Discussion List for campus-based and allied personnel working to end gender-based violence on campus.

["Ross A Wantland" <>]

Hey y'all,
  I want to thank everyone for their time in responding to my concern about 
what appears to be inaction or a gap in addressing drug-facilitated sexual 
violence, especially when the "target" is "missed" (the drug is administered, 
but the individual gets home "safely").  Many responses pointed out the 
importance of changing laws, law enfocement & criminal justice practices, 
etc. to make sure that this is being seen as a crime, and that it should be 
handled as such, even if we don't know the perpetrator. Thanks to everyone 
with insight you provided me.
  I received a lot of information and resources that focused on the potential 
victim's responsibility (my word, not theirs) to avoid or detect being 
drugged. Multiple people informed me of the "Drink Detective" device, which 
our listserv has already discussed. This is disturbing to me, because it 
appears that the bulk of our efforts (Our = campus/community movements 
against rape) addressing date rape drugs places the onus on the (potential) 
victims. Have any campuses thought beyond this? What might it look like if we 
apply what we know about the justification towards alcohol-facilitated sexual 
violence towards "date rape drug" usage? What if we were to take a more broad 
community approach to eliminating these behaviors? 
    My question about how our campuses can respond, I suppose, showed me that 
we don't have an answer to this question. Instead of having administrative 
protocols & procedures in place, or developing programs that would address 
those who administer these drugs or the bystanders who are supporting the 
behaviors of these men who administer these drugs, I believe we default to 
instruct women to be on the defensive. Not only does this suggest that the 
women who were drugged were somehow stupid or complacent in their drugging, 
but also that we (as the individuals working to end sexual violence...or I 
hope that is how we see ourselves) are complacent/helpless/impotent in the 
face of these men's actions.
   Can we imagine our way out of this helplessness? What would that take? How 
can we create a community approach to eliminating drug-facilitated sexual 
violence, attempted or completed? I apologize for my crass tone; this is 
something that I've been chewing on for a long time, and I wonder how we can 
address it. Thank you for all your crucial hard work.
In peace,
Ross
 
Ross Wantland
Coordinator of Sexual Assault Education
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign