2008 Woodie Awards
Conspiracy of silence
Issue date: 4/28/05 Section: Letters to the Editor
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I am writing to publicly thank Students for Gender Equality (SFGE) for once again allowing me to be part of their event, Take Back the Night, last Thursday. From what I have read on the SFGE listserv, there will not be an article in this week's Journal on the event. If this is true, this is indeed unfortunate, as Take Back the Night is one of the most powerful and emotional events of the year. Men's violence toward women (as well as the implicit threat of that violence in all male/female interactions) continues to be a central component of the human condition.
Webster's first Take Back the Night was covered straight-forwardly in The Journal by Kara Beightel's April 24, 2003, article, "Students to fight rape, unite women." Last year Andrea Noble and Erin Polgreen's insightful piece "Webster takes back the night," appeared in the April 28, 2004, edition of The Journal. This well-researched and well-written piece allowed students who had not attended Take Back the Night to get a sense of the healing and power of the event without compromising the confidentiality or safety of the women who had survived violence at the hands of men. I was looking forward to an equally well-done story from this year's award-winning Journal.
For better or worse, The Journal is the record of what happens on campus or as you say in your subheading, "the news source for Webster University." When the paper of record does not report about Take Back the Night, you participate in the conspiracy of silence surrounding men's violence toward women. The university community needs to know that more than 100 students, faculty, staff, and community members came together for one night to say no to male violence. The Journal should have told that story again this year.
Steve Houldsworth
Behavioral and
Social Sciences
Webster's first Take Back the Night was covered straight-forwardly in The Journal by Kara Beightel's April 24, 2003, article, "Students to fight rape, unite women." Last year Andrea Noble and Erin Polgreen's insightful piece "Webster takes back the night," appeared in the April 28, 2004, edition of The Journal. This well-researched and well-written piece allowed students who had not attended Take Back the Night to get a sense of the healing and power of the event without compromising the confidentiality or safety of the women who had survived violence at the hands of men. I was looking forward to an equally well-done story from this year's award-winning Journal.
For better or worse, The Journal is the record of what happens on campus or as you say in your subheading, "the news source for Webster University." When the paper of record does not report about Take Back the Night, you participate in the conspiracy of silence surrounding men's violence toward women. The university community needs to know that more than 100 students, faculty, staff, and community members came together for one night to say no to male violence. The Journal should have told that story again this year.
Steve Houldsworth
Behavioral and
Social Sciences