Taped on the door to professor of public and international affairs Jesse Crane-Seeber’s office is a Black Lives Matter sticker, an Alan Rickman quote and a feminist cartoon about women’s empowerment.
In his lectures to his freshman classes, Crane-Seeber unabashedly brings up questions about controversial topics such as war, racism, LGBT rights, women’s rights and sexual assault, always expecting an answer. His passion about social issues cannot help but bleed into his seminars, where he challenges his students to talk about issues he considers not discussed enough, especially rape.
Crane-Seeber describes himself as a feminist and a staunch fighter against rape and sexual assault. As a student attending Ithaca College in New York in 1999 and 2000, Crane-Seeber was involved in a men’s group against sexual violence called the Men’s Circle.
“My activism was about transforming rape culture by trying to get men to talk to each other,” Crane-Seeber said. “While both women and men get raped, men still do almost all of the raping, so we always thought this was a men’s problem and something we need to fix.”
Crane-Seeber said the Men’s Circle was focused on having discussions about taboo subjects that men don’t always openly talk about, such as sexual consent.
“We needed to have a place to talk as men about those weird, gray-zone, creepy places where you’re a little bit too drunk and you’re making out with someone you really wanted to make out with and ‘Is she too drunk to consent?’” Crane-Seeber said.
Crane-Seeber described these “gray zones” as situations where one or both persons in a sexual relationship feel uncomfortable about a situation but they are not sure it is sexual assault. Men’s Circle focused on bringing these gray zones to light.
Crane-Seeber said his passion for feminism and social justice comes from his mother, who was an avid feminist and activist during the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s. Crane-Seeber said he attended the funerals of many “lovely people” who died of AIDS, many of whom were gay men.
With tears in his eyes, Crane-Seeber described a gay couple buying him a Star Wars Christmas set as a child, when his single mother had no money. This is the childhood that Crane-Seeber says began his activism.
Crane-Seeber said the lack of dialogue about sexual assault today reminds him of the lack of dialogue about sexually transmitted diseases in the 1980s and that people, especially men, need to start talking.
“Men need a safe space to talk to each other about these issues in an age of ubiquitous pornography and so much objectification of women,” Crane-Seeber said, and he put special emphasis on the fact that men are often sexually assaulted in jail and in the military, but these issues are rarely addressed.
Crane-Seeber said that open discussion of rape has gotten more complicated due to Title IX, a law that deals with sexual harassment, discrimination and sexual assault.
Under Title IX, colleges are expected to take immediate and effective steps to end sexual harassment and sexual violence. A failure to do so can result in a college being fined by the U.S. Department of Education. This includes mandatory reporting of sexual assault by staff members.
Crane-Seeber supports the law because it requires colleges to follow through when students report rape; however, he believes the law may cause both survivors and potential perpetrators of rape not to speak out because of fear over police involvement.
“There’s a difference between ‘I was raped, press charges now,’ and ‘that was kind of icky,’” Crane-Seeber said. “In the middle, there’s other stuff. It’s essential that you talk to someone, but under Title IX, if you talk to [almost] any staff member, they must report it to the university, go through all this paperwork … It doesn’t acknowledge the complexity of experiences.”
When a discussion about potential sexual assault occurs, both a law enforcement investigation and a student conduct investigation is initiated, according to Jordyne Blaise, a deputy Title IX officer for the Office for Institutional Equity and Diversity. Staff required to report on these discussions are classified as campus security authorities and include resident advisers, campus police, academic advisers and more.
Students of any gender wishing to discuss their experiences without an investigation can speak with the Counseling Center and the Women’s Center, according to Blaise. However, these institutions are required to submit anonymous details for data collection purposes.
“While we would like the opportunity to respond to incidents of sexual violence at NC State through our various adjudication processes, ultimately, if confidentiality is a concern, we would much rather the affected individual seek counseling than not seek assistance at all,” Blaise said.
Crane-Seeber said communication is vital in the fight against rape.
“I think too often men talk about sex as something you’re supposed to get as opposed to something you do with a person,” Crane-Seeber said. “It should be a shared activity, and instead, it’s treated as a goal, a score or a point. All of that language contributes to what you might call ‘rape culture.’ It treats women as objects, and sex as something that she shouldn’t enjoy, and focuses all about you.”
Crane-Seeber said one of the ways Men’s Circle attempted to fight rape was through seminars the group ran on Ithaca’s campus. They would host male-only events marketed with titles like “How to Have Better Sex,” which would attract a lot of men, only for the event to be about rape prevention.
“That’s what we would call it because rape prevention and better sex are the same thing,” Crane-Seeber said. “Rape is not good sex. Drunk non-consenting sex is not good because if you’re that drunk, you’re not going to enjoy it anyway.”
Crane-Seeber said that he has dated sexual assault survivors. He said seeing what rape does to a person’s ability to trust and communicate is heartbreaking and that survivors of sexual assault deserve more. These experiences led to Crane-Seeber joining Men’s Circle.
Crane-Seeber said he feels that it is his responsibility, as a straight white male, to talk about rape and other controversial topics.
“If I can’t take this risk, then how the hell do I expect a queer student of color to take the heat?” Crane-Seeber said. “We are at a university, and as a university, we have a responsibility to talk about these subjects even if it makes people uncomfortable.”
I think too often men talk about sex as something you’re supposed to get as opposed to something you do with a person. It should be a shared activity, and instead, it’s treated as a goal, a score or a point.”
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