Lately I've been hearing the word "rape" tossed around lightly. Too lightly. It seems to me that some people take the phrase "sexual assault" more serious than "rape". Why?
Earlier this year I met a girl. She was pretty, fun, and sweet. She knew how to have a good time with her friends. I had met her one night when I found her crying and holding her face. As I approached her to see what was wrong, she hugged me and said that some random guy punched her in the face for no reason.
Later that night she told me her story. She had been raped three different times.
Another girl was at a party, blacked out drunk when a guy pulled her clothes off and raped her while one of his friends video taped it. Everyone saw it.
So should we keep asking questions or should we do something about it.?
Every 98 seconds an American is sexually assaulted. 98 seconds. 1 out of every 6 women are a victim of attempted or completed rape. I use the word rape because that word needs to be a serious subject matter. Young women should not be afraid to go walk outside because they fear a man will undermine their free will of consent.
More likely than not, most college girls carry mace with them. Why? Because they are afraid. The emotional trauma that rape victims have to live with is unjust. No human being deserves to go through the pain and suffering of being sexually assaulted. It should be prevented. It should not be a concept.
33% of women who are raped think about suicide which 13% attempt. Victims who are sexually assaulted are more likely to be involved with drugs and alcohol and are at risks for STIs and pregnancy infections.
Some women are afraid of speaking about their experience after the fact because they are afraid it will happen again. We cannot stand around any longer and watch these statistics grow. It makes me sick to my stomach, being a woman, knowing that there are others out there like me who are in the wrong place at the wrong time. There should not be excuses like "Well if she didn't look at him that way" or "She asked for it". There should be no excuse for a sexual assault instance. It doesn't matter if she wears a t-shirt and shorts or a bikini. Women have the freedom to do, say, wear, be whatever and whenever they want with no retaliation or consequence.
Two things are needed for a situation to not be considered rape. Consent and consciousness. You cannot have one or the other. They both go hand in hand.
So, I'm here spitting out statistical facts about rape and telling you the basics of what is and is not. So now the question remains.
What are you going to do about it?