(Updated) “Slut” Bombs Rain Down On Sexual Assault Awareness March From Fraternity House

Dillon Cheverere13 years ago

We can neither confirm nor deny the allegations in this story. Since publishing the story one hour ago, a member of the fraternity has reached out us, claiming the allegations to be false. According to him, random passersby were responsible for shouting the obscenities, not members of AXP, and that since then the fraternity has been harassed by many on campus.

I’d also like to stress that TFM does not condone sexual abuse, or any issues related to it, in any way.

One minute you’re marching through the streets of Plattsburgh, NY in an attempt to raise awareness of sexual abuse, rape and sexual harassment in the community — one united group of strong women, many of whom have dealt with the very issues they are looking to thwart, walking proudly and purposefully to empower and bring confidence to those who have gone through similar traumatic experiences as them. Then, the next thing you know a group of young drunkards are hurling “slut” grenades at you from the front lawn of their fraternity house.

The march, organized by an international effort called Take Back the Night, must have been a wild scene on Saturday night. The verbally-assaulting epithets were being fired from the lawn of the AXP house.

“I heard ‘sluts’ and ‘Shut up, sluts,’” he said. “There’s dozens of (sexual-abuse) survivors and their allies marching that heard the derogatory comments.”

Poor form, guys. Poor, poor form.

On Tuesday afternoon, a group of about 50 students, allies, and non-sluts stood outside the AXP house in protest of their egregious insensitivity. They held signs, as you can see in the above photo, that revealed slogans like, “No More Silence,” “Survivor,” and “However Much You Call Us Sluts, We Won’t Go Home! We Won’t Shut Up!”

Alright, I kinda dig those signs. They work, I suppose. However, I would have loved the opportunity to write a couple myself. I think I’d have gone with something like these:

“You Were Conceived On Top Of A Beer Pong Table”

“You Blew It! We Won’t Put Out For You Anymore!”

or…

“Fuck You Guys, You’re Bottom Tier Anyway”

AXP President John Mastronardo released a statement on the matter:

“No one should be subjected to that type of language,” he said. “We recognize the seriousness of the situation and the amount of people justifiably offended by it. We are also offended by it.

“We respect and support the individuals who participated in Take Back the Night and all those who have been victimized by sexual assault, rape or harassment. My members are truly sincere in wanting to change the culture that condones violence and harassment, and we are committed to building a safer community.”

Mastronardo said the fraternity is looking into the incident and cooperating with campus administration as it continues to investigate.

“The solution here is to learn from this experience and educate one another,” he wrote.

[via Press Republican]