sofiaviolet | (no subject)

Recently

Hearing on sexual assault on college campuses at City Hall today. There was a rally beforehand that I missed because I couldn't find it (stupid circus taking over City Hall Plaza *pout*).

21 Days of Dreamwidth

2. Why did you choose your journal name?

I've been sofiaviolet since... I think I must have renamed my LJ in 2005, and every new account I've created since then has been sofiaviolet. It has the benefit of being pretty much unique (therefore almost certainly unclaimed - the only place I've wanted it and not been able to get it was Skype). And I have managed to keep it for 5+ years, which is amazing when you consider just how many LJs I rotated through in the early part of my high school career.

I think I've mentioned before the idea of an aspirational identity - myself, but better - and I think sofiaviolet was a name for a self I could achieve, complete with a set of goalposts I could keep moving as necessary.

Plans

Write a little more of my music paper tonight (it's about half done) or write the last short paper for my other class. Work tomorrow morning, then finish the music paper (and write the other one, if I don't get to it tonight).

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ooooooh that's right, it's circus season again, isn't it?

Who was holding the hearing and what was the point? I mean, does the city have plans to care? And if so, how do they plan to do it?

I recall some article on reported rapes by city neighborhood a few years ago that was shocked- SHOCKED- to discover that the highest number of reported rapes occurred in Allston/Brighton (where I lived at the time). They interviewed Srs Bartenders at Harper's Ferry talking about how they would redouble their watch on young ladies who were drinking. Everyone involved in the making of the article seemed to have totally missed the acquaintance rape thing. My eyes rolled out of my head and down the street- it was so incredibly frustrating.

I think the City Council has plans to care. One of the at-large councils recently came out about being sexually assaulted in college and a couple of the others seem pretty affected by that.

There was a lot of back and forth with law enforcement types about jurisdiction - everyone was shocked that BPD legally cannot investigate on-campus rapes if the college has its own police department, because of jurisdictional shenanigans. I think that maybe be where they push - to get all sexual assaults reported to campus police also reported to (and investigated by) BPD.

There was also a lot of "men must challenge rape culture" going around, but I am not entirely sure how the City Council could translate that into policy.

*facepalm* to your last paragraph. Everyone who spoke was actually pretty competent to do so, complete with actual understanding of acquaintance rape and how to avoid blaming victims. It was jaw-droppingly impressive that no one made me want to punch them.