It’s important that we not create confusion about the reality of sexual violence that students experience and the rules that DeVos has proposed. Thread.
1) The violence that students face in schools has long been kept in the shadows. Few people come forward because they know they are unlikely to be believed. Or that their schools will treat the violence they endure as unimportant. The DeVos proposed rules will make this worse.
2)All survivors face deep skepticism. That is our culture at its worse and unfortunately our laws and processes have often reflected that idea.
3)Black women are in an even worse bind. They carry the cultural stereotypes of liars, but also a long legacy of hypersexualization the allies the high rates of violence against black women to be ignored. It is not just that they are not believed-they are affirmatively blamed.
4)I am unwilling to continue to engage in a racial justice debate about sexual violence that ignores black women. I am unwilling to engage in a racial justice debate about sexual violence that reinforces the very stereotypes that contribute to violence plaguing this country.
5) The Bazelon piece is not brave, nor would I describe it as “the truth.” Rather, it reinforces the very stereotypes that make survivors less safe. #TitleIX #HandsoffIX
