It was not an easy decision to publish David Hookstead’s Nov. 4 letter to the editor, “Rape culture does not exist.” His trivialization of attempts to prevent sexual assault and overt victim blaming were both antagonistic and hurtful.
As editors, we are not obligated to publish every letter that lands in our inbox. However, the purpose of this page is to shed light on campus opinions, even if they are unpopular or contrary to our own.
The reality is that Hookstead is not alone — there are students across campus who hold his same beliefs. By publishing the letter, we aimed to bring this discussion to the light, rather than allowing these views to fester out of sight.
It has always been in the spirit of the opinion section to provide an open forum for the discussion of issues — like sexual assault and rape culture — that deeply impact the University of Wisconsin community. In that spirit, here is a selection of the outpouring of responses we’ve received over the past several days.
