Dear Little Sister,

I know you're not in college yet. I know that every time I leave you to go back to school you imagine a movie scene of big beautiful buildings, tons of friends, parties and freedom. I know you can't wait to grow up. But, I'm writing to tell you something much more important than anything you could learn from the movies. Don't get me wrong; college is a great experience. You'll learn so much, you'll figure out who you are and you'll meet some amazing people along the way. But if college is anything like it is now, you won't always feel safe. Your friends will witness things you've never imagined. You'll start questioning every nice person you meet. You'll walk to your car with pepper spray in your pocket. By the end of freshman year, you'll know at least three people who are victims of sexual assault. You'll see hundreds of people every day. One out of every five girls you see will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime; one in twelve boys in his lifetime.

I don't mean to scare you. I don't want you to go to college in fear. You don't understand it now, but every time I get an alert about a sexual assault in my email, I think of you. I think of your friends. I think, That's somebody's sister, daughter, best friend. And in many cases, somebody's brother or son. What I'm trying to say is that you're at an important point in your life now where you'll start to hear people say, "He's mean to you because he likes you," "You can't wear shorts above your fingertips because the boys will be distracted," or "You should be flattered that he's telling everyone he kissed you, even if it's not true." My biggest concern for you is that you'll become susceptible to this attitude society has about sexual harassment and assault. You are so important to me. You should never allow someone to make you feel inferior without your consent. But, sadly, "no," isn't always enough.

I refuse to allow this atmosphere of victim-blaming to continue because I don't want you to be caught up in it. I don't want you to have to watch your friends suffer in silence because they don't trust the school to take action against a rapist. I don't want you to be in a bad position. Ever.

Luckily, I believe that this will change. But, it's going to take a lot of effort from people my age to start changing perceptions. It's going to take good friends that walk each other home. Change will start when we stop saying things like, "He's such a nice guy, she must be lying" or "Why is she just reporting this now?" It can take months for reports to surface to the public. According to the RAINN, an average of 68 percent of assaults in the last five years were not reported at all. But even when the crime is reported, it is unlikely to lead to an arrest and prosecution. Factoring in unreported rapes, only about 2 percent of rapists will ever serve a day in prison.

I know this issue seems too tough to reverse, but I want you to know that we're starting the change now so that in six years, when you're in college, you'll feel comfortable walking alone. You'll feel secure in encouraging your friends to contact police. The justice system will stop asking girls what they were wearing at the time of their assault. They won't question a victim's memory of the assault. The conversation about how girls shouldn't drink at parties will turn to conversations about preventing assault by encouraging potential rapists not to rape. It's as simple as that.

Penn State started the Stand For State initiative last month, which "promotes bystander intervention and its place in preventing sexual and relationship violence. Bystander intervention is based on the fact that people make decisions and continue behaviors based on the reactions they receive from others. Bystander intervention encourages others to intervene and promotes a sense of responsibility, which gives the bystander motivation to step in and take action to prevent sexual misconduct," according to Penn State News. Stand For State gives a name to what we should have been doing all along; protecting our friends, believing our friends and supporting our friends. Stand For State supports the idea that for every sexual assault committed, there's one that could be stopped.

We were raised to always trust our gut. I don't want you to forget that. I want you to know that you are perfectly and wonderfully made and that nobody has the power to take that away from you. I'll do everything I can so that you won't feel unsafe at your dream school. I want you to know that there are people pushing for change. I don't want anyone's little brother or sister to be a statistic.