Rutgers Student Believed To Have Committed Suicide After Classmates Allegedly Recorded Him In Gay Sexual Encounter

[from the Huffington Post; article updated 5:46pm 9/30/10]


The Clementi family's lawyer, Paul Minardi, has released a statement confirming that Tyler committed suicide:

"Tyler was a fine young man, and a distinguished musician. The family is heartbroken beyond words. They respectfully request that they be given time to grieve their great loss and that their privacy at this painful time be respected by all," he said, according to ABC

ABC also reports that Clementi posted an update to his Facebook page on Sept. 22 at 8:42 p.m. that read "Jumping off the gw bridge sorry."

A Facebook page in memory of Clementi has more than 450 supporters as of this update.

A Rutgers University freshman is believed to have taken his own life last week shortly after he was broadcast engaging in sexual activity with another man.

According to WPIX, officials believe the student, who the New York Daily News has identified as 18-year-old Tyler Clementi, jumped from the George Washington Bridge last week. His car was found nearby with his computer and cell phone inside.

WPIX eports that the Clementi's alleged roommate, Dharun Ravi, and another first-year student, Molly Wei, were charged with invasion of privacy for secretly leaving a camera in his bedroom on Sept. 19 and posting footage of an ensuing sexual encounter on the internet.

In New Jersey, it is a fourth-degree crime to collect images showing sexual content or nudity without the subject's consent, and it is a third-degree crime to transmit the relevant content.

Ravi and Wei, both 18, have been charged with two counts of invasion of privacy for the events that transpired on Sept. 19; Ravi received two more for attempting to record another of the Clementi's encounters on Sept. 21.

According to Student Activism, Ravi allegedly posted to Twitter about taping Clementi's sexual encounter: "Roommate asked for the room till midnight. I went into molly's room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay." Two days later, Ravi tweeted: "Anyone with iChat, I dare you to video chat me between the hours of 9:30 and 12. Yes it's happening again."(Gawker has the screenshots of Ravi's Twitter feed, which has since been deleted.)

Ravi and Wei have both been released from police custody, Ravi on $25,000 bail and Wei on her own recognizance. According to the Star-Ledger, Rutgers officials are likely to take disciplinary action against the students. As Rutgers spokeswoman Sandra Lanman said, "The university takes these matters seriously and has policies to deal with student behavior."

If convicted for third degree offenses, the Ravi and Wei could face up to five years in prison. Neither gave comment to news sources who contacted them.

50 Cent Encourages Gay Suicide

By Advocate.com Editors

No stranger to antigay tweets, 50 Cent has posted an ill timed message on his Twitter page, suggesting that any man who isn’t into women should kill himself right now.

“If you a man and your over 25 and you don’t eat pu**y just kill your self damn it. The world will be a better place. Lol.”

Earlier this month, the rapper tweeted, "Perez Hilton called me douchebag, so I had my homie shoot up a gay wedding. wasnt his, but made me feel better."

I think this is absolutely crazy. honestly, i hope a bunch of gay rights advocates stand outside his home and beat the hell outta him

Just in the news the other day

I was actually browsing yahoo.com's homepage and noticed a story that caught my eye. It was about a student at Rutgers University. Two guys were roommates. One asked to use the room for a certain time span and I guess his roommate became suspicious for some reason so he set up a webcam without the roommate knowing. The next time the roommate asked to use the room the roommate left and went to a friends dorm. He asked to use her computer and went to his webcam. On it was his roommate and another male having sexual relations. He than posted it! He also made comments on twitter about his roommate and the reasoning behind him using the website which is absolutely ridiculous. Yes his roommate was gay and because of what he did his gay roommate jumped off the George Washington bridge killing himself. As I was reading this article I was honestly disgusted that a person would do this. Make that big of an issue. I'm sure he never thought that he may kill himself but still he did it to get some type of reaction out of the students, or whoever could see the video! The roommate and the girl whose room he went to to pull up the video are now facing up to 5 years in jail. So I did some more digging and found a facebook page titled "Molly is innocent" so I clicked on it because I wanted to see what people were saying about the girl whose computer was used to put the video out there and there was a lady commenting on peoples comments saying things such as "gays should just come out" and how the kid who killed himself was a "coward!" So I posted a status on my facebook stating what happened and how it shouldn't matter who you are attracted to, but I can tell that it does in many places. Ive seen people say mean things to homosexuals and it hurts to see people act that way towards others but this was so heinous it made me sick. I was glad to see students on campus gather and all lay down and say "were here were queer and were not leaving." The kid should have never died. He should still be living him college days out, people don't think how their actions could/can effect others and they really need to start. I wanted to post this because I believe everyone should know about this story and learn from it.

Sharing Bathroom's

I thought of this after class today. A lot of the discussion was very insightful and it was interesting to hear other views on the idea of having a gender neutral bathroom. Two things did come to my mind, oddly, on my hour drive home! One thing I thought about is how I have a few guy friends that I KNOW would oppose the idea.. they are they type of people that say women do not shit, burp, fart or doing anything of the sort. I always mess around with them and say things about how I really have to go and they honestly get mad! Another thing that I thought about that would bother me about sharing a bathroom, that is kind of a pet peeve of mine, is the fact that I know the toilet seat will be left up alot!.. honestly though and I know this is a little to much info but there have been times growing up where it was either late or I was in a rush and sat down on the toilet only to my surprise I nearly hit the water because my dad or brother forgot to put the toilet seat down... I live with my boyfriend and we have this one friend who never puts the toilet seat down and it drives me NUTS! Just something to think about!
-Theresa Kaufmann

Gendered Parenting Ads

http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2010/09/21/a-round-up-of-gendered-parenting-in-ads/

A veiw on Lady Gaga-Christina Klaproth

Hi, I just wanted to rant a little bit about Lady Gaga. From a fashionista perspective, I love what Lady Gaga is doing by making high fashion (pieces typically only seen on the runway) wearable by wearing these high couture pieces publicly, daily. As I (and most designers) view fashion as wearable art, it is wonderful to see someone publicly wearing these pieces of art that are typically seen exclusively on the runway (which is basically their art gallery). When we discussed Lady Gaga in class, I realized that she was not just making an artistic statement by wearing these pieces but challenging societies perception of what is beautiful, accepted, and normal. The pieces she choses to wear do not always enhance her or make her look beautiful. They are not something we would normally chose to wear everyday or ever. But I believe she is using her "power" as a celebrity to challenge our ideas of what is accepted in society and change that. One way she is challenging societies idea of what is accepted as beautiful is by wearing whatever she wants to (and with the money she has, she has a lot of options). She may still be showing off her curves but as opposed to other female artists who objectify their own bodies, Gaga is rejecting opression. She is accepting the naturalness of her body and showing it off. She is wearing whatever she wants to, reguardless of whether it is flattering or not because she is making the point that it shouldn't have to fit societies standards. She is making make up choices that, in the mainstream view, do not make her face look "pretty". 'But what does it matter if it's pretty?' is the point I think Gaga may be trying to make. We put way to much emphasise on trying to fit one mold when there are millions of other molds to be made (which are much more interesting!). Although clothing and make up are superficial, they are a starting point. Women have to realize that they should not have to put their make up on a certain way and dress a certain way to attract men (especially if they don't even like the way they are dressing but do it because they are at a loss about what else to do). I think as a public figure, Gaga is a great representation of self-expression and why it is so important that we all have our own identities.

Contemporary Feminism - Amanda Barr

When I thought about the world “feminism” and recent examples that I have seen or heard of, I thought of certain TV shows or movies I have seen that have portrayed women as strong characters and equal to the male character’s role.   Many movies came to mind, such as Kill Bill, A League of Their Own, and The First Wives’ Club, but I think the best example would be Disney’s movie Mulan.  In the beginning of the movie, Mulan admits that she does not think that she is capable of meeting up to her family’s and society’s expectations of being the “average woman”.  She then joins the army but was disguised as a man.  Although being a woman soldier was as at first tough for Mulan, she portrayed a female character who performed equally, if not better, than the male soldiers.  Throughout the entire movie, she was outspoken and proved her intelligence and strength.  In the end, it was the woman soldier, Mulan, who saved the nation and other’s life because of this strength and intelligence.  I think this movie is a great example of feminism because it shows that women’s capabilities and strengths are not inferior to men’s as commonly thought. Mulan proved herself to be as capable of fighting and winning the war just as any other man could.

Contemporary feminism today_ NSmith

Nikole Smith  

                An example of contemporary feminism today would be the Walk a Mile in Her Shoes that is also being hosted at West Chester worldwide. It is also an international thing. The walk in West Chester is a mile walk to help rape victims, also to help stop domestic and dating violence.  It is also to see if men are women enough to walk a mile in heels. It is leaned towards women and to help them out. Men are involved to and they wear heels and dress up type of thing. It uplifts women and embraces their morals. There is a lot of feminine people who enjoy this walk and are a part of it. I think it is a great chance to promote feminism, for all people to come together and realize how important it is and to gain equality stated that men aren’t better than women and that it is hard to fulfill a woman’s role being expected.  This is a great opportunity and example of contemporary feminism today being demonstrated worldwide and at West Chester University’s campus.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/walkamileinhershoesinternational/page76/

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=49645989773

http://events.linkedin.com/Walk-Mile-Her-Shoes-R/pub/394076

Margaret Sanger....Racist Feminist

As a nursing major, we learned briefly about Margaret Sanger as a women’s rights activist and founder of Planned Parenthood. However, it’s interesting that her racist beliefs leading to the finding of Planned Parenthood is not mentioned. Margaret Sanger wanted to advocate for abortions on African-Americans in order to obliterate “socially undesirable people” as she stated. Margaret did not want to create choices for all women. She wanted to “exterminate the negro population”. How can feminist expect for blacks to feel welcomed and associated with such movement with a dark history of racism? There are feminist women who still have this deep seated racist feeling that makes racial identity more essential to every encounter with a minority race.

Safi Parker

Girl Power

This past weekend, I got a flat tire. I was with a few girls without any guys insight. Normally, when I have a flat or anything is wrong I pick up the phone and call my brothers or my boyfriend. However, I did not want to bother anyone, so I decided to step up and change my own tire. One of my girlfriends told she knew how and we would be fine. We were having some difficulty, but eventually we were able to get the spare tire on. Thank God for all that girl power.
I know very well that women are capable to do whatsoever men can, but I know my strengths and weaknesses. It may have been second nature for another female to change their tire, but that is not something I have ever tried. There are many women who know more about cars than another man, but I would not think of myself as one of them. I choose not to be knowledgeable about cars because they are not of an interest of mines. It is not because I am frail or stupid. For instance, I have a high interest in the drums and I could probable play better than some guys. This is not something that would be expected of a girl, but this is who I am.
These days there are many occupations which women enter into that are not common; however, that’s where their interest lies. As for the tire incident with my friends, I’m glad I knew some girls who had an interest in cars similar to my brothers and boyfriend. Women are not being limited by the normal nursing and mothering roles set forth by society. Women are leading by what interest them. I just want to acknowledge women with wrenches who are empowering women kind everywhere.

Safi Parker

Contemporary Feminism- Amanda Geary

One example of contemporary feminism I found was Muslim women. They have many rules that go against them that the men make. The men do this because they claim that the women are not as important as them. As a result to this, women must wear attire that shows nothing but their eyes, they must also always listen to the men. They are not allowed to drive in the front seat of the car, when they go out in public they must act a certain way. These rules are absurd. No women should have to follow these rules just because of their gender.

Johnson Reagon

The speech by Johnson Reagon for me was a little confusing. She talks about coalitions and coming together in unity instead of being separated by the "X's" or staying inside of "barred rooms". It seems as she was saying that we live in a time where we try to find and separate people who are like us or similar to us. But it's not good to do that, and instead we must break down and live outside of the barred doors, or to live outside of the box. I think she's attempting to say that the century is turning and times are changing, therefore, calling for us a s a people to change. There's a portion where she talks about killing and babies and putting them in the forest to die. What does that have to do with anything? It seems she using it metaphorically, but what exactly she's trying to compare it with is a unclear.

Contemporary Feminism in Politics - Melanie Molnar

An example that I think shows contemporary feminism is when Hilary Clinton ran as a candidate for the Democratic party in the 2008 Election. This is not the first woman to run for the United States Presidency, however, she has come the closest than any other woman in winning the nomination of any major political party in the United States. This example is feminist because there has always been a major effort to get women involved in politics, especially at such a high level as running for U.S presidency, and Hilary Clinton has made it all the way to primary elections. This has inspired other women to pursue higher positions in their own jobs because they see all the progress that Clinton made. This has caused more and more women to reach top spots in major fortune five hundred companies. This has also effected the amount of women on election ballots. The number of women on these ballots has increased greatly.

http://womenshistory.about.com/od/publicofficials/tp/ran_for_president.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_%28United_States%29_presidential_candidates,_2008

Melanie Molnar

"Sister Outsider" by Audre Lorde

My first impression of this speech was it was a little much. She seemed to overstate her point by talking a little much and drawing out her point. She talks about the differences of white women and lesbian black women and Third World Women. I was a little unsure about what or who 3rd world women were. Were they women who weren't considered 'upper class or wealthy"? I'm not exactly sure however as I continued to read, I began to understand her point. She began talking about women and how it has been always been taught to ignore differences but how it's important not to shed or ignore those differences. What I interpreted from this is that there is a difference black ad white women and while we educate and try to fight off oppression of men, we need to do the same and look at the differences between white and black women. The fear needs to stop and as a community, people need to look inside themselves and see that there needs to not be a difference between black and white women, or straight and lesbian black women. Instead of differences there needs to be unity and as Lorde says " See whose face it wears", see exactly just how many differences there are.

Example of contemporary feminism today

An example of contemporary feminism today would be West Chester University's Women Center. The center is filled with females, but even some males attend the center. The center purpose is to empower and embrace women, uplifting them, and giving them the knowledge of women trials in the past and present. The center is a feminist place with many feminine people. It is a great example of feminist today coming together for a good cause to push feminism and gain equality and rights.

http://www.wcupa.edu/_SERVICES/STU.WCE/

Tyler Guy

Aliyah Drake: Example of Contemporary Feminism

Contemporary Feminism

The pay gap between women and men range from 13 % to 23 %. A report shows that “Higher education of women does not lead to a smaller pay gap (ask.com/wiki/Equal_pay_for_women). A women’s income is lower than that of a man for many reasons. For example: women work less, leave the labor force for long periods of time and they hold jobs that pay less (http://www.usatoday.com/money/jobcenter/2003-11-20-pay-gap_x.htm ) I don't believe this is fair because we as women are capable of doing any job that a man can do. However, I learned that in 1973, Billie King scores a victory for women atheletes when she beats Bobby Riggs. I know for a fact that many people were angry because they didn't think that a women could do this. We have already been through enough such as getting the right to vote and now we don't get the same pay as men ! This is crazy!!!

Men and Women doing the same job, but men get paid more.

Coming off of what someone said about Kim Kardashian, it reminded me of something that she has done that I feel has made her in a double bind. Recently, Kim did a photo-shoot with the ever-so-popular Justin Beiber. The photo-shoot was based on the movie "The Graduate". In case you don't know the movie is about a younger man falling in love with an older woman (inspired with the song "Mrs. Robinson"). After the shoot was published, Kim got a lot of flack for being a 30 year old woman, posing innocently with a 16 year old pop singer. This makes me think of the double-bind that sometimes comes up between men and women, having to do with what age group they date. How many girlfriends has Hugh Hefner had that all start at age 18? If Hef was to pose with one of his playboy models, no one would think twice about it. And he isn't just posing with them, he's having relations with them as well. All Kim did was pose with Justin. She is not dating him, that is illegal. Still though, what if he was 18, and what if she was having relations with him? Would she be criticized? I am almost positively that she would. She would be considered trying to be a cougar, even though she is only 30. If a girl can get a younger man (who is legal) more power to them! My mom is a 53 year old woman with a 37 year old husband. It was total shock when I found out they were together, and my mom's traditional parents did not approve. When anyone I know finds out the age difference in my mom and step-dad they gasp, and automatically ask if she is a M.I.L.F (mom i'd like to....ya know) I say no she is my mom...she looks her age and acts it too....It seems the only way people believe a younger man could be with a woman 20 years older is if she is a perfect 10. I dont believe Kim Kardashian, or my mom for that point, should be judged by what they do whether it be posing for fun for a photo-shoot, or being married to someone of a younger or older age.

http://www.thesuperficial.com/that-justin-bieberkim-kardashian-photo-shoot-was-for-elle-wait-what-08-2010/0810-bieber-kardashian-elle-04

^^^ photoshoot gallery of kim and justin



-Jacqueline Beley

"Breaching the Concrete Ceiling"

Today, feminists are still fighting to make any underlying issues dealing with gender, race, and the oppression that follows those identities become more visible to society. The fight for women rights becomes even more difficult when the very same government you abide by can also be labeled as the oppressors. The economy has a barrier placed not only on women but also women of color. The National Council for Research on Women is currently finding ways to help women of color gain acknowledgment in the business field. The ideal image of a corporate manager, CEO, or member of a board is a white male. This ideal that society has about people in the workforce is creating the gap between women and women of color from furthering themselves in the labor field. The National Council for Research on Women are working towards the advancement of colored women being able to uphold a higher position. The women being oppressed by males, people of color, and society deserve to allow themselves to the same entitlement everyone else is given in the workforce. By mid-century, people of color are expected to make up fifty percent of society also making it more necessary to allow people of diversity to be given the same advantages. This problem  revolves around diversity and the only way to solve it is through the change of personal opinions and acknowledging what women of color can and have already accomplished.

-Courtney Mosley

Example of Feminism- Janine Allan

When i was researching examples of feminism i came across a music video by eminem called "We Made You."  In this music video he has actors (or himself) play women like Jessica Simpson, Kim Kardashian, and even Sarah Palin.  While acting out these characters he shows how they portray themselves by showing that Kim only wears clothes that are tight and show her "big butt" and how women sometimes portray themselves as "sluts."  I thought it was interesting how he uses the quote "were the ones that made you."  it made me question if he was speaking to Americans as a whole or the music industry itself or even speaking about himself.  I thought this example was very interesting and up for discussion because Eminem himself is seen as such a negative figure because of his vulgarity but really it might have an underlying meaning that is actual good.

Link to the video    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSdKmX2BH7o&ob=av2e

bell hooks

A whole conversation about bell hooks. Check it out!

http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2010/08/02/why-i-miss-bell-hooks/#respond