Dear Editors:
We would like to respond to the article written about the recent event held at DePaul, "Asking for it: A community conversation around sexual violence, shame and stigma in gay male communities," by Terrence Chappell.
While we appreciate the coverage of this important event in Windy City Times, as a panel member and participant in the event, and as a group of activists, therapists and social workers focusing on trauma and violence within the LGBT community, collectively for more than 50 years, we found the article to be disappointing, inaccurate and disjointed. We are appalled that this article went to print, circulating false information to our community about our event and the discussions that occurred.
Rarely are there opportunities for groups of people to discuss some of the unique issues that present for gay men who experience violence, either childhood sexual abuse, intimate partner abuse, hate crimes, or adult sexual assault. As testament to the importance and uniqueness of the event, the room was filled not only with DePaul students, but with many people from the Chicago community interested in learning more about violence against gay men. The article written by Mr. Chappell focuses on a thread of a conversation that might have lasted a total of five minutes, while the event itself was two and a half hours.
John Garver, Randall Jenson and Aaron Gray were all misquoted. The information about the moderator and specific survivors in the story was not put into the appropriate context as key information discussed was omitted resulting in a portrayal that was insensitive, inaccurate and disrespectful. This unreliable reporting and article further helped perpetuate stigma and shame around the issues after our event was over.
The very nature of the event and focus on violence against gay men created a space to discuss a topic that is often stigmatized, marginalized, misinterpreted and/or dismissed. By explicitly creating space to discuss these issues, participants had an opportunity to respond to the powerful vignettes that were presented from the 50Faggots documentary series, to identify micro and macro themes related to violence against gay men and to share personal experiences. Please let us take an opportunity to enumerate what we believe to be several of the most significant themes that arose:
—Despite (or in some instances even because of) exposure to insidious trauma, interpersonal violence, and rape, gay men develop significant adaptive coping strategies, finding ways to claim power in some of the most disempowering of circumstances.
—The intersection of gender, sexual orientation, race, class and violence against gay men is fraught with complications related to power and power differentials, the struggle with what constitutes consent, and the socialization of men in general around the expression of sex and sexuality.
—Early exposure to familial violence, intimate partner violence and childhood sexual abuse frequently becomes the lens through which many gay men see the world, learn about relationships, and come to understand sex—often experiencing early sexualization that later leads to confusion when confronted with unwanted sexual advances when they are adults.
—Defining what constitutes sexual violence and/or rape for a gay man is often subjective and can't be easily defined by age differentials between two or more people. Because of the extra-developmental challenge of negotiating a gay identity, chronological age doesn't necessarily equate directly to emotional and/or sexual "age."
—Because of how men are socialized, and the way a man uses his penis (genitalia) often defines power and masculinity, those gay men who prefer other forms of sexual activities are frequently not seen as powerful, despite their experience of feeling empowered sexually in other ways.
Institutional and state violence (i.e., barriers and discrimination that impact gay cis-men accessing social services, health care, law enforcement, etc.) presents both opportunities and challenges for gay and queer cis-men to envision strategies to prevent and interrupt sexual and intimate partner violence; transform the very conditions that create sexual and intimate partner violence; practice, embody and shift community norms around consent; and create community accountability when violence and abuses occur.
These are just a few of the significant themes for the evening. The fact that Mr. Chappell chose to focus on only several comments, that he decontextualized these comments and quoted them incorrectly did a huge disservice to the event and further stigmatized and marginalized violence against gay men. What was structured so eloquently by Randall Jenson as a safe space to address often silenced violence in gay male communities, became an unsafe space and one that was inaccurately sensationalized as a result of this article.
At this time, we know you have removed the article from your website. However, the article that was printed is still available for people to read and misinterpret. We encourage you to include an article in the next issue of the Windy City Times that captures the true nature of this event, quotes panelists accurately and provides information for the larger community about violence against gay men. Specifically, we ask Windy City Times to run a multipart series on violence, shame and stigma in gay male communities and feature resources from community service providers and agencies.
Respectfully,
Jeff Levy, Live Oak, Inc.; Randall Jenson, Executive Director, 50Faggots.com; Rodrigo Sebastián Torres, PhD, MA; Coordinator, Office of LGBTQA Student Services, DePaul University; John Garver, AM, LCSW, AVP Therapist and Training Delivery Manager, Center on Halsted; Lara Brooks, panelist
