are demanding that men own up to the fact that sexual assault is a crime of violence most often committed by males against females. We are also demanding that males change their behavior and attitudes about coerced sex.
Focusing on men's sensibilities about rape awareness education or on the behavior of women who are assaulted are simply disingenuous attempts to deny male responsibility. Such responses serve to trivialize sexual violence.
I am stunned by the lack of awareness reflected in the ideas Mr. Banerjee has presented. As a parent of college students, I would be disturbed, even ashamed, if one of my sons held such opinions.
