A woman was passed out drunk and wasted behind a dumpster after a crazy frat party the night before. She probably looked like a hot mess doing who know what with various people and enjoying every minute of it. She should have used the buddy system and planned ahead to make sure she would get back to her room safe. She should have gone with a friend. She probably should have called campus security to escort her back home. There are a million different things she could have done to make sure she make it back home.
The preceding paragraph is completely irrelevant to the context of this article.
A woman a raped.
On January 17, 2015 a man decided to rape a woman.
On January 17, 2015 a man decided to rape a woman behind a dumpster.
The preceding three sentences contain all the relevant information we need to know about the rape of the Stanford University student victim.
It does not matter if she was drunk.
It does not matter if she was wasted off her butt, drunk.
It does not matter she was unconscious behind a dumpster drunk.
She could have been walking in a dark alley.
She could have been on her way to another bar.
She could have been wearing the shortest mini skirt known to man (or woman).
She could have been in see-through sequence jumpsuit.
She could have been naked.
She could have been in class…
Or at the gym….
Or on her way back from work…
Or in her house…
It does not matter the circumstances. Regardless of where she is, what she is doing and who she is doing it with, it is never appropriate to rape another person.
Unfortunately, the fallout of this tragic case is focused on insignificant details. Emphasis on the circumstances on the day she was violated suggests that rape is to be expected in certain situation. This is a sickening message. By blaming the victim and the circumstances, we are sending the wrong message of what is acceptable and unacceptable conduct between two people.
It should be more than common sense to say that violating another person’s body is wrong. It is also common sense to say that the violator is the problem-not the victim. Unfortunately, common sense is not as common as it used to be.
We have a serious problem when there are entire groups of people who are incapable or are unwilling identify a case of rape.
Since when have we devolved to the point where it has become necessary to explain why violating another person is not okay? In any situation? Or time of day?
We must have lost our minds.
Even the Ku Klux Klan (yes, they are still around) and Westboro Church gets better treatment than this. They have the freedom to walk around spreading all types of hateful speech and propaganda. It is literally their right. Their freedom of speech is protected. Regardless of what they say, it is not expected that they will be violated or randomly attacked.
Why can't a person get drunk - get completely wasted - and expect not to be raped?
Why can't women expect not to be raped?
Why do we live in a society where rape whistles and rape apps exist, yet restraint and self-discipline and common decency is a foreign concept?
This is ridiculous and incredibly dehumanizing. Women are people - not animals.
How do we prevent rape from occurring?
The solution is fairly simple yet elusive - rapists, stop raping people.
