Myself and my Social Justice group recently attended a lecture at New York University where people three inspirational women pondered the question, “How Might Shakespeare’s poem “The Rape of Lucrece” and talk about the current conversations about “rape culture” on collage campuses.” The three women who spoke were New York Magazine Journalist Vanessa Grigoriadis (whom we conducted an interview with prior to the lecture), activist, Colombia graduate and SAFER board member Marybeth Seitz-Beown, and Gallatin Associate Faculty Member Cyd Cipolla. They also focus on the movement on campus sexual assault and what it tells us about women’s voices and what is happening to them in this society.

This two hour conversation hit a lot of topics about rape culture. Firstly, they addressed Shakespeare’s Poem and how it related. This was a more ancient way of thinking of rape which is the opposite of what we want now. This showed the evolution of rape and how over the years, it has become more and more prominent in our society. They also focused on Rape Education and the importance of affirmative consent. Marybeth had some very strong opinions on this topic. Firstly, she mentioned how important it is to be educated on “no means no” and “yes means yes” when you are young which slowly transitions into learning about rape culture. Small ways of educating young children is teaching them about keeping their hands to themselves and asking permission to hug someone to respect their space. This has been proven to help the understanding of sex and rape culture because there is a huge element of trust and respect when it comes to something like that. Also, Marybeth wanted to change “no means no” to “yes mean yes” for many reasons. Firstly, she wants to make it a positive rather than a negative to encourage the victims to take a stand and feel like they have power. Also, there have been many cases that are brought into court where rapists have been proven innocent because the it was not clear enough that they did not consent to sexual activity. I believe this could truly make a difference in the world.

This is a time in age where people are finally speaking up and taking action. Eventually, when enough people have been raped (sadly) the leaders will make some rules to limit or abolish sexual assault and rape as a whole.

After the lecture, Vanessa introduced our group to Marybeth. She was surprised and proud to see Eighth graders like us taking a stand. She told us that we were the next generation to stop this and all of things that we are doing now do impact this issue. She have us her contact information and told us to email her about opportunities for our group.

It shocked me that this has become so prominent and common in our society, girls especially are sacrificing their education because of the fear of rape. Collage should be a place to learn, thrive and find yourself, not live in fear. This lecture was a breaking point for me and truly enlarges my passion for this topic. This needs to end.