Red Rose Revolution Is A Bit Thorny

During lunch on May 18, Cleveland High students marched to spread awareness of the current reality of rape and sexual harassment, particularly against women, but the marchers faced some opposition from the student body. The march was organized by Womyn In Today’s Society (WITS), a student-led club that is committed to the discussion of and advocacy for women’s rights.

About 50 students marched to the beat of drums in unison, holding up posters that declared, “No means NO,” “Consent is sexy,” and “My uterus is NOT your political playground.”

The march focused on addressing the statistic that one in every three women is raped or sexually harassed.

“We wanted to bring [that statistic] to light,” said junior Aanchal Chugh, one of the three co-presidents of WITS. “We felt that there was a lot of ignorance surrounding the word ‘rape’ on campus so this was one of the ways to address that issue – to educate that rape is not a joke and that it’s a serious issue. Also, the march was to reclaim our sexuality and our bodies as a form of empowerment and liberation for womyn.”

Not afraid to embrace their ideology, these student feminists use “womyn” instead of “woman” because they say that “women” implies that women only exist as part of men. In the words of a WITS member, junior Kayla Casablancas, “Why should half the population that is not made up of men be called a variation of the word ‘man’?”

There was some student opposition to the march, due to the misunderstanding by bystanders that the march’s purpose was to “bash males.”

Onlookers shouted offensive things at the marching participants, including “you’re just anti-men,” “you guys all probably got raped,” and “a good f— would fix you.” Some marchers were harassed by some of the student audience who threw food, eating utensils, and other items at them. Rather than discouraging the student activists, the opposition motivated the marchers to fight harder for what they believe in.

“Getting food thrown at me was extremely discouraging at first because I heard rape jokes and laughter, but it fueled me to march harder and shout louder for the cause,” Annebelle Choi, a junior who got a carrot thrown at her hair while marching, said.

Chugh was similarly not distressed. “I believe that as students, taking action on campus is one of the first steps we can take to creating change,” said Chugh. “It was a very positive experience for me marching in solidarity with all the womyn and allies on campus. It was great to see that we have this community on campus to support each other.”

Haeeun Blessing Jee

Blessing Jee is a rising senior at Cleveland High School and currently the Editor-in-Chief of the school newspaper, Le Sabre. She has a passion for journalism and writing in general. She enjoys following feminist and anti-racist blogs, as well as watching speeches by Obama, who she thinks is quite attractive. If she could vote (which she can't because she is not 18 yet), she would vote Democrat. If she could sing (which she can't), she would sing Adele songs all day long. If she could cook (which she can't), she would cook pasta for lunch every day because that's her favorite food. But since she can't do any of the above, she chooses to do something she can do: write.

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