tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post4120120649337814994..comments2023-12-23T04:56:29.702-05:00Comments on Ferule & Fescue: RaptusFlaviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17832765671541392835noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-40936468168920429062009-12-26T11:00:43.308-05:002009-12-26T11:00:43.308-05:00A good article.A good article.Neo-Victorianisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14645232177126938226noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-83945823694786278752009-10-05T12:36:44.712-04:002009-10-05T12:36:44.712-04:00Outstanding.Outstanding.Tenured Radicalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05703980598547163290noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-1367830523009197922009-10-02T10:37:07.219-04:002009-10-02T10:37:07.219-04:00Azulao,
Chaucer is not making fun of rape in the W...Azulao,<br />Chaucer is not making fun of rape in the WoB's Tale; indeed the knight-rapist almost gets himself decapitated for his crime.<br /><br />I don't really know why my students laugh about it. I'd like to think that they are laughing because of the whole "hey, I'm a privileged knight riding around and check out that innocent maiden I'd like to fuck" aspect of the story is horribly ridiculous and sadly true.<br /><br />But I suspect that they're laughing because maidens and stuff should just be MORE CAREFUL. And because our culture makes rape jokes all the time.the rebel lettristehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08369013300190217105noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-81843527978552737062009-10-02T00:09:26.448-04:002009-10-02T00:09:26.448-04:00Nels: I deliberately didn't name the essays, s...Nels: I deliberately didn't name the essays, since I didn't want this post to turn up in a Google search if my students search their titles--but the better (more interesting/provocative) of the two you can perhaps guess: it's short, created a huge buzz in the very early '90s, and was written by a woman. I'm not sure the other essay is so great, but it's a useful counterpoint.<br /><br />I don't, in fact, talk about men being raped, too--I only do the one day on the subject--but I should. I'm thinking of revamping this course before I teach it again, and I'd like to do a bit more on gender issues.<br /><br />As for rape jokes: gah. I hate them so much. And jokes about prison rape do seem to me possibly to be the worst of all, since part of what is ostensibly high-larious about them is the idea of a <i>man</i> being in the abject, helpless--and thus naturally <i>female</i>--position.Flaviahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17832765671541392835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-56987523088363884412009-10-01T22:32:58.410-04:002009-10-01T22:32:58.410-04:00ambiguously non-consensual. shit, that is a sadly...ambiguously non-consensual. shit, that is a sadly brilliant coinage.Jackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17311287744738993522noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-55305773512873114092009-10-01T20:50:22.794-04:002009-10-01T20:50:22.794-04:00OMG, people *joke* about rape? I must be either u...OMG, people *joke* about rape? I must be either unforgivably naive or extraordinarily sheltered. <br /><br />My discipline is about as far away as you can get from one in which you'd read Chaucer, so I have to ask -- was *Chaucer* making fun of rape and that's why the students are laughing, or are they laughing because that's who/what/where they are?<br /><br />I love it that you looked a student in the eye and told him he'd sound like an asshole if he wasn't careful. I'd have stopped at saying he sounded like an asshole, which would not have been nearly as effective.Azulaohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00771800031142538095noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-36720780241452702212009-10-01T09:50:07.391-04:002009-10-01T09:50:07.391-04:00I *totally* agree about being excused from a jury....I *totally* agree about being excused from a jury... and man, i'm sick of the jokes, too. especially about institutionalized violence, like prison rape, or education. ten years ago, i was a first year law student at a law school located in a dilapidated urban space. it had gone co-ed in the 70s, which meant that the women's bathroom was a converted broom closet. anyway, there was "rape tape" around the perimeter of the bathroom. small bathroom+ large lawbooks+ many women= the alarm went off all the time, with no response. so the joke was that it was only there to alert the janitor to come clean up blood. ugh. ugh. ugh. rape was part of the institutional infrastructure, for chrissakes. this story came to haunt me last year when a student at my university was sexually assaulted in a classroom on campus. <br /><br />so, flavia, teach on. and know that i've got your back!hdnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-50613669927781496372009-10-01T08:48:55.474-04:002009-10-01T08:48:55.474-04:00I remember our conversation well, and think of it ...I remember our conversation well, and think of it often. This post is so great, I want to hug you.<br /><br />p.s. I am also very sick of jokes--sanctioned by sitcoms and sprite commercials!--about rape in prison.Eveynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-51909573154808985922009-10-01T01:31:39.239-04:002009-10-01T01:31:39.239-04:00'God, that test raped me.''God, that test raped me.'Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-87335982872328656762009-09-30T22:27:33.551-04:002009-09-30T22:27:33.551-04:00Great post. I'd love to hear what articles yo...Great post. I'd love to hear what articles you teach.<br /><br />I talk about rape a lot in my classes, but since I'm the Director of Gender Studies, that is not a surprise. I'm curious if the subject of men being raped every comes up in your classes? I always bring it up in my classes mainly because I know a fair number of men who have been raped, and they often keep quiet about it because of shame.<br /><br />I'm actually doing a guest lecture next week on rape jokes for a gender studies class. It's a lecture I give a lot around here, and I'm hoping to turn it into an article. The Polanski case is making it even more timely, unfortunately.Nels P. Highberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17998283755242261031noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-87695148073802314722009-09-30T15:13:33.495-04:002009-09-30T15:13:33.495-04:00HD: oh, that's a marvelous (by which I mean ho...HD: oh, that's a marvelous (by which I mean horrible, but usefully illustrative) story. I know I'm inclined--almost to the point of irrationality; to the point that I would probably ask to be excused from serving on the jury of a rape case, because I'm not sure I could render a fair verdict--to take the woman's side in such situations, but I really don't think most men know or think about these things AT ALL.<br /><br />To my knowledge, I know no one who has been stranger-raped, and I know no one who has ever reported ANY form of sexual assault--and that includes friends who were quite unambiguously date-raped. But probably half of my friends have had somewhat coercive, somewhat nonconsensual sex. If you limit the pool of my friends to those who spent more than a few adult years single/dating around, it's the majority. It makes me so anxious for my students.<br /><br />Your class and current project both sound fantastic.<br /><br />And RL: !!!Flaviahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17832765671541392835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-24679705554108169912009-09-30T10:09:11.419-04:002009-09-30T10:09:11.419-04:00I love it that you told the baseball player that i...I love it that you told the baseball player that if he wasn't careful he was going to sound like an asshole.<br /><br />My current lament in my classes is that students LAUGH at moments of sexual violence in the early English texts we're reading. Like the rape of the maiden in the WoB's Tale. So funny!the rebel lettristehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08369013300190217105noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-79770903530604161232009-09-30T10:08:53.187-04:002009-09-30T10:08:53.187-04:00oh i hear you. once, a long time ago, when i taugh...oh i hear you. once, a long time ago, when i taught an intro to WS course in grad school, i blurted out loud pretty much the same thing... that i was already tired of talking about rape with my friends, but i was really, really tired of talking about rape with my female students. while ranting, and trying to make the point that representations of rape matter a *lot*, i happened to mention that i had a friend in college who only counted bjs as "half a point" on her list of sexual partners because a few of them were ones she had to give just to get let out of cars and she just didn't want them to fully count in her personal history of sex. anyway, FOUR students out of 25 came to my office hours to talk about how similar events had happened to them. These women said the same thing my friend did: that they didn't think of these experiences, necessarily, as rape but they certainly didn't think of them as consensual either. that's when it hit me: it's college. their bodies really are battlegrounds. now that i have some professional distance, i teach a whole course on the history of rape and representation (and it's fueling a new project of mine about really strange early modern stories about rape that fall out of our histories, like tales of animal ravishment). it's an oblique way to get at this same issue, and to finally think through my friend's way of dealing with things through creating new narratives about sexual violence. Which is all just to say that i think these conversations have to happen, but it's exhausting work.hdnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-46234830903586793282009-09-30T09:03:19.063-04:002009-09-30T09:03:19.063-04:00Wow. I wish your students would read this, and mi...Wow. I wish your students would read this, and mine, too.Bardiachttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11846065504793800266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-77735710389770969692009-09-29T23:41:35.646-04:002009-09-29T23:41:35.646-04:00Wow. Great post. Keep fighting the good fight!Wow. Great post. Keep fighting the good fight!Sisyphushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09880634753539329199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-61199754094328235332009-09-29T22:54:50.497-04:002009-09-29T22:54:50.497-04:00It's tiring to have to keep fighting the fight...It's tiring to have to keep fighting the fight but you obviously do a great job at teaching these tough topics.Janicehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14093558563358431804noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-77793337953030402132009-09-29T21:38:40.339-04:002009-09-29T21:38:40.339-04:00Sing it, sister.
Your students are incredibly luc...Sing it, sister.<br /><br />Your students are incredibly lucky to have such a fearless, dedicated teacher. I have to believe that the work that you & so many others do will someday, eventually change the discourse about these matters.The Bittersweet Girlhttp://bitternsweet.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-22177406215166227472009-09-29T21:25:33.590-04:002009-09-29T21:25:33.590-04:00Yes. Exactly.Yes. Exactly.Dr. Crazyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12457967076373916629noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-7143840095499635742009-09-29T20:59:22.009-04:002009-09-29T20:59:22.009-04:00Thanks for putting into words some things that I s...Thanks for putting into words some things that I should be thinking more frequently, and less glibly, about.Renaissance Girlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06243095907452011303noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-74983896967380586972009-09-29T20:21:48.607-04:002009-09-29T20:21:48.607-04:00Thank you.Thank you.moriahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12390704103460109691noreply@blogger.com