Georgetown has been grappling with the issue of sexual harassment for some time. From hate crimes to sex crimes and everything in between, our campus community has been plagued by an unhealthy and often dangerous sexual dynamic. The situations in which harassment are most likely to occur often involve alcohol, which sometimes makes the decision of how to react to it more difficult.
Many women have been the object of a drunken comment or two while walking through the Georgetown community on a weekend night. Sometimes it’s harmless, like a bro saying hello to every stranger he passes, or the boy that sits in front of you in your psych class slurring the words, “Hey, I know you!” Other times, however, the nature of these comments can be more offensive. Maybe it’s a “Hey, baby,” maybe someone comments on your body or what you’re wearing, or maybe they even try to approach you.
Sometimes in situations like these, if both parties are intoxicated, the situation doesn’t seem so serious. Maybe that guy was in your Problem of God class freshman year, maybe he lived in your stairwell, maybe he hooked up with your best friend all last year. And after all, he’s a fellow Hoya, right? He probably doesn’t mean it. He can’t be that bad.
But even if this is true—which is certainly not always the case—there are more serious cases of sexual harassment happening on our campus, with DPS broadcasting an alert for at least one major crime each semester. And of course, we never hear about the many cases of sexual harassment that go unreported.
I can’t say that I have ever felt particularly unsafe inside the front gates on a Saturday night, but stepping off campus is something else entirely. An alarming number of crimes, sexual or otherwise, happen just a few blocks away from 37th and O streets. While we may think we know our fellow classmates well enough to brush off any mildly inappropriate comments or behaviors, leaving the Georgetown bubble throws us into a different world. We don’t know the men or women who may be looking us up and down, catcalling after us, or not taking no for an answer. We don’t know what they might have in mind or what they might be capable of.
Given the uncertain intentions of the people we come into contact with outside of the Georgetown bubble, the big question is how to defend ourselves against harassment. We can keep our head down and pretend we don’t notice and avoid conflict. Imagine responding to someone’s whistle or catcall in a way that makes it clear that you don’t appreciate their behavior, only to fuel their drunken belligerence and have them pursue you, shout back at you, threaten you, or try to harm you.
On the other hand, I can’t help but think that each time we ignore someone’s comments and keep on walking, we send a message that this sort of behavior is acceptable. If no one tells the men and women who verbally harass others that their behavior is inappropriate, it only guarantees that they will continue to harass others in the future.
Yet women are told that the best way to avoid sexual harassment or rape seems to be to not go out at night, not to wear revealing clothing, or to never be alone—essentially to live in fear. The current strategy is to stay safe by feeling unsafe in most situations. Perhaps it would be better to develop an anti-harassment strategy of empowerment, providing students with the tools to defend themselves (physically as well as verbally) against sexual harassment of any kind. Oh, and it might be nice if we had a safety department that spent its time preventing robberies, muggings, and sex crimes rather than busting up unregistered parties at 1 a.m. on a Friday night.
