Brittany Tolleson Date rape……Is it really something to make a pun out of? Better yet, is making an alcoholic drink out of that pun a good idea? The idea that Date Grape Kool-aid is meant to be “funny” or “clever” is insulting. It’s insulting to the victims of actual date rape and to the people with some sort of common sense and morality.

Matt Perez The Daiquiri Factory at this time has changed their stupid drink name. They obviously made a mistake in naming a drink “date grape. People are outraged, and the local bar has made it into national news for the protests against the offensive beverage.

 Brittany Tolleson You might say, “but Brittany, it’s only a name. What harm can it be?” and I’ll tell you…Imagine for a moment that you have a daughter or son; your baby whom you’ve raised and loved all their life. Then imagine you find out he/she has been raped. Rape, one of the most violent crimes against a human being. To imagine your child helpless and overcome by some jerk who can’t help themselves but to use force and power over another living soul.

Matt Perez Though the controversy around the name of this daiquiri may be starting debate, it seems to be solely around the name. I’ve heard plenty of people talk about date grape since the drink broke news. I have yet to hear anyone mention rape as a separate much more important issue.

Brittany Tolleson Imagine what that does to a persons ability to trust. Imagine being scared and powerless. Now imagine you get told that this senseless crime has happened to your child. It’s horrifying and I bet you’d be overcome with rage, sorrow, and other emotions once you found out that your baby has been violated. You would do anything to take away that pain and memory. Now imagine that someone decided to name a drink making fun of that violent attack that your child went through. How would you respond?

Matt Perez The conversation isn’t around why this name is offensive, or why they would use that name in the first place. The focus is exclusively on how upset people are or the bar. The name “date grape” is offensive because its mocking something horrible that is happening in our society , so shouldn’t we be far more concerned with the action than the word?

Brittany Tolleson I Would you say to yourself, “geez, maybe my child should just get over it and stop whining. It’s just a drink name”…NO! You would not. Do you know why? Because you have a soul that aches for that person; because you know that what your child feels when they hear the word rape is utter disgust and sadness for a time in their life where they were powerless. It makes that person upset to know that someone could “make light” or a pun out of it. So now ask me “what harm is it”….Are you starting to understand?

 Matt Perez The White House Council on Women and Girls estimates that around 1 in 5 women have been raped in their lifetimes , according to a January 2014 report. Has anyone been talking about the prevalence of rape in our society? The same report had data from a 2007 study that indicated “7% of college men admitted to committing rape or attempted rape”. But the buzz is all about an offensive drink name, not that our society badly needs to address sexual assault.

 Brittany Tolleson Furthermore, the definition of Date Rape is any sexual assault where alcohol or drugs affect the victim’s ability to give informed consent. Is it any wonder why people are outraged that they used an alcoholic beverage to solicit the name DATE GRAPE?? There are a lot of other silly drink names that can be construed as “insensitive”, however does that really matter in the case of the Daiquiri Factory? Do two wrongs make a right?

Matt Perez The Daiquiri Factory named their drink date grape because of our culture, thats what we should be talking about. When you google offensive drink names, some of the titles will actually make you want to puke, far more offensive than “date grape”.But our cultures unwillingness to talk about rape in a meaningful way , and the sensationalist reporting on the outrage refuses to let this be anything but a piece of gossip.

Brittany Tolleson So because there is a drink named after abortion or suicide, does that mean that this case is somehow okay now? We’re not talking about Sex on the Beach or a Slippery Nipple…We’re talking about rape. We’re talking about serving an alcoholic drink to young college students, who by the way are some of the most vulnerable to date rape, and naming it Date Grape kool-aid. What message are we sending?

Matt Perez I would think that the protestors that sparked this coverage wanted to make us pay attention to why that word hurts, to show that it is too often taken lightly, not just make a bar change the name of a drink. This should have started a meaningful conversation locally, and could have given insight into how to change our culture and policies to prevent sexual assault. If it had I would be writing a much different article right now. But it didn’t, and its not , and that to me is more offensive than “date grape”.

SUB TALK

Ashley Hiruko 

Social networking has put the fate of musicians in their own hands. The old ways of breaking into the business are long gone and for good reason.

Matt Perez  Just as European settlers introduced alcohol to vulnerable Natives who had never experienced it before, Mark Zuckerberg introduced a new poison to a vulnerable population of first world teenagers and young adults. Facebook claimed 800 million members in September of last year, according to mashable.com. Facebook hopes to reach one billion members by August, 2012. That is just about one seventh of the entire world’s population. Keep in mind the billions of people living in third world countries, in dire poverty who have never even seen a computer.