Being a college student (and person who frequently uses the internet), I see/hear of so many different incidents in regards to sexual assault on college campuses across the country. I'm absolutely disgusted with the fact that there are new stories of sexual assault on college campuses every day; and those are only the stories that are shared. Why is this such a common theme? Why is it the twenty-first century and this is still happening? What is it about college that makes people think consent doesn't matter?
Consent is the main issue here. Consent is very simple, yet it seems to become very confusing for some unknown reason. "No" means no. "I don't know" means no. "Um... I'm not sure" means no. No response at all means no. A drunk answer doesn't mean yes. A yes at one point does not mean yes at another point. Not a single thing means "yes" except for the specific confirmation of "yes" at the time.
One video that I believe should be shown EVERYWHERE is called Tea Consent on Youtube. (Click here to watch video) It blatantly shows how consent works, but instead of asking about sex the video they call it tea. It shows that you shouldn't force someone to drink tea if they don't want to, or that if they say no to tea then it means they don't want the tea. Consent is a simple concept, but more people need to understand this.
Sexual assault is scary, life changing, and happens more often than you think. Every 109 seconds, an American is sexually assaulted. Nine out of every ten victims of rape are female. These statistics should be shocking. The amount of sexual assault occurring is decreasing each year, but it is still happening too frequently.
Many cases of rape occur on college campuses, and the scarier part is that most of them will go unreported. The fact that one in five college students will be sexually assaulted during their time at school, and of those cases 95 percent will go unreported. As a female college student (with more than five friends) it pains me to read these statistics. Knowing that friends of mine have been sexually assaulted, and that others will most likely be sexually assaulted by the time I graduate makes my heart so heavy. No one deserves such a traumatizing experience, and those that do experience it deserve help.
Remember: 1.) Consent is sexy. Nothing is sexier than hearing someone genuinely wants to have sex with you. 2.) Any sort of sexual assault is never your fault. It doesn't matter what you're wearing, what you've been drinking, or where you are; you are never asking for it. 3.) There are many people who want to help you come back from a life changing experience. 4.) No means no.
