Sociological Imagination
By: Ryan Liese
University of Virgina
Jackie was a rape victim when she was attending the University of Virginia. She was at a frat party and was assaulted due to an initiation ritual.
Summary
Jackie, a brand new UVA student, was excited to attend her first college party. She had been invited by an upper class men and was fairly nervous. Mid way through the party, her date escorted her upstairs and did the unthinkable. Jackie was raped at a Phi Kappa Psi fraternity party. After the tragic event had occurred, she was confused and turned to her friends for help. In the moment, her friends decided to keep it a secret. Jackie was too scared to do anything about it then, but when she was able to muster up some courage, she went public. Since accusing her fellow class men, she has been abused in a whole new way. I think she is fighting for what she believes in. That students should not be excused of their actions just to keep the school's reputation intact. Thinking larger than that, she fights for equal treatment of genders.
Feminism
This brings us to the idea of feminism. Men in today's society feel superior to women. So superior, in fact, that they think they can rape women and have no consequences. Jackie fights to make sure that these consequences are met. She also maybe to be looking to set her assaulters as an example. That she believes women and men should be treated equally under the law, and also treat each other as equals in society.
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This also brings up the idea of today's "rape culture". The article expressed several instances where girls were raped at frat parties. Somehow the actives of these frats find it okay to rape innocent freshman girls. Even after these instances, most of the girls never did anything about it. This could be for a number of reasons including the desire to keep their reputation intact, scared of retaliation, or they simply don't know what to do. I think that all college students should be educated on rape. One, to show how damaging rape can be physically and emotionally. This would persuade people to not rape and be on the lookout during parties for it. Two, it would show what steps should be taken in the event of rape. I think that people have been desensitized to rape because of how often we hear about it. Short seminars at major universities would re-sensitize people and make them feel empathetic towards rape victims.