Thursday, October 7, 2010

Women's Safety and Privacy Perpetually Violated; Ahearn Fieldhouse no longer safe for women? The skill set of a first grader.

[The skill set of a second grader. When a reporter asked me, "is it the locker room placement?" i thought, for many decades men and women have been figuring this out OK, because we learned this in KINDERGARTEN]
The Ahearn Fieldhouse Locker Room is apparently not safe for women.
(Like every other building, apartment, parking lot, street, beach, hiking trail, bar, or festival; where women are being spied on, stalked, preyed upon, beaten, harassed, raped, or assaulted--)
I am in THIS instance referring to reports from K-State Faculty
that K-State women are now dealing with one more unsafe place:
 men have been coming into the Women's locker room in Ahearn.
Really?
 Can we not have any safe place?

ladies room EXPLANATION

From Dawn to Dusk...
We are already closing and locking our windows at night, keeping the beautiful Autumn air out of our homes and apartments.
We are already NOT
jogging at night, taking a solitary hike, or giving our acquaintances a ride home.
 (Because our acquaintances are raping us.)
We are already NOT able to leave a pepsi or beer unattended for 10 FREAKING minutes, lest we be drugged;
we are already NOT filming the sunrise or sunset alone at the lake.
We are already locking our doors and windows all day and all night.
We are already putting FEAR into our children in the hopes to keep them safe.
What the HELL is the matter with men, you ask?
(It isn't all men)
This is not the "fault" of anyone in charge-[[YET- because every new assault on our freedom, on our security, on our daily lives is addressed and dealt with. One by one.]]  I bet the folks in charge of Ahearn, of security, of campus safety, are decent people.  --( UPDATE- I should have said, i meant to say, i'd put money on the idea (and i guess i take for granted that in fact, those in charge are ) the cream of the crop and live lives of good service 
Maybe their blood boils too. But how long are we going to tell women to lower their risk-instead of looking at perpetrators?

Why just mop up
 the blood,
 one pool at a time, instead of looking at the growing problem?

Women keep coming forward, reporting, risking, showing their pain, and no one is held accountable.
Rape after rape, and no one is punished.
Beating after beating, and no one is punished.
If there is no punishment, why would a man prone to these behaviors stop?

When will women be rewarded for all the sacrifice of trying to have a safe life, of trying to make others' lives safer?
Reporting crimes is a hard thing to do.
It causes everyone you love great pain.
Many people won't believe you.
Those who report are afraid of retaliation.

We can't have a locker room!?
We can't be secure in our locker room now!?

Fu'Cryin' Out loud!
Please.
There is going to HAVE to be a more comprehensive look at violence against women.
There is going to HAVE to be a way that we look at the larger picture, and put some effort into the bullying culture that a large group are getting away with.
I am so tired
so ridden with
anger and sadness
frustration and feelings of bitterness
when sweet beautiful girls and women come to me
tricked violated hurt raped hit lied to spat upon and utterly disrespected as humans.
They are too young to see that it has nothing to do with them;
that these bullying selfish thugs manifest themselves where ever they can.

If a man is caught in Ahearn Fieldhouse Women's Locker Room, what will happen?
Will it be One Strike?
Will he get a WARNING?
This is your first Last Chance.
Will he be
immediately
expelled and banned from campus?
Or will someone believe him when he says,
"Oh, Man, I didn't know, i thought that was the men's."
I PROMISE you he will say that.
Which makes the fact that he was crouching
in a hiding place near the locker room  ok  why?

I'm going to wrap my head with duct tape now


UPDATE:
According to The President's Commission on the Status of Women, the administration in this area have jumped right on this. One, they are going to talk to the people who work in
the Natatorium and Ahearn in the evenings and make them aware of what's happened so they'll keep their eyes open. There will be further discussion on how to improve the safety of the area, and in the meantime, they will start locking the north entrance to the women's locker room at 5 p.m. Since it has a panic bar, women will still be able to leave through that door, but nobody will be able to come in. The south side gets more use in the evenings, so that should be easier to watch. Bruce Shubert said they will discuss the possibility of  adding security cameras at the doors to the locker room.


Holey MOLEY!!
a Collegian reporter just sent me some questions regarding this: among the questions was,

"Do you see this as part of a larger problem across campus with men targeting women or is this an issue of locker room placement within Ahearn? "


Low Goals???
Please, help me....
 
Stop

Sigh. Yes, there is a larger issue......


Successful sex segregation 
in bathrooms/locker rooms
since the 1950's

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