An email with instructions on how to “mack and succeed at parties” from a member of a fraternity at Georgia Tech might have made some UF students smirk, but others aren’t laughing — even after the author publicly apologized.
In the mass email that quickly circulated social networking sites, the author gave fraternity brothers a step-by-step tutorial on how to get women to drink more and sleep with them.
Isabella Valderrama, an 18-year-old UF management freshman, said she thought the article was gross.
“He made (rape) seem like something that isn’t such a big deal,” she said. “It is a big deal. It does happen. It’s prevalent, and it’s an issue.”
Clay Townsend, a 20-year-old applied physiology and kinesiology junior, is in Alpha Tau Omega (ΑΤΩ). He said he thinks the TFM culture is growing.
“A lot of people are taking on that frat guy persona,” he said.
Julia Rae Varnes, a specialist at GatorWell Health Promotion Services, said it’s disappointing and disturbing the author felt it was OK to write and send the email. His willingness to do so may point to an even more disturbing reality — the influence of “rape culture.”
Rape culture is a culture in which rape is perpetuated, normalized and seen as permissible. It leads to a broad misunderstanding of what determines sexual assault and rape, Varnes said. She said rape is exactly what the author of the email is talking about.
“Getting someone drunk with the purpose of having sex with them — that’s rape,” Varnes said.
She said one of the biggest myths is that if someone is intoxicated, he or she can legally consent. Varnes said the legal blood alcohol content level to consent is .08, which is the same as the legal limit to drive.
“The absence of ‘no’ does not mean the presence of ‘yes,’” she said.
However, Varnes said she recognizes only one person wrote the email, and she doesn’t assume he represents a larger entity.
“I don’t think he’s the only person in the world who has this thought process, but I do hope he’s a small minority,” she said.
Varnes said the best method of prevention is bystander intervention, and that students should be looking out for each other.
“If something doesn’t look right,” she said, “Speak up and say something.”
A version of this story ran on page 1 on 10/15/2013 under the headline "UF reacts to Georgia Tech fraternity letter"
