I know what you’re thinking: Great, another article relating to the Stanford rapist. Haven’t we heard enough about him? Well, I hate to break it to you friend, but no, we haven’t. And we never will. There are many many rape victims whose stories are never heard, because they are either disregarded as being false and attention-seeking, or there is “not enough evidence” to make a big deal out of it. The few that actually make it large media outlets and news sources are generally a hot topic for a few weeks, and then never talked about again. So it is incredibly important to keep talking about it, especially when this perpetrator is getting only 6 months of jail for the lifetime of damage he has brought upon his victim. But as strange as it is, there is something huge that we can take away from this. Maybe it’s obvious to some, others not so much.

Better Sex Education

A lack of proper sex education can lead to rape. Why? For the simple reason, that consent and sexual violence are not as strongly talked about in sex ed. Whenever I had sex ed in school, I only remember that it was briefly mentioned, but never extended on that the only form of consent is a verbal/audible “Yes.” There were also mentions that rape can happen, be careful when you drink, etc. but never what you should do if it happens or who you should turn to, or even that if you are the VICTIM it is NEVER YOUR FAULT.

Women Are Not the Only Victims

Most cases of rape that we hear about are typically a male attacker and a female victim. This point is in no way invalidating that, it is simply here to point out that there are cases where males are rape victims too. Rape is rape, whether the attacker is male or female, and the same goes for whether the victim is male or female. It DOES NOT MATTER what gender is in what role (so to speak). Rape is rape. If there is no verbal consent or the person does not seem sure even though they said yes, you do not “try to convince them”. You stop and don’t rape.

Actions and Consequences

Not only do we need to make it abundantly clearer to young children about proper sex ed., we also need to sit down and talk to them about the consequences of rape for the attacker, and how it affects the victim. No rapist should ever be given merely six months of jail time, let alone be able to walk free. When you violate someone, regardless of how badly you violated them, you absolutely deserve any and all punishment. As for the victim, they are not only physically hurt, but also mentally. Having to live with the memory that their whole being was breached by a stranger (or even someone you know) is absolutely horrifying, and horrifying doesn’t even begin to properly express that.

As a society, we need to become better adults and start to talk more openly about such things. We need to stop pretending like events of sexual assault don’t happen and won’t happen to us. Do you know how easy it is to educate yourself on this matter with the Internet right at your fingertips? I’ll even give you a helpful start. "Every two minutes an American is sexually assaulted." “Perpetrators of sexual violence often know the victim.” Help start changing the way we look at rape cases and how we can start to prevent more of them.