Thread by @HayworthAudrey

I had a difficult time articulating just how problematic #LSU President Tate’s statement on Madison Brooks is.

So here are my initial comments/thoughts on just how bad this statement is, a thread:

1/

The rape occurred because of rapists, HARD STOP. Alcohol is a weak excuse to place blame on the victim and not the perpetrators (see also: rape culture).

2/

How dare the head of our flagship university tell the world (yep, it’s in international papers) that the problem is underage drinking without acknowledging LSU’s troubled past with rape culture.

3/

How dare the head of our flagship university say that he will do whatever it takes to deal with this when LSU refused to renew their contract with @staradvocates

4/

Imagine having the nerve to push blame to outside of the university when LSU has a documented problem with rape culture.

5/

Imagine having the nerve to tell a family publicly that their daughter wouldn’t have been raped and then killed had she not been drinking underage.

6/

There is not a survivor out there that has not lived their life trying not to be a victim. The real issue here is not holding perpetrators accountable and the culture that upholds their behaviors.

7/

There’s a saying I’ve heard over 25 years in rooms where violence prevention policy is discussed — ‘the only good victim is a dead one,’ meaning rape culture will find any reason to blame a victim, unless they’re dead. LSU is blaming a dead girl. Even in death, she is blamed.

8/

Rape happens because there are rapists.

9/9

One more thing — if people who are not rapists would have picked her up and brought her somewhere safe, the night would probably have ended very differently. Rape happens because there are rapists.