This Week in Women

This week, a bizarre letter written by a Taliban member to Malala Yousafzai received overdue, large scale attention. If you’re not familiar with Ms. Yousafzai, she is a Pakistani teenager who became an international hero when her campaign for women’s education in Pakistan angered the Taliban so much that they sent an operative to shoot her onboard her schoolbus. Yousafzai survived a bullet entering her left eye socket and has resumed her activities, speaking at the U.N. and, recently, on the Daily Show. She was aware of death threats issued by the Taliban and chose to continue writing for BBC and speaking openly, prior to her attack. Ms. Yousafzai is admirable not just for feminists, but for the world at large.

A more controversial piece on by Emily Yoffe also made its rounds this week, this time dividing many feminists from mainstream opinion (not that that’s hard to do). Yoffe weighed in on the rising awareness of sexual assault on college campuses. Studies by the DOJ in 2000 showed that a quarter of women experience sexual assault during their time in college. Importantly, the majority of these experiences take place when the victim is intoxicated. Yoffe’s article admonished against young women abusing substances past the point at which they can make clear decisions for themselves, especially in the company of strangers or unsavory frat boys. She was criticized often and with vitriol for “victim blaming“. Nevermind that Yoffe states in her article: “Let’s be totally clear: Perpetrators are the ones responsible for committing their crimes, and they should be brought to justice. But we are failing to let women know that when they render themselves defenseless, terrible things can be done to them.”

Any analogy between the two situations would be foolish to construct. But there is an inconsistency with our eagerness to attribute praise in this Malala’s case and our refusal to attribute blame in the other. Part of what makes Ms. Yousafzai so admirable is her decision to continue to speak out, despite knowing she endangered her life by doing so. Her awareness of danger and bravery despite vulnerability, for a noble cause, is part of her credit. For young women at college parties, their awareness of danger and decision-making in light of that seems to be off the table for discussion and for disapproval. Let’s not infantilize women by taking their awareness and decision-making unseriously.