No one Deserves Rape – Reaction to Brother Dean Samuels

Hi everyone,

Happy end of the semester! It has been a crazy one I’m sure, it has been for me. I wanted to end this semester strong in talking about a few things  I’ve found on the internet this week. This post will be covering an article that I feel should incite a call to action.

The article I want to speak of is one that I found floating around Facebook. The title is No, Seriously, This Guy Is Holding A “You Deserve Rape” Sign. This is the link to the article if you want to read and following along with me.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ellievhall/no-seriously-this-guy-is-holding-a-you-deserve-rape-sign

So I have heard many people ask me why do I do this work, or tell me people already know about rape culture. So to answer this I’ll say it is because of people like Brother Dean Samuel’s that I do this work. I also read a reaction from my very own Hall bathroom stall from a student who mirrored his beliefs as well claiming that women having the freedom to dress however they want and not expect rape shouldn’t be an excuse for dressing “provocatively”. An excuse? I do not see anyone telling men they should not walk around in boxers in their hall, or the fact they can walk down the street shirtless, or on Halloween when they dress as women are they called “provocative.” This is because of the double standard existing in our society one that perpetuates rape culture. The fact that women can wear whatever they want is a freedom of their own expression, it is not a green light for assault. The real message we should be promoting in our bathroom newsletters and in our society should be that we don’t accept rapists claiming provocative clothing as an “excuse” to rape! This is happening on our own campus as well as others across the country keep this in mind as you read the rest of this post.

Now onto the article.

This Brother Dean Samuel’s is a student at University of Arizona. He decided that he would go to the U of A’s Take Back the Night event and display as he calls a  “mild, normal sign” stating “you deserve rape” as well as give a sermon to this effect. His reasoning for this sign and sermon as he told the U of A’s paper the Arizona Daily Wildcat was as follows the “sermon was meant to convey that ‘if you dress like a whore, act like a whore, you’re probably going to get raped.'”

So now I have to ask you all, what kind of message do we send with this kind of message? This march Take Back The Night, which we have on our very own campus is a peaceful march and event trying to depict the importance of women taking back their pride and safety, claiming that no matter the circumstance rape is caused by rapists. However, now we have individuals such as Brother Dean who feel that it is their right to claim things such as “Slut slamming, everyday, cause they are just that emotional” which was posted 17 hours ago on his public twitter.

What is even worse however is the fact that because of his hate being spread at this event he was the individual to make the front page of the campus news paper, which was only glorifying his actions. After he made the front page he tweeted “The sluts can’t handle it!!!! Front page and slut fire gets the lower half!!!!” in response to the campus outrage via editorial comments that Take Back The Night did not make front page news and that Brother Dean and his negative sermon was being promoted.

I invite you to read this article and if you have a twitter read Brother Dean Samuel’s posts. After you do tell me if the fight for equality has been won, or if you still feel that rape culture does not exist.

As for the picture below I want to commend those participating in trying to make sure this individuals voice which he feels so righteous to pronounce does not demean the true message of Take Back The Night and the fight against rape culture.

NO ONE DESERVES RAPE. RAPISTS COMMIT RAPE OUT OF THEIR OWN AGENDA. REMEMBER THIS AND JOIN THE CAUSE.

This is a call to action. Rape culture is real and persists in not just the college sphere but on our very own campus.