After Student Writes Disgusting ‘Rape Guide,’ 50K Activists Descend on Dartmouth College to Fight for Sexual Assault Reform

After Student Writes Disgusting ‘Rape Guide,’ 50K Activists Descend on Dartmouth College to Fight for Sexual Assault Reform

by Dayle Lynne

College campuses have a long-held reputation for a high a prevalence of rape and other sexual assaults. Those instances are often swept under the rug, but thanks to social media, and the internet in general, the public is starting to take notice, and right now, their attention is focused on Dartmouth College.

One Dartmouth student’s “rape guide” published on Bored at Baker, a student-run website in February has led to an online petition at UltraViolet urging Dartmouth to take sexual assault seriously. At the time of this post, the petition has gained nearly 50,000 signatures.

The “rape guide” named a female student and gave readers instructions on how to befriend her and eventually “persuade” to have sex with them. It included tips like slowly increasing how much alcohol you give her, touching her “playfully,” and just telling her to “relax” if she starts to protest. At one point the writer even states, “Does this sound rapey? It really isn’t, trust me.”

Within a few weeks, the student named in the post was sexually assaulted. She shared with the Huffington Post that this was not the first time she was targeted on Bored at Baker. Previous posts included her picture.

While Dartmouth denies that they are lax on incidents of sexual assault, the students don’t seem to agree. Last year, several students interrupted a campus event to protest the administration’s negligence in dealing with rape, racism, and homophobia on campus. After the protest, many of those protesters received death and rape threats.

Directly speaking to the Dartmouth administration, the UltraViolet petition states,

[box type=”shadow”]"The crisis of sexual assaults on campus must be stopped. Take student recommendations seriously and expel rapists, list rape as a punishable offense and expulsion as the preferred punishment in the student handbook, and block access to the 'rape guide' on campus."[/box]

It should not be an unreasonable request to punish rapists and sexual abusers in order to keep students safe on campus.

Click here to add your name to the petition.

h/t: Think Progress

Dayle Lynne