New Year’s Resolution #1: Let New Jersey Know How Harmful Tucker Max is!

The new year is almost upon us, and so that means that there are many people preparing to make New Year’s Resolutions. In past years, I would resolve to exercise more, sleep less or stop to smell the roses more. For 2010, I have nothing so ethereal. For 2010, my one and only resolution is to let New Jersey know what a negative message Tucker Max brings.

Who is this Tucker Max, you may ask? And how does Tucker Max have me so riled up? If you have a minute, do a quick reconnaissance mission over to Mr. Max’s blog site at http://www.tuckermax.com. If you can stand to look at it for more than 15 minutes, I give you a lot of credit. If you can’t stand his dribble for that long, here are some of the choicer quotes:

Tucker Max disparages women’s rights to sexual consent and openly speaks of acts that fit the legal definition of sexual assault, specifically, “I’m trying to get you drunk, so you can’t consent to sex anymore.”

Tucker Max wants to decide who deserves human rights. An example from his book, I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell: “The lowest of the low is a fat woman with a loud personality. This woman is generally just so annoying that you have to actively restrain yourself from kicking her in the crotch and stomping on her throat until she drowns on her own blood. There is no insult too mean or crude for her, and basic human rights do not apply to her.”

Tucker Max promotes the sexual objectification of women. For example, here’s a quote from the New York Times: “When a journalism student from Paramus, New Jersey asked if she could take a photograph with him, he agreed, and pressed his hand into her cleavage when the camera flash went off.”

Tucker Max spreads an epidemic of hateful ideology that denigrates women, people of color, and disabled people, and perpetrates verbal, emotional and psychological abuse and promotes sexual violence and physical abuse of vulnerable people.

Tucker Max is coming to New Jersey in January. And you’re paying for it.

Specifically, on January 20, 2010, he’s coming to The College of New Jersey, having been invited by the College Union Board, the internal college activities board. The College of New Jersey is reportedly paying him over $15,000 to come to the campus and promote his book and show his movie.

The College of New Jersey is funded in part through tax payers’ money from the Commission on Higher Education, and the College Union Board is financed in part through student fees that go to the college. The College is also funded by alumni who donate. As a community, is this where we want to be putting our money?

The irony of all of this is that The College of New Jersey also funds one of the most successful anti-violence initiatives on any college campus in New Jersey. Through the Office of Anti-Violence Initiatives, Jackie Deitch-Stackhouse has successfully begun a Green Dot campaign. Green Dot is a strategy to end power based personal violence such as sexual assault, dating violence, stalking and domestic violence. More about that program can be found at http://www.tcnj.edu/~greendot/.

1 in 4 women and 1 in 6 men in New Jersey face sexual violence in their lives, and Tucker Max treats sexual violence like it’s a joke and openly blogs about having committed such acts. This event is January is supporting and contributing to a culture that promotes and encourages sexual violence against women. What if this was you? Your sister? Your girlfriend? Your friend? Tucker Max makes light of real people’s experiences, and by doing so, robs them of the voice they deserve to have.

Statistics show that nearly 95% of men on college campuses DO NOT commit rape, and 75% of college men are uncomfortable with other men’s sexist behavior. People who don’t support this event are automatically supporting thousands of women that are raped and sexually abused every year, many of which occur on college campus. If you openly oppose this event, you will be supporting thousands of people of color and people who are disabled, and you will send the message that you do not tolerate the rape or abuse of women and the disparagement of people of color and people who are disabled.

If you have even a minute to do something, and want to send a message loud and clear, below is the link to send a message to the TCNJ president and the Chair of the TCNJ Board of Trustees about the Tucker Max event in January. Please email this link to whoever you think would be interested: http://capwiz.com/njcasa/issues/alert/?alertid=14483841

And make your own New Year’s resolution to talk to people about why Tucker Max is hurtful and hateful to people in our communities. It’s certainly an easier and more important resolution than that one to sleep less.