I carry pepper spray. I get safe walks home from the library at night. I have learned where to hit a person, and how hard, to fight them off of you. Many girls are like me. I have never been a victim of sexual nor domestic assault, yet I am still terrified. Bad things happen to good people, and it can't be prevented. However, the things that I should be afraid of are not necessarily people jumping out of the shadows late at night. The people I need to be worried about are becoming less and less obvious. It's become the case that now I need to worry about the cute guy I flirted with at a party, the baseball player that sits a few rows down from me in Spanish class, and the guy that lives on the hall above me that I befriended the first week of school.
The reason I am writing this is because rape on college campuses happens. And it happens often. Not only that, but it is frantically covered up by the administrators at colleges. And yes, this includes my college. The place that I love so much. The place where I hang out with my friends, go to classes, lounge in the quad, the place where I look around and breathe in the fresh air with so much joy. This place is someone's nightmare. Your college is also someone's nightmare.
Last week the student government at my university held a screening of the documentary, "The Hunting Ground." And let me tell you, the statistics will shock you. Each and every victim that reported their rape said that the oppression and blame that they received from the school was worse than the rape itself. Rape victims were asked by their colleges, "How many times did you say no?" They were asked, "Do you think that you misled him with your actions?" "What were you wearing?" "How hard did you try to fight him off?" "Did you scream for help?" Never were they supported and reassured that their rape was not their fault. Even worse, the men found guilty of rape were rarely expelled and often got off with a fine or a few hours of community service. Victims of rape were forced into silence, and forced to walk around their campus every day knowing that their attacker is doing the same.
Allowing a sexual predator to stay on campus with a mere slap on the wrist is a blatant violation of Title IX. Title IX allows for gender equality, and the presence of sexual predators on campus is creating a hostile environment for women to exist in. Why, then, do the schools cover these things up? Colleges and universities are businesses. They are protecting a brand. They don't want to lose their monetary backing, and they don't want to deter future applicants from being interested in the school. Every school is guilty of this, and it makes my heart heavy to know that mine is too.
When are we all going to decide that this is enough? When are we going to decide that people need to be held responsible for their actions of violence towards women, and also towards men? It's gonna take everyone, I'll tell you that much. It will take all the colleges and universities in this country to stand up and make a choice to stop ignoring this problem. It will take the guys out there that are good guys to stand up and say that they aren't going to tolerate this. Women have been standing up for some time now. I do my part to be as careful and responsible as I can be. My friends do the same. But it's really not our job, to "make sure we don't get sexually assaulted." It's time for everyone else to do their part. It will only stop happening when we decide to go to any length to prevent it from happening. It's time.
