There has been a great deal of discussion on the subject on the BI’s website, but I worry that for each person commenting online, there could be a hundred people sitting silently at home with the same misconceptions of the situation.
And considering the severity of the issue, I feel I have a duty to make sure that my point is clearly made, and that the correct information is available to everyone.
Reaction: “It was just a joke.”
I understand that the player’s use of “Does this napkin smell like chloroform?” as a pick-up line may have been intended to be a joke, but saying something like that jokingly does not make it less damaging; quite the opposite. To imply that drugging someone as a means of “picking them up” is funny, even if the reference was not intended to be taken seriously, negatively affects the public’s perception of what should always be regarded as an immensely serious issue. If being rendered unconscious and then raped becomes an acceptable subject of a joke, otherwise decent people will not have the negative reaction to the idea that they should have, and victims of this horrendous crime will worry that others will laugh at them if they seek help or try to report it. Rape cannot be a joke. Ever.
Reaction: “It’s just a line from a movie.”
Something horrible being said in a movie does not magically make that thing acceptable to say elsewhere; it means there is something wrong with that movie. And to have it be said to such a wide audience, especially in the false guise of something humorous, makes that “joke” even more dangerous. The people and organizations who are trying to provide correct, useful information about rape and other forms of sexual violence will have a very difficult task set for them if popular movies and segments aired during large sporting events are making the issue out to be something that does not need to be taken seriously.
Reaction: “He didn’t say anything about rape, you are putting words in his mouth.”
I believe in calling things what they are. “Picking up” someone by drugging them is rape. “Picking up” someone by getting them drunk is rape. “Picking up” someone who is already drunk is rape. Taking the way someone is dressed, the way they flirt, or their lack of refusal, as consent is rape. I sincerely hope that the player in question did not mean to encourage drugging and raping people. I sincerely hope that Coach Dave Christensen and the rest of the UW Athletics Department do not condone drugging and raping people. But the only evidence that I, and 32,000 other fans at that football game, have is what was displayed on that giant screen: A UW football player implying that he “picks people up” by drugging them with chloroform. By raping them. I generally believe that people are decent, and that they understand how terrible it would be to do that to someone, but I must also believe what my eyes see and my ears hear. I hope that they will soon see and hear that player and the UW football program apologizing for their mistake, and putting sincere effort into correcting it.
Reaction: “Why are you picking on this player instead of addressing the real problems, like irresponsible drinking?”
Drinking too much does not cause rape. Staying out too late does not cause rape. Partying at the wrong house does not cause rape. Only rapists cause rape. The victim is never, ever to blame for being raped. Rape is caused by the person who chose to rape someone who is passed out drunk. Rape is caused by the person who drugs someone and then rapes them. If every single UW freshman got drunk and passed out completely naked on the same night, in houses and on lawns all across campus and the rest ofLaramie, every single one of them should wake up the next morning safe and unharmed. Anything less is unacceptable. People do not need to be taught how to prevent themselves from being raped; people need to be taught to not commit rape.
Reaction: “Dave Christensen had nothing to do with this, why are you bringing him into it?”
Dave Christensen is responsible for the conduct and statements of his players, particularly when it is for a pre-taped segment displayed during a UW football game. If Mr. Christensen can concern himself with what the fans are cheering during the game, he can damn well be expected to oversee what his own players are saying on the UW football program\’s official game-day videos.
Reaction: “Saying the player should be reprimanded, or calling Coach Christensen’s salary into question, is too extreme for a single remark.”
A reprimand can take many forms, and I think the reprimand appropriate for this situation depends on the player’s original intentions, as well as his reaction after he is informed of the implications that his comment has for our community. As I have already said, I truly hope that he did not intend to promote drugging and raping people. I understand that his statement may have been made out of unintentional ignorance rather than malevolence. But even if that is the case, he has a duty to work toward correcting the misinformation he has unwittingly fed into the public’s understanding of this important issue. A simple apology or correction from him would be sufficient, and a letter to the Branding Iron would certainly be an appropriate form for it to take. As for Dave Christensen and the other UW athletics staff responsible for the creation and oversight of that segment; they are the ones I hold most to blame. The media department provided not only a graphic of a chloroform bottle, but the official UW football logo as well. Clearly they knew what was being said, and approved of it. If Coach Christensen does not review these segments before they are aired to the massive audiences who turn out to see his football team play, he is shirking his responsibilities as Coach. If he did approve the segment, he is either also implying his approval of the use of drugs to commit rape, or is severely misinformed in regard to what is appropriate and acceptable. I understand that the comment may not have been intended to support rape; I understand that it is even possible that everyone involved in the production was simply too ignorant of its implications to understand what they were displaying in front of everyone. But that does not absolve them of responsibility for correcting the misinformation they have injected into the public consciousness. Mistakes are forgivable; failing to correct them after they have been pointed out to you is not
Consider this: My letter was printed in both the UW Branding Iron and the Laramie Boomerang. The BI later published two letters in response to mine. Numerous people have commented on the issue on each paper’s website, including at least one person who claimed to know the player in question personally. But in spite of all this attention, there has been no reaction from the player, from Christensen, or from UW football—publicly or otherwise. In light of this inaction on their part, I am now going to go so far as to demand that a formal apology be made, whether by the UW football program or by Dave Christensen himself, and that it be made in a forum that could conceivable reach as many people as the segment during the Nebraska game did. For a college student to make an ill-chosen statement is perhaps understandable, and I am not demanding that he be punished for what may have been an honest mistake, though an apology or correction from him would still be greatly appreciated. But we must definitely hold the administrators of the University’s athletic programs, and especially a professional Coach with a million-dollar state contract, to a much higher standard. Even if these people had no connection to the segment in question, they do have a duty to undo the damage which it has done. They are the ones responsible for putting things to rights. I, and thousands of other UW fans, will be waiting. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Geoff Hiatt