By Grace Mottley
Twelve empty cups form a line on the bar, waiting to be filled with alcohol. They stand at attention, filled only with ice, until the bartender begins adding liquor and mixers, handing them out two at a time. Women take selfies and boomerangs of themselves clinking together their free drinks.
To anyone who randomly walked into the bar, the scene would seem like a casual night at Cornerstone Loft and Grill. Instead, the event was Preventing Sexual Assault’s annual Real Talk event, a discussion about rape culture on campus, complete with a $300 bar tab.
This year was the first time the group provided a bar tab for attendees.
PSA’s Real Talk event was designed to be held in a bar, according to president Sophia Blake, a senior communications major.
“It was designed to break the taboo that we can’t talk about sexual assault in a casual setting,” Blake said. “We can go and drink and no one there deserves to be sexually assaulted.”
In the past the event has been held at bars like R.J. Bentley’s, and guests have been asked to purchase their own alcohol. However, holding a bar tab seemed to encourage more members of the community, largely Greek life students, to attend, according to Blake and other PSA members.
“More people are willing to come when they can order a drink they don’t have to pay for,” she said.
Other PSA members, including junior government and politics major Sophia Alexander, definitely saw better turn out for the bar tab than last year’s Real Talk event. While Alexander was disappointed with the number of men in attendance, she was impressed with the increased turn out as a whole. Only seven men attended the event.
Beyond gender breakdown, the event was largely attended by members of the Greek community. Many conversations centered around issues at common Greek life events like socials and away weekends. Blake estimated that about 85% of attendees were members of sororities or fraternities.
Event leaders Blake and Alexander, who are both in sororities, did try to move to conversation beyond the Greek community. “Does anyone have anything to add that’s not so Greek-life oriented?” asked Alexander.
Senior psychology major Elena LeVan, a non-Greek member of PSA and the Sexual Misconduct Prevention Director for SGA, feels that no matter who attends the event, their attention and care for preventing sexual assault is important.
“If you are here, you are already doing something to help this,” she said.
The conversation went on to discuss the intersectionality of identity and assault. Attendees played a Kahoot virtual trivia game designed raise questions about different marginalized communities’ experiences with assault.
They also discussed different healing techniques used by both survivors and non-survivors, as well as having resources from CARE to Stop Violence available at the event. Survivors were encouraged to share their stories, one of whom spoke and revealed that the night of her assault began in Cornerstone, the very bar where the event was held.
“Historically we’ve had survivors come and speak, for some they see [having an event about sexual assault in a bar] as a reclaiming event event where they can discuss the issue,” Blake said. “We can be here for our survivors, and just because there’s alcohol involved doesn’t mean this is less valid or important.”