We all know the jaw-dropping statistics: “One in Six Women and One in Ten Men have been victims of attempted or completed sexual assault (RAINN).”
While in a perfect world these stats would not even exist, there are horrible people in the world who can never seem to understand the concept of consent and how the only thing that means yes is... well... “Yes.”
And to be honest, some of the only things worse than rape statistics are the things we don’t know about it; The unreported sexual assaults, the sexual assaults swept under the carpet and pretended to not have happened, the victims who are blamed for having been taken advantage of, the “I don’t believe you’s” and the after-effects of having something so devastating happen to oneself.
All of these happen at exponentially rising rates on college campuses, with 78% more men of the college age in school having been victims compared to non college students, and 20% more women of the same scenario (RAINN). These statistics can be sought out to be because of the sex drive of college students, the “that’s what happens when you put girls and guys together” mentality, the fraternity/sorority party life, and a bunch of other bullshit excuses, but that’s exactly what they are- bullshit and excuses.
There should be no excuses for these types of things happening, and if you have ever seen The Hunting Ground directed by Kirby Dick, you can see how victims at college campuses across the country are left in the dust- where colleges care more about bullshit excuses than the safety of their students. Campuses care more about their college’s name than the justice in which they should seek. We see so many situations where even if a story goes viral in the media, the outcome is never fair. Remember rapist Brock Turner who received only three months of jail time after raping an unconscious woman behind a dumpster? Remember Emma Sulkowicz, the girl who carried a mattress around U of Columbia when her rapist did not see what justice should have been? It is too common of an occurrence where colleges just do not care about the sexual assaults that happen right on their property.
At The Pennsylvania State University, students receive texts when a sexual assault is reported on campus. I don’t know what is worse- the fact that when we get those texts they’re filled with “unknown” after “unknown” as if so we cannot identify the perpetrator, or the fact that since August 26th, 23 sexual assault texts have gone out. To begin with, only about 2% of sexual assaults are reported- so this “23” is miniscule to the real numbers; those who were not believed, those who were to scared to say anything, those to whose situation a text just didn’t go out… it is scary to think that if statistics are right, there might have been over one thousand sexual assaults on this campus in less than three months, where as the number should be, shockingly enough, zero.
Did those victims get proper resources? Were they victimized? Did they get medical treatment- both physical and mental? Did their assailant get expelled or experience some other consequences? Was it taken care of properly? More than likely no.
Rapists can be anyone, and most of the time they are not like they are in the movies. They are not a stalker in a parking garage with a mask creeping around corners. They are your friends, your classmates, the person you got to know at a party. It is also hard to realize that this can happen to literally anyone. It could be your mother, your brother, your best friend, your cousin, your roommate… you.
Something nationally needs to be done to reform colleges' ways of dealing with sexual assaults on their campuses. Whether opening up mandatory semester long seminars on preventing rape, implementing petitions to have more harsh of punishments on assailants, or imposing consequences to frat houses known for assaults (or even consequences to colleges that seem to ignore the rapes on their grounds), something must be done, and soon.
Until then, to those of you who have been victims, to those of you who want to know how to help someone who comes to you after an assault, or to those who want to be prepared, please use these resources. Justice will be soon. Reform will be soon. All it takes is multiple voices coming together as one. You are more than a statistic. You are strong. You are powerful. You are human.
https://hotline.rainn.org/online/terms-of-service.... (online chat for those with phone anxiety like myself)
Call 1-800-656-4673
