I’m going to start this article with a disclaimer: I’m pissed.
I’m pissed that it’s 2016 and I am still chastised as a woman for the things I chose to wear, the makeup I decide to apply to my face, the way I wear my hair, the alcohol I consume, etc. I’m equally pissed that ALL OF THE THINGS stated above would be used against me in the court of law in the event I was sexually assaulted.
Yes, it is true. In a world where gay marriage is legal in all fifty states and you can order a pizza to be delivered in under thirty minutes, women are still being held responsible for being raped because they were wearing a low-cut shirt. Not only are women being held accountable- those who commit the rapes are not. Seriously, what the f***. How anyone can justify this is beyond me, although there have been plenty of judges who seem to justify it anyways.
We all remember Brock Turner, the Stanford swimmer who was sentenced to six months in prison (don’t worry, he was assured he’d be out in three months with good behavior). After media got hold of the story, to say it blew up is an understatement. To put it bluntly, people were pissed. As they should be! He was found guilty of three charges of felony sexual assault, a sentence that should have been fourteen years in prison. But instead, he received six months.
Unfortunately this is not the only incident of this happening, nor is it the worst. According to a video that has been going viral on all social media platforms, Kamilah Willingham, a student at Harvard Law, woke up one morning after a night of drinking to discover her and her friend had been sexually assaulted by not only a classmate, but a trusted friend. The two reported it, but after an investigation, Harvard did not hold their rapist accountable.
Wagatwe Wanjuki was a student at Tufts when she was raped. When she reported it to her university, they informed her there was nothing they could do, because if they went along with an investigation, her rapist would not graduate on time, as told by the Huffington Post. Wanjuki went on to start the hashtag #survivorprivilege on Twitter, stating she was “too scared to leave my dorm for fear of running into my perp.” After the assault, Wanjuki’s grades started slipping, although not enough to place her on academic probation. That summer, the Dean of Undergraduate (who Wanjuki stated was her rapist’s adviser) informed Wanjuki she would have to withdraw from all of her classes. She was a year from graduaton.
David Becker was charged with two counts of rape and one count of indecent assault when a judge decided not to charge him. Becker assaulted two women (both unconscious) at a party in Massachusetts. However, he did say he apologized to one of the women through a text the next morning (because, you know, that's the gentleman thing to do).
Becker openly admitted to one count of rape, however the judge still did not feel it was necessary to sentence him. The reason? The judge was afraid sending Becker to prison would “impede on his college experience.” Instead, Becker received two years of probation.
These are only a few accounts that just happened to go viral in the past week. According to listen.org, 1,871 women are raped each day. That adds up to over 683,000 a year. Or, an easier statistic to remember - 1 in 3.
It’s 2016 and I still fear walking alone outside past 7PM.
It’s 2016 and I often find myself second-guessing the outfit I was planning on wearing because I don’t want that to be seen as an invitation to violate my body.
It’s 2016, and 32% of men asked admitted in a Huffington Post survey that they would force a woman to have sex with them if they knew they wouldn’t get caught.
It’s 2016, and only 16% of rapes are reported to the police.
It’s 2016, and I’m pissed that there is still a rape culture surrounding victims everywhere they go.
It’s 2016. These things need to stop.
