April Is Sexual Assault Awareness Month

April Is Sexual Assault Awareness Month

Use Your Voice To Change The Culture On Your Campus
Dani Fiore
Dani Fiore Apr 4, 2017
7
views
Trigger Warning: This article contains content that some readers may potentially find distressing.

"Sexual assault doesn’t just include rape — it includes any form of unwanted sexual contact. It may or may not involve force. It can include grabbing or fondling. And yes, verbal threats can count." -Teen Vogue

Sexual assault and misconduct are very prevalent on college campuses; One in five women, and one in sixteen men will be sexually assaulted while they are in college. In the past, survivors would remain quiet about their assaults out of shame or fear. However, since sexual assault has become so pervasive it has become even more critical to spread awareness.

College campuses create communities which facilitate feeling safe, unfortunately there are people who choose to take advantage of the situation. It's important to know your resources on and off campus. Campus police and mental health services should have people who will be able to help if you wish to talk to someone. Some other resources for survivors include:

National Sexual Violence Resource Center Hotline - 1-877-739-3895

Rape Abuse Incest National Network (RAINN) National Sexual Assault Hotline - 1-800-656-HOPE (4673)

Safe Helpline for Sexual Assault Support for the DoD Community - 1-877-995-5247

All members of college communities can learn ways to step in and prevent sexual assaults, in addition to learning how to help survivors cope. It is important to lookout for your friends when you go out on the weekends, protect your drinks, have a plan for getting home, and never leave your friends in a questionable situation. Overall, just use your best judgment, and be a good friend.

Remember that consent is ALWAYS necessary. The lack of a "no" doesn't equal a "yes" and you are entitled to change your mind. Consent is about communication, and effective communication can help keep you out of questionable situations.

I hope you are able to participate in Sexual Assault Awareness Month activities on your campus, and that you help promote healthy relationships.

Cover Image Credit: NSVRC
Dani Fiore
Dani Fiore Apr 4, 2017
At University Of Mary Washington

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An Open Letter to the Person Who Still Uses the "R Word"

Your negative associations are slowly poisoning the true meaning of an incredibly beautiful, exclusive word.
Kaitlin Murray
Kaitlin Murray Mar 15, 2016
140977
views

What do you mean you didn't “mean it like that?" You said it.

People don't say things just for the hell of it. It has one definition. Merriam-Webster defines it as, "To be less advanced in mental, physical or social development than is usual for one's age."

So, when you were “retarded drunk" this past weekend, as you claim, were you diagnosed with a physical or mental disability?

When you called your friend “retarded," did you realize that you were actually falsely labeling them as handicapped?

Don't correct yourself with words like “stupid," “dumb," or “ignorant." when I call you out. Sharpen your vocabulary a little more and broaden your horizons, because I promise you that if people with disabilities could banish that word forever, they would.

Especially when people associate it with drunks, bad decisions, idiotic statements, their enemies and other meaningless issues. Oh trust me, they are way more than that.

I'm not quite sure if you have had your eyes opened as to what a disabled person is capable of, but let me go ahead and lay it out there for you. My best friend has Down Syndrome, and when I tell people that their initial reaction is, “Oh that is so nice of you! You are so selfless to hang out with her."

Well, thanks for the compliment, but she is a person. A living, breathing, normal girl who has feelings, friends, thousands of abilities, knowledge, and compassion out the wazoo.

She listens better than anyone I know, she gets more excited to see me than anyone I know, and she works harder at her hobbies, school, work, and sports than anyone I know. She attends a private school, is a member of the swim team, has won multiple events in the Special Olympics, is in the school choir, and could quite possibly be the most popular girl at her school!

So yes, I would love to take your compliment, but please realize that most people who are labeled as “disabled" are actually more “able" than normal people. I hang out with her because she is one of the people who has so effortlessly taught me simplicity, gratitude, strength, faith, passion, love, genuine happiness and so much more.

Speaking for the people who cannot defend themselves: choose a new word.

The trend has gone out of style, just like smoking cigarettes or not wearing your seat belt. It is poisonous, it is ignorant, and it is low class.

As I explained above, most people with disabilities are actually more capable than a normal human because of their advantageous ways of making peoples' days and unknowingly changing lives. Hang out with a handicapped person, even if it is just for a day. I can one hundred percent guarantee you will bite your tongue next time you go to use the term out of context.

Hopefully you at least think of my friend, who in my book is a hero, a champion and an overcomer. Don't use the “R Word". You are way too good for that. Stand up and correct someone today.

Cover Image Credit: Kaitlin Murray
Kaitlin Murray
Kaitlin Murray Mar 15, 2016
At Bellarmine University

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Sorry People, But #BelieveWomen Is #UnAmerican

Presumption of innocence is a core American value

Kentaro McCann
Kentaro McCann Oct 18, 2018
1034
views

There's a saying: "Lack of faith and blind faith - both are equally dangerous". Believing sexual assault accusers who are women just because they are women besides being the very definition of sexist - prejudice based on sex - is setting a harmful precedent on the way justice is served in this country. See, what this movement has done is changed justice from "prove guilt" to "prove innocence", an important and incredibly dangerous difference. Where is the due process that our Founding Fathers envisioned, fought, and died for?

Due process is an integral part of the reason why we have the United States of America. It was so important to our Founding Fathers that they included it in the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eight (the Bill of Rights), and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution. It galls me to see how privileged modern day feminists are - so privileged they seemingly forget the freedoms this country affords them, so they may live their life, expect liberty, and be unhindered in their pursuit of happiness.

#BelieveWomen is a vigilante movement - and with vigilante justice the innocent always hang with the guilty, one of the very reasons for due process. I've heard the argument it's better to let innocent men rot in jail than have rapist men walk free, an argument, despite being incredibly moronic and unAmerican, that would not be made if the accused was a man close to the woman's heart. Because with the change to "prove innocence", the assumption will be guilt, and a confirmation bias will be created. Whereas if the assumption is innocence, the jury must be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that a crime has occurred. I understand that a high percentage of rape accusations are truthful (I believe the number is in the high 90s), but the small percentage that are not means we cannot, in good conscience, assume guilt. To assume would damn some men to a fate they do not deserve, a fate they would have to endure simply because of their sex. Any real feminist should be appalled at how sexism is implicitly encouraged in this movement.

If you choose to #BelieveWomen in spite of everything I outlined, that is your prerogative, but you must #BelieveAllWomen. If your father, husband, boyfriend, or son gets accused, you must #BelieveWomen and stand with their accuser. Any less and your feminist privilege will show. Vocal #MeToo activist Lena Dunham has already shown her privilege - accusing actress Aurora Perrineau of lying about being assaulted by her friend Murray Miller. When the going gets hard, feminists rarely stick to their principles. And sadly, feminism - and the double standards it always brings - rears its ugly head once again.

Kentaro McCann
Kentaro McCann Oct 18, 2018
At University of Washington

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