Ramapo College is finding itself in some hot water after their student newspaper reported about a sexual assault presentation that advised female students to avoid making certain facial expressions to avoid being raped.
The presentation, titled, “Haven — Understanding Sexual Assault,” was given by the school’s coordinator of Substance Abuse & Violence Cory Rosenkranz. The seminar was part of a year-long course called “AlcoholEdu,” which is a class that trains students to become “peer facilitators.” These students can talk to freshman and encourage them to make smart decisions about drinking.
Brandon Molina, a junior peer facilitator who attended Rosenkranz’s presentation, said that things started normally, but quickly grew disturbing: “She was saying that women need to watch their body language and that women should practice how they articulate their face [in a social setting] by practicing in the mirror.”
This is a form of victim-blaming akin to telling a victim, “You were wearing sexy clothes, so you were asking for it.” According to the Ramapo News, Rosenkranz’s talk highlighted a few tactics that seem to target the victim over the person who is committing the sexual assault:
“During the hour-long presentation, which also covered alcohol consumption and abuse, Rosenkranz said female students needed to be self aware about actions that could invite sexual assault. Those included, Rosenkranz said during the presentation, how women dress, how they interact socially, how much they drink and how their body language and facial expressions could be interpreted.”
The incident has garnered a fair amount of outrage on campus and now in media reports. As Molina said,”My thought the whole time was maybe women shouldn’t practice how long they’re blinking, men should just not rape people.”
Ramapo tweeted their response to the criticisms:
Ramapo College’s approach to sexual assault prevention is and has always been to not blame the victim.
— Ramapo College (@RamapoCollegeNJ) October 31, 2014