Fantasies can get ya in trouble some times!!

Wis. college editor publishes rape fantasy

January 2, 2006

MILWAUKEE -- A college newspaper that printed a photo essay depicting an editor's sexual fantasy of being raped created such a backlash on campus that a task force is being formed to focus on the problem of violence against women.

Some women's advocates have called for harsh penalties, such as tossing the UWM Post out of its free office space at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus, because of the photo essay that ran Nov. 23 and appeared to depict then-photo editor Sara DeKeuster being attacked in a parking garage.

But UWM Provost Rita Cheng said that while the administration disapproves of the decision to run the essay, it can't take action against the Post because the newspaper receives no university funding, only the free office.

'Guilty and rejoiced'

''They see themselves as an independent newspaper, and we treat them as such,'' Cheng said. ''This is a very sensitive issue of independence and freedom of speech.''

Still, Cheng said she is using the incident to form a task force that will examine the climate for women on campus -- something that has been discussed for several years but never done.

''Particularly with this controversy, there was concern about whether women feel comfortable,'' Cheng said.

The staged scenes in the photo essay, titled ''Bedtime Stories,'' show DeKeuster slammed against a car by a man and forced into what captions call ''unexpected intercourse,'' leading to her feeling ''guilty and rejoiced.''

Rejecting 'feminist constraints'

A note to readers by graduate student Diego Costa, the Post's arts and entertainment editor, said he and DeKeuster conceptualized the essay ''in order to explore the age-old repressed female sexuality in its attempt to strip itself of social and feminist constraints.''

Costa, who took the photos, said in a follow-up article that the work was an ''art piece'' expressing DeKeuster's ''guilt-ridden sexual desire of getting raped.''

After it appeared, students flooded the newspaper with angry letters and some urged businesses to pull ads that fund the Post.

''All my friends were absolutely appalled,'' said senior Amy Phipps, a member of the College Feminists. ''A lot of times when women are raped or harassed, people use the defense that she wanted it. This piece can be seen as validation of that and as a mockery of women who have been assaulted.''

*** Dear Sara DeKeuster, I think you are a great person and think you are being unfairly punished. Should you want to be fairly punished please contact me!!!