The Girls Learn International club made flyers and held a bake sale May 24, working to raise awareness about rape culture and finishing the day with $855.
The money from the bake sale will pay for tuition, uniforms, supplies and transportation for girls attending the SMS Sobhodero School in Pakistan.
Girls Learn International Inc. links chapters of the organization with such partner schools because “in GLI, we advocate for girls’ rights worldwide by furthering girls’ access to education, which we do mainly through communication with and fundraising for our partner schools,” as an email from the school chapter telling students about the event put it.
“However, we recognize that girls’ rights are an issue in the U.S. as well, so we’re also raising awareness of rape culture, which affects everyone everywhere,” the message continued.
To do this, members posted flyers around campus informing on some manifestations of rape culture, including rape jokes, victim blaming and street harassment.
One of the club presidents, Amanda Aizuss ’13, emphasized the importance of rape culture closer to home, citing incidents like the Steubenville High School rape case, and saying something similar could happen to any student at a party.
The club had originally intended to host an “advocacy week” addressing separate topics including rape culture on separate days, but had to shorten the event to one day.
“We want people to know that rape is never the victim’s fault, but the perpetrator’s,” Sarika Pandrangi ’13, another of the club presidents, said.
“Preventing getting raped should not be about changing the clothes you wear or getting less drunk,” Aizuss said.
One flyer featured pictures of a dialogue from a television show, “The Simpsons,” in which a man in a bar tells Marge, one of the main characters, “Listen, baby. I always get what I want,” and when Marge replies, “I said, no,” the man makes a bowing motion and says, “Oh, did you? I completely misunderstood. Please accept our apologies.” Under this on the flyer was written, “We live in a world where this is so unlikely that it’s a joke.”
