We’ve all seen the e-mail subject lines: sexual assault on campus; sexual assault in a stairwell; university safety notice. These e-mails are meant to inform students at colleges and universities all over the country about some of the horrible incidents that happen on college campuses. They are sent out as a warning, and as a way of saying, “You can trust your school to tell you the truth about what is happening on campus."
It is appalling that these e-mails ever need to be sent out in the first place. The fact that rape culture is so prevalent on college campuses is terrifying, but what may be considered even more terrifying than that is how many people partake in rape culture without even realizing that they are doing so. After receiving a “campus safety alert” on the morning of Monday, March 28, I was shocked to log into Facebook and read a status post that revealed victim blaming on my own campus. Caitlyn Hungerford, a college senior, “was discouraged to overhear a conversation regarding the…sexual harassment…on campus last night…a classic case of victim blaming”.
I wish I could say that this was the first instance of victim blaming I have seen. Unfortunately, in today's society, it is the norm to blame the victim for the crime committed against them. Phrases like “asking for it” and “what were you wearing” lead to a sense of guilt in victims. What’s even worse is that this victim blaming mentality starts in our middle schools. When dress codes allow for boys to run shirtless down the hallways, while girls get suspended for showing their collar bones– we teach girls that in order to be respected, they need to be covered. In high school and on college campuses, girls are even given “tips and tricks” on how to avoid sexual assault; don’t wear clothing that is too tight or too revealing; don’t drink too much; don’t walk alone at night; avoid stairwells, as they are considered to be the perfect crime spot by convicted rapists–in the comments of Hungerford’s Facebook post, one commenter, who asked to remain anonymous, stated that, “When they mention that she should’ve gone through the buildings…there was a sexual assault in my building, in the stairwell just a few weeks ago."
The list of ways to “avoid rape” goes on and on, but these “tips and tricks”—which are meant to be a helpful tool for assault prevention—just lead to more victim blaming. By leaving it to potential victims to prevent a crime that would be committed against them, we are giving them a sense of guilt for something that hasn’t even happened. Instead of teaching young women how to not get raped, we should be teaching young men not to not rape people, and calling attention to the acts of sexual assault and victim blaming that are occurring. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, 95 percent of attacks go unreported every year, and experts say that this is a result of victims fearing--or even believing--that they are to blame.
Unfortunately, in today's society, it's easier to blame the victim than to accept that we, as a society, are doing something wrong. In addition to this, a large number of sexual assaults that are reported simply get swept under the rug —one email lets everyone on campus know that something happened, and we never hear about the incident again. When it comes to the way our society looks at sexual assault and victim blaming, one comment posted by Hungerford in the comments on the aforementioned Facebook post says it all: "I posted this on the Overheard at [university name] page and it was deleted by the admins. Not important enough I guess."
