We here at Lady Parts Justice League had a document slide across our desk this morning. It is an unverified memo, seemingly from the U.S. Department of Justice—Civil Rights Division. We are trying to find out if the letter is legitimate. We have not found a single news line mentioning it; however our source is someone we trust. We’re putting this forward to anyone we know who is in the media, a researcher or perhaps even in government to help us figure out if this is real as it has some pretty scary proposals to Title IX. If it’s not true we don’t want to be filling people full of fear, but if it is, then this should be front page news! We hope it’s not. Take a look at this document, but be sure to have a tissue handy because it will make your eyes bleed.
Since people don’t always want to read things that primarily only affect women, here is a quick run through of what the letter contains (not you, you care about women, we’re just feeling burned). The memo is discussing alleged horrific changes to Title IX about how sexual assault cases will be handled on campuses in the future (you know, cause they were already handling them so well they decided to mix it up and make it a little harder on the accuser).
The DOJ’s stated intention in this still unverified document is to protect “due process” but it becomes clear upon reading that the real goal is to make it more difficult for victims of sexual assault to come forward. (We hate using the term ‘victim’ but we don’t want to say ‘women’ either as it's not solely women who are assaulted so for the purpose of this piece we’ll be using ‘victim’ while recognizing that that word has less agency than we intend. Saying only ‘accuser' takes the actual crime out of it. In general people aren’t just walking around accusing for no reason, it’s in response to a thing that happened to them.) So whenever you see “due process” read PROTECT THE PENIS.
Among the policy changes this supposed memo is proposing, three points really jump out and grab our throats. Numero uno. “Every complainant’s sexual history, if relevant, may be introduced in the hearing.” EXCUSE YOU?!!! “If relevant” — go fuck yourself. This goes by another name, it’s called shaming. Shaming someone so they won’t come forward because they're afraid their entire past will be made public. As if someone having a sexual history means that they weren’t assaulted. This is back in time, witch burning, women shaming, bullshit!!! Maybe we should just ask our husband’s to glue our labia together before we leave the house. JK. JK. JK. Not all women are married, so maybe our dad’s can do it. JK. JK. JK. (No but for real, labia glue is actually a thing invented by a MAN!)
Another huge red raw angry flag in this alleged memo is it states that yes, of course schools must ensure that a hearing doesn’t further traumatize a victim, BUT they want to make sure going forward that it won’t interfere with the accused rights. I’m sure on the surface everyone is like, yeah, fair trail. But that’s not what this is. The accused gets a fair trail. We’ve all been living in this lacrosse team world. If you make something so vague as this an actual policy change it opens the door for bullying the accuser under the veil of protecting accused rights. (Take a hot second to wipe the eye blood.)
The last possible proposed change on this bullet to the head list states that reviewing the case and the investigation must protect the rights of the accused. It does not say ‘protect the rights of the accused and the accuser,' just the accused. This might as well be a tribute to the swimmer rape judge — let’s make sure some guy's life isn't ruined because he assaulted someone. Vomit. Vomit. Vomit. Even our labia are vomiting (thank goodness for pu$$y lips glue)!
Rape culture on campuses is already so prevalent and changes such as these would just make it even harder for victims to come forward and get justice. Keep a very wary whispering eye out! Are they trying to slide this by without anyone knowing? It doesn’t seem out of character for an administration led by a man who said “Grab them by the pussy” to be more worried about the rights of the accused than the victim. When shit like this comes out we need to find out if it’s true so we can take immediate action! Is the DOJ is making college campuses less safe?! WE ARE ON THE HUNT TO FIND OUT! Please join us, like, immediately.
