Sexual Assault

Did you know that there is about a one in six chance for a woman in America to be raped, and even more astounding, a one in four chance on college campuses? (Check it out for yourself right here.) I brought up Hillarys’ stance on sexual assault in an earlier post and I just want to come back to it now. Over 5% of women report experiencing rape in their college years, and that’s just the statistics of women who have come forward. There are many more who are embarrassed, or even discouraged off from going to authorities and reporting their sexual assault because of how it might “affect their future.” Will you believe me now when I say America has an extreme rape culture? The victim of rape always somehow gets the blame while their rapist goes free. And it’s truly sickening.

Rape culture is defined as ‘a term designed to show the ways in which society blamed victims of sexual assault and normalized male sexual violence.’  It was coined by feminists in the United States in the 1970’s, to help bring awareness to sexual assault incidents and encourage survivors to come forward. Another reason 90% sexual assault victims don’t come forward is because only about 25% of the perpetrators are actually caught, and even less are arrested.

Need a bit more clarification? Sexual Assault is an umbrella term that covers any unwanted sexual activity, whether it be something like kissing, groping, or worst of all, rape. Victims can also be coerced into sexual acts through verbal or non-verbal threats or through the use of substances, such as alcohol or drugs.

Many colleges and organizations to help sexual assault victims have started campaigns to gain awareness, such as the Rape Awareness and Prevention Campaign the Not Alone campaign (founded by my personal favorite, President Obama), and the Red Flag Campaign. These organizations were made to give support and offer advice for victims of sexual assault, and work towards preventing it not only on college campuses, but country wide.

Women take all sorts of measures in our society to prevent themselves from being sexually assaulted. Carrying pepper spray, always checking the backseat before getting into a car (truth be told, I mainly do that one because I’ve seen way too many horror movies), always having a buddy when going out, and the list goes on and on. The fact is that women need to protect themselves against rapists because we know if it were to happen, society would find a way to blame the raped, and not the rapist. Giving some sort of disgusting excuse of “she was asking for it”.

Did you know that rape is the only crime where saying the victim was asking for it is an actual excuse that holds up in court? Have you ever noticed that for any other type of case that would be considered a confession? Let that stew in your brain for a bit.

If you know of someone, or you yourself, have been a victim of sexual assault at any time in your life, please report the person if you can, and don’t be ashamed to come forward and say “this happened to me”. There are so many people and groups dedicated to helping those who have suffered, and we can’t change this aspect of sexual assault in society unless people start coming forward and fighting back. I understand that there are very many complicated scenarios out there where it is not possible for people to come forward, but we have to start somewhere. I also understand that some random teenager with a school blog asking you to upturn your life just for the sake of society is probably not very convincing, but please. At least reach out and get some help from somewhere. For your own mental health.

We, as in the American people, need a president that will take a stand against crazy things like this. It is terrifying to think that this kind of stuff is still occurring all over the country, hell, the whole world, in 2015. It is sick and something needs to be fixed.