ASU Is Addressing The Issue Of Sexual Assault But It's Flawed
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Politics and Activism

ASU Is Addressing The Issue Of Sexual Assault But It's Flawed

We are being taught to be safe, but it's not enough.

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ASU Is Addressing The Issue Of Sexual Assault But It's Flawed
Draopsnai

This is a rant about sexual assault on college campuses.

Rather, this is a rant about the devices being created for women to protect themselves in the face of essential expected sexual assaults.

The number of things being invented for women to debilitate their attackers is alarming. It's good that we're trying to get people to be able to fend for themselves, but these items are coming during a time in which sexual assaults are rampant and no one is attempting to put an end to them. I will be placing the gender pronoun of the victims as women and the attackers as men, simply because that is the overwhelming majority. I do not think that it is limited to these specific genders and roles, all people on the spectrum of gender are at risk of attack or are the attackers. However, I shall be sticking to women and men for clarity's sake.

College campuses simply aren't safe, especially at night. Women are told to walk in packs at night, to avoid the risk of attack. That's insane. Women should be able to walk the street without being at risk of being raped. These devices are a temporary solution to a bigger problem; people are assaulting and, in some cases, raping people.

So, one might ask, how do we stop people from assaulting people?

In a sense, that's a ridiculous question. Why do people feel that they are able to assault other people? Why do primarily men feel that it is their right to roofie and sexually assault young girls at Fraternity parties? In essence, why do people commit sexual assault in the first place?

Here are the reasons I was able to come up with: the attackers want to feel powerful, they had a traumatic childhood, and/or they aren't able to form any sort of legitimate emotional relationship with others. These are not, and will never be, valid reasons for a person to engage in nonconsensual sexual activities with an unsuspecting victim.

How can colleges stop/discriminate against this behavior?

Well the "Sexual Violence Awareness" website for ASU pledges their support to victims and to mandatory reporters, they don't offer up a solution but rather address what to do in the aftermath. This site suggests calling the police and visiting counseling services, neither of which deals directly with the attacker, but rather the victim. This is a step, but it's by no means the leap that we need.

The "Prevent Sexual Violence" site for ASU states that students and teachers should be encouraged to talk about sexual assault and prevention and be a resource for other students. This, however, is more of the college attempting to essentially teach women how to defend themselves. Again, this is an example of when people place the focus on the victims and not the attackers. This is good, but this makes victims feel overwhelmed and unable to seek help without the lens focusing in on their lives and what 'caused' them to be raped (when, in fact, the causation is the attacker).

My larger point is, we need to have more awareness about the mental illness that leads to sexual assaults, to stop the problem before it begins.

A potential attacker might notice that they feel excessively angry towards women, or whichever gender abused them. They might feel powerless over that sex and be itching to demonstrate their strength. They should seek help before they act on these emotions. Much like pedophiles, sexual attackers suffer from a psychological disorder that is causing them to feel this way.

The Attackers themselves, suffer from deep-ceded psychological issues that the school should be open to addressing. All sexual assaulters should face charges for the crimes they commit, and the blame should never be placed upon the victim. However, we can try to make potential attackers more aware of their symptoms before they act upon them. The solution is to stop the assaulters before they act and to imprison those who have already acted.

Let's create a world in which women can feel free to wear whatever they wish and go wherever they please without being at risk for attack. Let us teach potential attackers to not attack. Let's imprison the attackers, and place the focus on their lives rather than blaming the victim and making this about their clothing/way of being. Let's make this world a safer place for all, where no one lives in fear of being assaulted.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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