RADAR ALERT: V-Day Hypocrisy at Roger Williams University

For the last decade there has been a concerted effort to convert
Valentines Day from a celebration of loving relationships between men
and women into a day reserved for vilification of males as perpetrators
of "rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation and sexual
slavery." (http://www.vday.org/contents/vday/aboutvday)

More offensive than the play Vagina Monologues is the way
college administrators have censored light-hearted criticism of the
play, even as they turn a blind eye to the gender-based contempt that Vagina Monologues fosters. These administrators seem less concerned about even-handed treatment of all students than they are about pandering to powerful interest-groups.

The best example of this hypocrisy was the reaction of Roger
Williams University to the spoof The Penis Monologues, as
reported by Christina Hoff Sommers in her National Review article Why
Can't They "Just Get Along"? (http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/sommers200505020808.asp)

Sommers reports that Edward J. Kavanagh, Provost of Roger Williams
University, was so scandalized at being greeted by the play's costumed
penis-mascot "Testaclese" that he seized the costume and placed
students Monique Stuart and Andy Mainiero on probation for creating the spoof.

V-Day, the New-York-based organization devoted to getting campuses
nationwide to do Valentines Day productions of Vagina Monologues,
reports that Roger Williams University is making the school's
fieldhouse available for this year's Vagina Monologues presentation. (http://events.vday.org/2006/College/Roger_Williams_University)

Do we conclude that Provost Kavanagh, so offended by the appearance of the spoof penis-costume, is unperturbed by the prospect of the RWU Fieldhouse filled with women loudly chanting "C**t", as happens in the play's "Reclaiming C**t" section? Does the RWU administration approve of the idea that child-rape is good rape if it's committed by a lesbian, as sympathetically portrayed in "The Little Coochie Snorcher that Could"? Does the RWU administration think the university should encourage its female students to abandon studying for successful careers and instead seek fulfillment as dominatrixprostitutes specializing in whips, handcuffs and ropes, as glowingly portrayed in "The Woman Who Loved To Make Vaginas Happy"?

RWU president Roy J. Nirschel has stated, in an open letter to the
university community (http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=10394)
"the university will not condone publications that create a hostile
environment for our students and community." What could create a more
hostile environment for male students than Vagina Monologues'

consistently hostile portrayal of males as brutal oppressors?

This week, please write a letter to your local newspaper pointing
out how Roger Williams University is a prime example of the hypocrisy
demonstrated by colleges all across the country that permit hate-speech
from favored members of the student community while using an iron fist
to suppress simple satire from disfavored groups.

If you happen to know sympathetic RWU alumni, please ask them to
write letters too.

Date of RADAR Release: February 12, 2006

R.A.D.A.R. – Respecting Accuracy in Domestic
Abuse Reporting – is a network of concerned
men and women working to assure that the problem of
domestic violence is treated in a balanced and
effective manner. http://www.mediaradar.org.  

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