Government officials recently banned an article about date rape in a New Zealand university student magazine, igniting a debate about exactly how much freedom of speech topics like sexual assault deserve.
Critic Te Arohi -- a student magazine at the University of Otago -- published the article, "Diary of a Drug Rapist -- No Means No, but if They Can't Talk, They Can't Turn You Down," last September. It appeared in the magazine's annual "offensiveness" issue. New Zealand's Office of Film and Literature Classification banned the issue last month.
At Penn, leaders of the University's own erotica magazine -- the Student Activities Council-funded Quake -- say articles like "Diary of a Drug Rapist" have no place in campus publications, although they think decision to censor it was an undue restriction on freedom of speech.
Holly Walker, the New Zealand magazine's editor-in-chief, defended her decision to print the fictional story, which police referred to as "Date Rape 101." She wrote in an editorial that "while it's offensive, it's also informative, and it certainly draws the reader's attention to what to look out for to combat this sinister but growing trend."
Walker was unable to be reached for additional comment.
College sophomore and Quake editor-in-chief Jessica Haralson said she would never publish a similar story.
"Quake's editorial policy is that we do not print anything that describes an illegal activity," Haralson said. "Incest, polygamy, bestiality -- anything that portrays activity that is non-consensual would not make it onto our pages."
Haralson said she decided not to publish an article about statutory rape that was submitted last year.
The editor of Critic Te Arohi "should have made it clear that representation does not necessarily mean advocacy; you have an editorial responsibility to make that clear when you publish something about date rape," Haralson said.
History professor Alan Charles Kors -- an outspoken defender of free speech rights -- said he supports Walker's decision.
"The article achieved precisely what the editor claims she wanted -- awareness and debate," Kors wrote in an e-mail interview. It "has provoked discussion of the abominable crime of non-consensual sex."
In response to the New Zealand government 's decision to censor the article, Kors wrote that "we need governments to protect us from actions; we do not need Big Brother or Big Sister to protect us from words."
Still, not everyone is as comfortable with the article as Kors.
College senior Lisa Rothfarb, Chairwoman of the Penn Consortium of Undergraduate Women, said the "article merely perpetuates male dominance of the discussion [on violence against women] and further subjugates and silences women."
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