Friday, February 24, 2012

Is Clark University partially responsible for the climate which led to the sexual assault of a woman on campus?

WHDH is reporting that: "Worcester police are investigating an alleged sexual assault after a Clark University student says she was attacked early Thursday morning. The 20-year-old student says she was walking home at around 3:30 Thursday morning. Investigators say the victim was on Clifton Street when she was approached by three men in a car. According to police, a man in the backseat grabbed the woman, slapped her, stole her purse and sexually assaulted her."  See here.

As I noted in a previous post, Clark University, which has become a hotbed of radical homosexual agitprop and Christianophobic propaganda, supports Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues, a play which celebrates lesbian rape. In one scene, a twenty-four-year-old woman gets a thirteen-year-old girl drunk and rapes her. This is presented as a good thing. The victim later says, "If it was rape, it was a good rape. I'll never need to rely on a man."


Then I looked at what Women for Faith and Family has to say about The Vagina Monologues at its website.  This Catholic organization explains that, "It is extremely difficult to know how one might address such a matter as 'V-Day' in the most productive way - not least because to even name this performance involves our using the very language that the perpetrators intend to desensitize us to. Thus, ironically, we are forced to participate, at some level, in the very degradation and violence against the human person to which we object. I believe this is part of the plan. It considerably compounds the difficulty of criticizing it... That is by no means the only irony - or contradiction - involved in the V-Day movement (of which performance of the V-Monologues is the keystone). As you doubtless know, V-Day projects claim to be fighting abuse of women. But the verbally pornographic 'monologues' are themselves abusive of women - they attack the concept of womanhood itself, and destroy the integrity of the human person. Thus it actually contributes to violence against women, while claiming to be fighting it".

1. Reducing women essentially to one body part is hardly pro-woman. It distorts sexuality, objectifies women and, ironically, promotes attitudes towards women and sexuality precisely like those that lead to sexual violence against women.

2. This performance does not even represent real 'voices of women', as it claims in order to give it a ring of authenticity. The author, Eve Ensler, says she based her contemptible creation on her personal interviews with 200 women - indeed, the V-Monologues are usually represented as the authentic voices of women 'telling their own stories' (e.g., Father Timothy Clancy, SJ's editorial enclosed).

But Ensler herself acknowledges that she freely interpreted her 'data'.

3. The stated goal of V-Day is to stop all violence against women, and the income from the plays allegedly is given to agencies that help stop 'violence' (the "V" in "V-Day" also stands for violence) against women. But this, too, is a sham. Ensler employs a full time staff of ten to manage her "V-Day" movement; and donations are often given to dubious (or worse) groups (a set-up similar to Catholics for a Free Choice).

a. Planned Parenthood groups have produced the play (e.g. Planned Parenthood, Eureka, California: the web-site notice is enclosed).

b. In at least one instance a battered women's shelter that had been selected to receive a donation from the V- Monologues refused to accept it after learning what the performance was about. (Reported in Texas A&M's News Source - Feb. 12, 2002: 'V-Day stirs controversy'.)

c. The liberation of Afghan women is one of Ensler's causes. However, as we have seen recently, the 'aid' to Afghan women has included provision of abortion services. While we were not able to establish that Ensler's 'V-Day' has actually given any aid at all to Afghan women, it is clear that not all 'aid' is beneficial.

4. The V-Monologues promote particular sexual pathologies: lesbianism and pedophilia. One 'voice' - that of a 13-year-old girl - vividly describes how she was seduced by a 24-year-old woman. She says, 'if it was a rape, it was a good rape'. This section reportedly led to objections even by feminists sympathetic to the production, leading one reporter to wonder whether this scene might be expurgated from the version being performed on more than 543 college campuses this year. Whether or not the producers do self-censor this scene (as may be likely especially in the context of recent pedophila scandals), it is entirely consistent with the rest of the production.

Vagina Monologues is destructive, pornographic, deforming agit-prop deliberately and cynically aimed at young women - in particular at young Catholic women - a form of victimization that it is perilous to ignore. It contradicts at the deepest level the truth of creation; it is profoundly anti-Catholic, anti-God; and a contemptible assault on the very nature of the human person".

One has to wonder if officials at Clark University are really concerned about violence against women.  Women for Faith and Family is right in saying that The Vagina Monologues is destructive, pornographic agitprop which objectifies women and "promotes attitudes towards women and sexuality precisely like those that lead to sexual violence against women."

Is Clark University at least partially responsible for the climate which led to the sexual assault of a young woman on its campus?

It is my contention that Clark University has encouraged Christianophobia (see here) while attempting to demonize moral opposition toward homosexuality.  See here.

Our sad time.

15 comments:

Clarkie13' said...

It's terrible what has been happening at Clark. I think there needs to be institutional change. The atmosphere is profoundly un-Christian.

1921Diner said...

Matt Stout over at The Boston Herald reports that, "The victim, a 20-year-old female student at the Worcester college, told police she was walking home around 3:30 a.m., from a late-night study session when a dark-colored vehicle with three men pulled alongside her on Clifton Street.

After showering her with cat calls, a dark-skinned male then opened the back door and pulled her into the car, where he slapped her in the face and held her down, the victim told police. The man then took her purse and began to sexually assault her before the car stopped and the woman was pushed into Hollywood Street, police said.."

After showering her with cat calls. This sort of objectification of women is indeed celebrated at Clark. In my opinion, they DO share some responsibility in this affair.

It is sick!

Paul Anthony Melanson said...

A month back, I left a comment at my post updating the controversy over at the Clark "Freethought Society." I wrote, "I have received numerous comments from the same individual but using different names attempting to defend the Clark 'Freethought Society.' Two of these were written using the name Alex. Three from the same IP were anonymous. The last anonymous comment said simply: 'You homophobes are the real faggots.'

I'll let you all reflect very carefully on the wording of the last comment.

First the anonymous writer labels those of us who are morally opposed to homosexuality as 'homophobes.' Then the writer employs an ugly word which is often used to describe homosexual persons.

Homosexual persons are still persons created in the Imago Dei - the Image and likeness of God. They deserve respect and compassion. Unlike the sick mind which left that comment, Catholics who post here oppose homosexual ACTS and same-sex 'marriage' while maintaining respect for the homosexual person.

Who is the real 'homophobe'?

What this disturbed individual doesn't realize is that this Blog has Sitemeter. Every comment which was left attempting to defend the CFS and which was critical of Catholics who post here had the same IP address.

This person should seek professional counseling."

Then I left this follow-up comment:

"IP address 140.232.210 on the Blog yet again. The same individual from Clark University."

Recently I received an email informing me that Clark University's student-run newspaper, The Scarlet, is publishing slanderous comments about me which allege that I have been leaving hateful comments about homosexuals at another Catholic blog. Anyone who knows me knows that I have respect for the homosexual person, even while opposing homosexual acts and so-called same-sex "marriage." Which is why I wrote what I did above more than a month ago. It is significant that the anonymous person issuing these false allegations refuses to provide others with his/her evidence. This because no such evidence exists.

But what is really disturbing is that I had already noted - more than a month ago - that an anonymous person from Clark University (the I.P. Address listed above originates from Clark University) was attacking me and others who read my blog and comment.

There is something very wrong at Clark University. It is unfortunate that the university's student-run newspaper continues to publish slander against my person. But I'm in good company. For that institution has slandered Pope Pius XII. A slander which has been thoroughly refuted at this Blog.

David S. said...

Parents - yet another reason to rethink sending your kids (and especially your daughters) to Clark. Any institution which sees no problem with women being objectified (and Vagina Monologues does objectify women), has become worthless.

Send them somewhere else.

Jennifer Goguen said...

Right David. Clark is really encouraging (whether they acknowledge this or not) violence against women. The Vagina Monologues encourages viewing women as mere instruments of pleasure. Ensler's play is promoted at Clark because women being sexually exploited is seen as "harmless fun and sex games."

One man at another conservative website said he toured Clark with his daughter and that it came across as "a liberal hell-hole."

Dear God, the place needs new management. They are failing the student-body and the community miserably.

Paul Anthony Melanson said...

At another forum, I was assured that rapes are not much of a problem in Worcester. As a response, I posted this:

“For Worcester, we found that the violent crime rate is one of the highest in the nation, across communities of all sizes (both large and small). Violent offenses tracked included forcible rape, murder and non-negligent manslaughter, armed robbery, and aggravated assault, including assault with a deadly weapon. According to NeighborhoodScout’s analysis of FBI reported crime data, your chance of becoming a victim of one of these crimes in Worcester is one in 103.”

Source:
http://www.neighborhoodscout
.com/ma/worcester/crime/


But irregardless, we cannot ignore the fact that Ensler's production degrades women. Nor should we, in my opinion, ignore the fact that this brutal sexual assault took place just nine days after The Vagina Monologues was held at Clark.

Shaun said...

The president and dean of students at Clark should step down. The atmosphere there is just ridiculous. It is becoming a circus of sodomite propaganda and hate-filled Catholophobia. I think the guy who called it a liberal hell hole is dead on.

DanfromSaugus said...

Like most extremist liberal, anti-Christian campuses, Clark is out of touch with the average American. When you are surrounded all day only by leftist extremists, your view of the world gets really skewed. This is why they refuse to even consider views which are Christian or conservative. It is cognitive dissonance at work. There are none so blind as those who refuse to see.

Paul Anthony Melanson said...

As I noted already in a previous comment in this thread, a certain individual is falsely accusing me (at The Scarlet online; Clark University's student-run newspaper) of posting hateful comments about homosexual persons at another Catholic Blog using various pseudonymns. This charge is all the more amusing since the anonymous person making the allegation is using various pseudonymns and refuses to provide the name of the Catholic Blog where I am supposed to have made the hateful comments.

Additionally, this person (who does not understand that calumny is often, objectively speaking, a mortal sin), fails to provide my I.P. Address - which he/she says has been documented along with the alleged attacks.

Readers of this Blog know full well - and this may be easily verified by reading my previous posts over the years - that I oppose hatred against homosexual persons even while opposing the homosexual "lifestyle" and same-sex "marriage."

I challenge the person leaving these slanderous attacks to come forward using his or her real name - as I do (my blogger profile even includes my photograph) and to provide us all with the evidence which he or she claims to possess.

When hateful anti-Catholic comments were left at this Blog by a student or students at Clark University, I posted the IP address which originates at Clark University. That IP address is listed above.

It's time for this person to come forward. Failure to do so will interpreted appropriately.

Wendy said...

Yeah, I'll be holding my breath while I wait Paul...LOL!

It's significant that certain students at Clark should resort to these cheap tactics. Since they cannot match you intellectually, they hide behind screen names and hurl false accusations.

Pathetic. Or should I say "clarkie"?

Wendy said...

The Telegram & Gazette is reporting that: "Clark Vice President of Government and Community Affairs Jack Foley issued a statement about the incident Thursday night: 'We’re deeply troubled to learn of this reported sexual assault, and our thoughts are with our student at this time. University police and Clark officials are working closely with the Worcester police.'

Deeply troubled is a start. But does the school feel responsible for contributing to a climate where women are presented as sex objects?

Ellen Wironken said...

After noting that The Vagina Monologues is overtly anti-Catholic (yet another reason Clark loves it), Bridget Geegan Blanton writes:

"All opposition to the ‘Vagina Monologues’ is met with hysterical claims from the left about censorship. It’s funny that the censorship specialists – the left – are first to throw the concept out there. After all, they’re the ones that routinely censor discussions with career ending threats; can you say intelligent design? They’re the ones that have censored textbooks to remove the phrase “mom and dad”; they’re the ones that must remove all references to God as dictated by their dehumanizing, statist agenda. I call them as I see them and last time I looked I still have the right to speak out against the rubbish, the cultural rot and the disingenuous promotion of this play that is inherently anti-male, as well as degrading to women.

The overt sexualization of our children and our culture is part of the leftist grand design. Demoralize, de-sensitive and ultimately dehumanize. Destroy culture, remove God, demonize morality and eventually, it erodes the soul. Telling me that I’m repressed because I see this play as an attack on culture is a fundamentally weak argument and lacks foundation in truth. By the way, those of us opposed to this play, fail to be impressed with your roster of Hollywood endorsements. Essentially, it’s meaningless because opposition to the play in Hollywood would result in black listing. The left looks ridiculous lecturing its opponents on censorship, when they engage in it all the time.

Recently, I participated in a public protest against the production of ‘The Vagina Monologues’ at our local theater, along with five other like-minded individuals. We attended a televised city council meeting and read aloud from the play after announcing in advance that the material would not be suitable for minors. We hoped to bring awareness to the degrading and deviant subject matter of the play to a public that was only being told that the play was “provocative”. It is noteworthy to mention because when the sales office at the theater was contacted regarding the appropriateness of the material for minors, they responded by saying that ticket sales were open to children of all ages.

Our protest was reported in the local papers in a ‘tongue in cheek’ fashion. The op-ed pieces in response to our protest seemed to be penned by teenagers who used words like ‘celebrate’ and ‘diversity’ in their hyper letters of support for the play. Although I know we have supporters out there, they’re allowing the left to intimidate them into silence. Watching us get raked over the coals of political correctness was just too distasteful. In the long run, a price will be paid for allowing immorality that is devastating our culture and our youth, to move forward unchecked.

‘The Vagina Monologues’ has nothing to do with the empowerment of women. It is the crude fantasy of a woman who claims to have spoken with over 200 women in relation to the play – who may or may not even exist. She was worried about her vagina and what it would wear if it went out. Unfortunately, this play and the attack on our culture is being welcomed, relatively unchallenged onto college campuses and small town theaters across the nation. One organization that has stood up to empower women and oppose the degradation wrought by ‘The Vagina Monologues’ is The Claire Booth Luce Policy Institute. They have put together an organized, informed systematic protest uniquely suited for use on college campuses. The point is that we cannot allow the unhinged concepts of the God-less left to be entrenched into the minds of our youth without engaging them in the battle for hearts and minds. The true empowerment of a woman lies in the development of her soul, her mind and her physical and creative self; not the obsession with a single body part."

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1968881/posts

Paul Anthony Melanson said...

At 9:21 AM (today, February 25, 2012), an individual from Clark University referring to himself/herself as "Sigma," wrote: "I see this blog as nothing more than the hypocritical ravings of a repressed homosexual man with multiple-personality disorder...Look Mr. Melanson, I know you are gay, the entire world knows you are gay...I would advise you to seek psychological counseling."

The IP address originated ffrom Clark University according to Site Meter and is: 140.232.178

At first, an anonymous person from Clark University was calling me a "homophobic bigot." Now I've apparently morphed into a "repressed homosexual" who needs psychological counseling. Gee, I thought homosexuality was "healthy"?

Enough of the nonsense. I only mention this hateful comment to illustrate the level of hatred toward those of us who oppose the homosexual perversion and who understand, as Bridget Blanton so eloquently put it, that "The true empowerment of a woman lies in the development of her soul, her mind and her physical and creative self; not the obsession with a single body part."

The Vagina Monologues is a violent, pornographic piece of homosexual and anti-Catholic agitprop which degrades women and objectifies them. And I don't believe it is a coincidence that a violent sexual assault against a female student should occur just 9 days after this garbage was presented at Clark's campus.

My prayers are with the victim. And I also pray for a university which has lost its way and which is enveloped in darkness.

Paul Anthony Melanson said...

Another Clark student writes, "Dude, you need to get off your delusional Christian agenda and leave Clark alone.."

Delusional Christian agenda? Is this the official "clarkie" view? Comments left at this Blog would seem to suggest that such is the case. Small wonder that the Clark "Freethought Society" members believe it's "okay" to mock Christianity; small wonder that the anti-Catholic The Vagina Monologues is celebrated; small wonder that Pope Pius XII has been slandered by Deborah Dwork, Director of Clark's Strassler Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies.

Michelle said...

Clark's anti-Christian hostility has truly become a huge embarassment and a liability for the school. And an environment which celebrates viewing women as "walking vaginas" is only encouraging sexual violence against women. I can understand why so many women at Clark feel uncomfortable now. According to the Telegram & Gazette, women on campus have indicated they are afraid now. Clark is fast becoming fear city.

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