No More Excuses

No More Excuses

YA nonfiction
"Within a few hours, the girl was stumbling drunk and barely
able to talk. The party was getting out of hand. The girl became a
target of a group of students who taunted her for being drunk. A
Steubenville High baseball player urged other boys to urinate on her.
The gathered crowd thought that was hilarious..."
I'm sure you won't be at all surprised to learn that that
incident taken from Amber J. Keyser's No More Excuses: Dismantling
Rape Culture ended up in far from consensual sex and that the
indignities the teen was subjected to were filmed and posted on social
media. You probably also won't be surprised to learn that she was
accused of trying to ruin the reputations of her assailants and that
her family got a lot of hate when she reported the crime.
What's wrong with this picture?
Well for one thing it's so frequent in today's America. You
recall Brock Turner, the golden boy student athlete who somehow saw
unconsciousness as proof of consent? He served only three months for
sexual assault. The judge said a harsher penalty "would have had a
severe impact on him." His father said he shouldn't have had to pay
too high a price for "twenty minutes of action." Where was thought of
the severe impact his "twenty minutes of action" had on his victim?
What message was sent out to student athletes and other high school
and college A listers? In what culture can a crime of violence be
described as twenty minutes of action, sort of like a trip to the gym.
According to Keyser, we grow up and live in a rape culture. The
myriad forms of sexual harassment that range from subway and school
hallway groping to out and out rape are considered normal, so normal
that twenty percent of American women (including this reviewer) are
rape victims, so normal that threat assessments are an integral part
of women's routines.
"But it takes a lot of time and emotional energy to be on the
alert all the time. It influences the way women and other
marginalized peoples spend their time and where they choose to go and
how they plan their daily activities. When harassment and the threat
of sexual assault are everywhere, it limits women in ways that
straight, white men aren't limited. And most men don't even realize
it."
In No More Excuses Keyser explains what this all boils down to
for females at the vulnerable stage where they're figuring out what
sexuality means personally in a world where male peers are often
taught that "no means yes and yes means anal" and breakups can result
in the social media publication of nude pictures. Some of the topics
include:
*the harm in myths like boys will be boys and should just be ignored
or if he harasses you it just means he likes you;
*the ways popular culture objectifies female bodies and causes shame
and anxiety in girls and women;
*the double standards and objectification inherent in most school
dress codes;
and *the intersectionality of slut shaming through which classism and
racism make some females more vulnerable than others.
There's a lot to be for our daughters to be angry about in the
book. But there is good news also that, through movements like
#MeToo, rape culture can be dismantled. There are many suggestions on
actions all of us can take.
This fine book should be in every public and middle and high
school library. And it should be encouraged reading for students of
all genders.
On a purrrsonal note, I am more than ready for spring to arrive. This
isn't about snow. I love snow. I find it beautiful and magical. I
really enjoy sledding and snow sculpture and constructing forts and
snow ball fights. I appreciate how white gold helps a lot of families
including mine earn added income when heating fuel costs really bump
up the cost of living. What I'm more than tired of are two prosaic
realities of bus commuting.
1) The arctic blasts of frigid temps. In Penobscot County we're
having too many sub zero windchill days when the air hurts going into
your lungs and double gloved fingers morph into icicles.
2) Ice underfoot. Navigating the roads in the trailer park requires
the caution of rock climbing. Even the kids are tired of falling.
Believe me, I'm in the majority opinion on that topic.
A great big shout out goes out to those of my readers who are also
slogging through what hopefully are the last weeks of winter. Hang in
there! Warmer days are on the way!
jules hathaway



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