The student group Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment hosted author and speaker Jessica Valenti Thursday as part of April's Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
Valenti, a blogger for feministing.com, author of ""Full Frontal Feminism"" and self-proclaimed ""professional feminist,"" discussed ideas from her book ""Yes Means Yes"" to facilitate a conversation with students about sexual violence on campus.
Senior John Ludders said he attended the event after reading Valenti's book ""The Purity Myth"" because he thought it was an interesting and important perspective.
""I think she's great,"" Ludders said. ""She perpetuates the view that feminism is an equality thing, not antiman.""
Indeed, Valenti began her speech by defying the ""bra-burning"" stereotype of the angry feminist.
""Telling women that only ugly man-haters are feminists is ... a great way to keep young people away from feminism,"" Valenti said. ""I really do believe that one of the best ways we can start to combat sexual violence is to be feminists. Their work is some of the most progressive thought and action out there.""
According to Valenti, although awareness and action have increased, the rate of sexual assault has not declined. Eleven to 20 percent of female college graduates have reportedly experienced sexual assault, she said.
""I think it's really important to know things are not getting better,"" Valenti said.
Valenti discussed what she says are the social causes of these statistics, such as victim-blaming in the media and consumer culture and society's expectations for women—namely the ""myth of purity.""
Valenti ended with a list of solutions that included promoting an ""enthusiastic ‘yes'"" model as opposed to the ""no means no"" approach, supporting progressive school policies, framing sex as desirable only when all parties are actively engaged, and supporting both local and national activism.
UW-Madison student Whitney Swance said she liked the way Valenti's speech focused on campus issues.
""What stuck out to me was her discussion of a university taking steps to cover up sexual assault,"" said Swance, referring to universities allegedly trying to keep their rape statistics down by discouraging the reporting of sexual assault.
Valenti said all of society plays an important role in preventing sexual assault.
""What rapists are doing and how they operate, we can do something about it,"" Valenti said. ""I don't think we can re-educate rapists out of raping ... What we can do is re-educate society out of accepting rapists.""
