TO THE EDITOR:
After reading Thursday’s DTH, I have to admit that I was surprised at the lack of student reaction to Wednesday’s column by Perry Tsai (“I may be kinky, but I’m not crazy”). While college is an easy environment for the normalization of many behaviors, I feel I must draw the line at Tsai’s attempt to condone S&M.
Quite obviously, S&M is the epitome of symbolic violence against women. Frequently, we are reminded of the importance of gender-neutral language, and how this language contributes to a larger “rape culture.” Advocates argue that language holds symbolic power, that saying that we “raped” the other team is not trite, but a reinforcement of masculine dominance. What, then, about a public article condoning the sexual practices of bondage and violence?
I would like to ask why these feminist members have not spoken out in regards to Tsai’s attempt to normalize S&M. Why have you not written in about the normalization of faux rape and the harm of women? Is it because S&M is a private behavior? I thought, feminists, that the “Personal is Political.”
I hope this sparks, at the very least, a discussion about an important topic that could very well have slipped by the wayside. At most, I hope it reveals the intense, almost laughable irony of a group that fumes over noun conflation but implicitly condones sexual violence.
Colin Campbell
Senior
Political Science and English
