A few weeks ago, I was sitting next to a group of boys at the meeting of a liberal campus political organization. They were discussing how they could collaborate to vote in the club’s elections to ensure that they were all elected, which would have resulted in a freshman board with no women. They seemed to either not realize that that is what the result would have been of their plan or, even more problematically, they understood and saw no issue with that outcome. In that conversation, I heard the same young men discussing how they might skirt their mandatory Sexual Violence Prevention Project training, which is a four-year sexual violence prevention curriculum implemented for all Dartmouth students. One said they would play training videos on their laptop while the club meeting went on. Another said that the training didn’t apply to him because he is dating someone and doesn’t drink alcohol.
I found this conversation to be alarmingly representative of a much larger phenomenon plaguing our world today. “Woke” men don’t seem to see the relationship between liberalism and feminism. If you care about advancing a progressive agenda, you have to also care about programs like SVPP.
This is especially true because SVPP is purposefully structured so that everyone has to participate in and complete training, so that we understand that sexual violence is a cultural cycle and is upheld not only by perpetrators but also by bystanders. I have never met a young woman who questions why they have to complete training — we all understand. There is a kind of shared resignation that I have seen women express at SVPP sessions, because we have all heard these sentiments, safety tips and warnings time and time again.
It isn’t the GOP upholding the patriarchy while the Democratic party fights tooth and nail to disrupt a misogynistic society. Democratic Senator Al Franken of Minnesota resigned from office in 2018 following the circulation of an image of him groping a sleeping servicewoman, which led to seven other women coming forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against him. Former New York governor Andrew Cuomo resigned in disgrace in August 2021 after an investigation by New York’s attorney general found that he had harassed at least eleven women. There is nothing about being a liberal that recuses you from the potential of being a perpetrator — if anything, it makes you a more dangerous foe.
Now, I don’t make that final statement lightly. But it becomes a wolf in sheep’s clothing situation when men begin to believe that they can hide behind the mantle of liberalism or the Democratic Party to distance themselves from the culture of sexual violence. I am genuinely concerned by how comfortable these young men were in sharing that they had yet to complete their SVPP training. I was even more concerned by the reasoning that the young man gave when he said that the training didn’t apply to him. Men who have partners are just as capable of perpetrating sexual violence, and are definitely still contributors to a culture of sexual violence. Everyone is. The same goes for men who do not drink.
The mission statement of SVPP reads: “Sexual violence, as well as the norms and behaviors that perpetuate it, impact everyone’s ability to thrive intellectually, socially, emotionally, spiritually, and physically. Dartmouth seeks to foster a community in which all members have the support of their peers and the institution to challenge the norms that allow power-based violence to persist. All members of the Dartmouth community should expect safety and accountability.” Let’s hold all of ourselves accountable and not pretend that we exist outside of a patriarchy. We will all be better off for it.
Opinion articles represent the views of their author(s), which are not necessarily those of The Dartmouth.
