Graffiti on campus: A call for alternative methods of expression
I appreciate when people are able to share what they believe in, and I like living in a place where they are free to do so. That said, I don’t enjoy seeing the violent word-vomit that has been spewed across the walls of upper campus. I haven’t yet heard from a student that does. It is not attractive, and it does not make me want to support any of the causes alluded to.
Making my daily loop from my on campus apartment to class and back, I get to read WAR AGAINST PATIARCY in the morning and KILL YOUR BOYFRIEND in the afternoon. These are written on opposite sides of the CRC. Following the almost obligatory circle A, WAR AGAINST PATIARCY has been amended with a footnote to say *PATRIARCHY.
Patriarchy, along with many of the other themes mentioned in the graffiti, is often brought up in radical discussions of social justice. However, I would like to know what cause telling people to kill their boyfriends serves. I am not an expert on handwriting analysis, so I am only supposing that these statements were written by the same person, who I am guessing associates all men with patriarchal oppressors. This is, at least in my opinion, as sexist as men whose actions towards women are informed by attitudes of superiority.
I know that there are serious social justice issues hiding in this mess, though I strain to recognize them through the violent nature of the language used. I would like to see these issues expressed through our school newspaper and all the other outlets that our community members work hard to provide. I would like to see how things would be rephrased when people have to put their names on their work. Many people already do this and I applaud them whether or not I agree with them. This is where I believe a real difference can be made, not on walls that the school would probably clean up, no matter what had been written on them in big spray-painted letters.
Although, if you are into the art of spray painting there are large metal containers that are meant to be painted near the sports fields on lower campus.
Comments
I wouldn't mind that a vandal
I wouldn't mind that a vandal engaged in acts of anti-creativity with a spray can...just another angst-ridden, upper middle class loser with a bloated sense of entitlement who thinks he or she is striking back at imagined foes in an original way...but the problem is, while this yutz is busy working out his or her privilege guilt, it is costing the college tens of thousands of dollars to clean it up. That is money that another student, not as fortunate as the over-entitled vandal, will never get. It is costing some students their chance to afford an education. For those of us who are from Washington, and who are not supported by mommy and daddy, the money to clean up the mewling of the spoiled brat has come out of our pockets in the form of tax dollars. Believe me, last time some suburban rebel without a clue sprayed the campus I checked with the maintenance crew. This is an expensive act of unoriginal expression. What really blew me away last time was, when a few of us called these vandals out for their pathetic non-activism and laziness we were verbally assaulted by a few people who never got far enough in Civics to know that this kind of crime against the students is not an example of constitutionally protected speech...so don't even go there.
By the way, the Bias Incident
By the way, the Bias Incident Response Team, who investigates hate crime like this, is offering a $300 reward to anyone who knows who did this...maybe we can recoup some of the money this hater cost us and have it go to a GOOD cause, like a students tuition.
I believe it is crime
I believe it is crime stoppers that can provide a reward. The number the email provided is (493-2222).
There's no such thing as reverse oppression
This graffiti is not sexist against men, that's not how sexism works. The resisting patriarchy requires several tactics. For some folks, negating the male-dominated world is necessary. And sometimes violence is a necessary tool for liberation.
I remember my first year on campus there was a lude and sex-negative tag all over campus. I couldn't walk around campus without seeing it. Crime Stoppers wasn't trying to find and punish that person, it wasn't the talk of the town, nor was it emeditly covered up. That tag wasn't adamantly political or threatening to the dominate culturally values that administer this school.
This graffiti is not sexist
This graffiti is not sexist against men, that's not how sexism works. The resisting patriarchy requires several tactics. For some folks, negating the male-dominated world is necessary. And sometimes violence is a necessary tool for liberation.
I remember my first year on campus there was a lude and sex-negative tag all over campus. I couldn't walk around campus without seeing it. Crime Stoppers wasn't trying to find and punish that person, it wasn't the talk of the town, nor was it emeditly covered up. That tag wasn't adamantly political or threatening to the dominate culturally values that administer this school.
Definition of SEXISM
Definition of SEXISM
1
: Prejudice or discrimination based on sex; especially: discrimination against women
2
: Behavior, conditions, or attitudes that foster stereotypes of social roles based on sex
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sexism
I feel that the prejudgment of all men as oppressors, and therefore all non-males as the oppressed, counts as sexism under this definition. By definition one I can say it is a prejudgment of men (and women by the creation of the dichotomy) on the basis of their sex. By definition two I can say it fosters stereotypes of social roles based on sex. As a woman I don’t like the assumption that I am oppressed. As a woman with a boyfriend I don’t like that he has to fear the way people will judge him based on the chromosomes he was born with. This is not to say that women are never judged on the basis of their sex. There are clear examples of this kind of descrimination against women.
My point is that I believe sexism goes both ways. The fact that the graffiti said KILL YOUR BOYFRIEND, rather than FIGHT FOR RELATIONSHIP EQAULITY or DON’T TOLERATE ABUSE, makes me feel like the writer would not agree.
I agree that violence is necessary under certain circumstances. But when violence is aimed at an entire group of people who did not consciously choose to be a part of the group (like KKK members choose to be a part of the KKK), i.e. groups determined by sex, race, gender, sexual orientation etc., that violence is comparable less to a noble move toward social justice and more to a hate crime.
I would like to see specific issues discussed and acted on rationally through forums that are already in place (CASV, Womyns resource center, Cooper Point Journal, Counter Point Journal, etc), rather than overly general and violent graffiti that seems to yell “men are oppressive; let’s kill them.”
Past offensive graffiti
I also remember past attacks of sexually offensive graffiti. I believe there were emails sent out by the school in a negative response, though I do not remember crime stoppers being involved. I dont think that Graffiti was done to the extent that the graffiti being discussed now was. The school cited monetary damages in their response this time.