With the recent Brock Turner trial and sentencing, more attention has been drawn toward campus rape and sexual violence. Rape has long been a topic that many people have kept hidden under their bed, afraid to speak of in the open. It is taboo and not considered everyday talk. Unfortunately, it is prevalent across America, finding a home at many colleges and universities. These institutions, while claiming that education and safety are of the utmost importance, silently dispose of assault and rape accusations to save the reputations of their universities. The problems are pushed under the rug rather than dealt with. Students working for a degree are rewarded with unwanted advances and a hush-hush mentality that encourages them to keep their assault silent.
Rape is defined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as penetration, either vaginally or anally, with any body part or object, or oral penetration with another person's sex organ without consent. Rape falls under the category of sexual assault, which is a broader term encompassing all unwanted sexual contact. With such a clear definition of what rape is, why is there so much gray area around the issue? Among all of the cultures that course through America, rape has made its own.This is a large part of the overall issue. Rape culture is alive and well--it's practically thriving. This culture has been integrated into everyone's everyday life, and it contains a variety of things in its borders, including, but not limited to: holding the victim responsible, using excuses like "Boys will be boys," inflating the small amount of false rape reports, questioning a victim's mental state or past, scrutinizing the clothes a victim was wearing, using the words submissive and dominant when defining manhood and womanhood, and assuming that women who are raped are promiscuous. Perhaps the most surprising trait of this culture is the constant education women receive on how to not be raped. By teaching women that they can only take preventative steps to avoid rape and sexual assault instead of ending this epidemic, rape is only encouraged.
The numbers surrounding rape at higher education institutions are astounding. According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, one woman per every five women and one man per every 16 men are sexually assaulted in college. In addition to this horrifying statistic, 90 percent of these assaults will not be reported. This is due to the fact that rape is the most under-reported crime in America, with 63 percent of national sexual assaults never reported to police. Because campus rapes and assaults are often not reported to police, perpetrators continue to harm more victims. In one survey, 63.3 percent of men, all attending the same university, self-reported acts that qualified as rape or attempted rape and admitted to repeating their actions. To make matters worse, many of these men were probably acquaintances, even intimate partners, of the victims, as almost one out of 10 women has reported forced or attempted penetration by a partner.
The activities women participate in while attending college have the opportunity of making them more susceptible to rape and sexual assault. Women in sororities are 74 percent more likely to be raped than those not in a sorority. Drinking to the point of intoxication is also another situation that leads to rape, as it is the highest risk situation for sexual assault in college. Women in college who consistently drink to the point of intoxication have their chances of being sexually assaulted or raped increased by eight-fold. By telling women to avoid these two activities simply to avoid the situation of rape, rape culture is reinforced. Women and men alike attend college not only to receive an education but to participate in everything that is offered. If a woman is legally allowed to drink, it is unfair to her to teach her to abstain from it solely because of rape risks. Teaching not to drink because it has the potential to harm the body is one thing. Teaching not to drink because there is the possibility a woman is not safe at her own school is another.
Greek life and alcohol also play a large part in the men who assault women. 64 percent of men who rape women are either under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs and then, in turn, use alcohol to render women unconscious or make them easier to attack. Because of this, about 75 percent of all cases in which a college male rapes a female, the woman is intoxicated. College men consuming alcohol two times a week or more and who have friends that view women as conquests and objects are nine times more likely to rape than men who do not have either of these characteristics. These rapists also tend to be part of dominant male sub-cultures that are violent and view explicit pornography that contains rape. With the amount of women who are sexually assaulted and raped on college campuses and the number of rapists that fall into this category, it is scary to think that these views still exist in America. However, there is a correlation with fraternities, so it is possible that many of these men are living together and growing this culture. Men belonging to a fraternity are three times more likely to sexually assault or rape than a man not associated with a fraternity. Colleges and universities have a responsibility to maintain the organizations and activities they allow on their campuses, specifically ones that have the opportunity to endorse rape.
While it is much more common for women to be raped than men, many men still face rape and assault each year, especially at colleges. Men attending college are 78 percent more likely to be assaulted than others their age not attending. Just like one in five women on a college campus will be raped, one in five women nationally will be raped at one point in their life. It is not the same case for men. While one in 71 men will be raped throughout their life nationally, one in 16 men will be raped at a college. Men's chances of being raped actually grow if they attend college. As it is for women, it is for men: over 90 percent of the perpetrators will be male. Even though women are typically the victims of rape and sexual assault, there are many men who will suffer the same situation. With the assailant being male an overwhelming amount of the time in both cases, it is clear that there is an issue in male education and American culture.
Perhaps the worst part out of the violence on campuses is the emotional damage. 81 percent of women and 35 percent of men suffer from PTSD after being raped. Women and men go to college to earn a degree and instead walk away with much more than they bargained for. They now have to suffer the consequences of rape because someone else could not act in an appropriate manner. If more rape and assault education was prevalent in schools and communities, this epidemic may not be happening. Consent must be taught, and it must be taught clearly. If it isn't, these staggering and tragic trends will continue to plague the country.
In the end, 91 percent of rape victims are women. While men are also targeted, it is primarily women who suffer from the lack of rape education. Women and men should both feel equally as safe, which is not what is currently happening. Girls are taught at a young age to be aware of any men that give them strange looks. To dress in a way no one would think is implying a certain message. To always be one step ahead and plan out every move to avoid the threat of rape no matter where they are. Why is this taught to girls, but no clear definition of consent is taught to boys? They must learn what yes and no mean to eliminate the gray area. The burden should fall on them as well. Rape is a human issue, not a women's issue. Yes, a change must happen--a change in American culture, that is.
