David Lickey is a Teacher at Grant High School in Portland, Oregon. ^[0]He is the parent of two daughters who attend Grant High School. ^[6]

Lickey has been teaching at Portland Public Schools since February of 1993. ^[1]For the 2017 school years. Lickey teaches AP European History, Modern World History, and Vietnam & the American Way of War. ^[2]

In 2013, Lickey lead Grant's Constitution team to win the state's "We the People" Consitution trip, earning their trip to Washington DC for nationals. ^[11]

On May 2nd, Lickey wrote a letter to the students and faculty at his high school about his thoughts on Rape culture after interrupting another teacher's class discussion on the subject. In the letter, he writes his grievances with the term. ^[4]

He starts off his first point as "'Rape culture' is a theoretical construct that is ill-defined.

What exactly is 'rape culture'?

I don't see it in my life or the lives of any of the men and women I have known.

I have never met a person who believes rape is anything other than a heinous crime."

He goes into saying that the attempts to engineer the perfect culture is "highly dubious" and cites examples such as Jacobin's cultural vision, the Bolshevik vision, Khamer Rouge's cultural utopia, and the Moral Majority as failed attempts at the matter. ^[4]

Lickey continues by saying "if we continue blaming rape on Patriarchal male "culture" we are excusing the rapist from their behavior..." Another critique he has is that he finds rape culture to be both misandristic and unlikely to help young people navigate their sexual lives. Lickey ends his letter be stating that his opinion is "anything even remotely chauvinistic or misogynistic, quite the opposite. If you disagree, I'd love to hear your thoughts." ^[4]

Grant High Principal Carol Campbell released a statement regarding Lickey's letter saying that it

"...included some statements that run counter to the way we approach this important subject.

The perspective of the teacher does not reflect nor support our approach to educating students on sexual assault.

A strong contradictory argument should be accompanied by counter arguments from credible sources.

In this case, the document was shared with many students and staff with very little context.

We apologize for any harm or negative impact.

We are working with students and some staff members to organize listening sessions and opportunities for adults and students to get support.

It is our primary goal to ensure Grant is a safe place for all."

^[6]

Madison Moskowitz, a 21-year-old student at the University of Oregon and Grant High School alum, posted a video on Facebook recounting her own experiences with sexual assault as a 15-year-old during high school. In the nearly 15 minute video, she says that “The truth of the matter, Mr. Lickey, is that survivors are not listened to in this country. Sexual aggression and sexual violence are glorified as paradigms of manliness manifest destiny over women’s bodies that has plagued this country for too long. I know that rape culture is out there because I am a victim of it. I didn’t know that I could say no. I didn’t know that sexual autonomy was a right. Too many rape survivors don’t know that either.” ^[8]