Columbia BSO

Pointing out that men are privileged in no way denies that bad things happen to men. Being privileged does not mean men are given everything in life for free; being privileged does not mean that men do not work hard, do not suffer. In many cases – from a boy being bullied in school, to a soldier dying in war – the sexist society that maintains male privilege also does great harm to boys and men.

In the end, however, it is men and not women who make the most money; men and not women who dominate the government and the corporate boards; men and not women who dominate virtually all of the most powerful positions of society. And it is women and not men who suffer the most from intimate violence and rape; who are the most likely to be poor; who are, on the whole, given the short end of patriarchy’s stick.

At the end of the day, I’m not judging people who choose to go to SlutWalk because SlutWalk is not the problem, not really. The problem here, in my opinion, is a lack of motivation and encouragement to engage in activism that isn’t fun. I beg all SlutWalkers to consider putting their enthusiasm to use fighting sexual assault in other ways as well. I suspect quite a few already do, but it still needs to be said. Being a rape crisis advocate or calling friends out on dangerous thought patterns is not nearly as fun as attending something like SlutWalk. Instead of being surrounded be a crowd of cheering happy comrades you might often find yourself alone and struggling, looking like the odd one out instead of an awesome member of a popular movement… but these are the actions that make the biggest impact, because they are the ones that invade everyday culture, they are the ones that ensure someone is there to help sexual assault survivors in their times of need.

For instance:

-Volunteering for your local Rape Crisis Center. If you don’t feel capable of taking hotline calls or going on accompaniments (which does take a lot out of you) you can often still offer your time staffing information tables at events, doing office work, and so on.
-If you’re a nurse consider becoming a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (the people who collect evidence from survivors of sexual assault) and helping sexual assault survivors directly by servicing them during some of the toughest parts of their ordeal.
-Get involved with the Green Dot Project. There are a ton of ways to do this… everything from hosting Green Dot events in your area to becoming certified as a Green Dot VIP to simply doing your best to act out green dots (like calling people out on rape jokes or calling the police when witnessing violence) in your daily life.
-Learn about consent laws and the basics of affirmative consent. Then, educate your friends and family so that everyone can have consensual sex!
-Attend a Take Back the Night event – where survivors share their stories and attendees take to the streets to reclaim the night (traditionally a time where people warn women not to be out alone lest they be raped) from fear of sexual assault.