Engulfed with the ideals of political views, blinded by the mutual acceptance of those around you, and lacking morality and empathy, America becomes a scarier place to live each day as a college-aged female. Now, mind you, I am not bashing one's own political views. You can want to abolish abortion, take away a woman's right to choose, or you can believe in the power or Roe Vs. Wade. You can hate Social Security, or you can love the ideas of welfare. You are one hundred percent allowed to to own your semi-automatic guns, decorated with silencers and bumps, or you can own none. Since i've been able to understand politics I have been surrounded by radical views, on the left and right, of issues based on a human's ability, or lack there of, to feel empathy. So, if you see yourself as a hardcore liberal, or a far-right conservative, I want you to continue reading this as a human. That's all, just a human. No basis of politics, no self-identification regarding views, just as a mom, or dad, or grandparent, or aunt, or uncle, or cousin: just human.

I'm going to now share with you some rape statistics according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center. One in five women will be raped in their lifetime. Now, take a moment and think about the women in your life: maybe a significant other, a daughter, a mother, an aunt, a cousin, the women in your life that you could never wish harm upon. Now out of those 5, in America, it is safe to assume that one of them will be, or has been, raped at one point or another. Eight out of ten of these women will personally know their attacker: sometimes a neighbor, a babysitter, a family member, or a close family friend. Out of these females, for one in four of them at least, this occurs before the time they are even 18. After 18, the regular age in which people go away to college, those statistics range between 20 and 25 percent of women who fall victim of forced sex during their time in school. Ninety percent of those college-aged women do not even report it at all. Considering all reportable crimes, rape is the most unreported one with 63% of cases never being disclosed to authorities at all.

In fact, rape is such a big deal for this particular age group that during college orientation at most major universities, consent is a major topic. At my orientation particularly, we were shown this video:

This video is quite funny and it was simply deemed a joke for the remainder of my time in college. When we would see a friend bringing their girlfriend back to their room, we would lightheartedly yell out to them "Make sure she wants the tea!" raising an eyebrow and following it with a giggle. This is though, not really a joking matter. I was lucky enough to NOT be surrounded by men who sexually assault women, men who rape women, men who do not respect women, so to me, it was a funny joke. But this is not true for everyone. This video is shown to college students, "Got Consent?" t-shirts and phone cases are passed out, support groups are created, and specific safety precautions are put into place around campuses everywhere to simply support the claim that college campuses are a breeding ground for the maltreatment of women, in this regard particularly.

Now, you may be saying, "Maybe that girl shouldn't have gotten so drunk" or "You should see the way these girls dress these days, it makes sense why men don't respect them" but you are wrong. These are actual comments that I have heard from men who I love, men who I would hope would have empathy for me if I were the victim... but I'm afraid they would not. I'm afraid that since people are engulfed with the idea that women can falsely accuse men of sexual assault, if I were a victim of it I would just simply be a liar or someone who asked for it. It worries me that others may have family members that have seen abuse, seen assault in their own lives, of women they love and care about, and can still turn a blind eye to those who claim it has happened to them. But, in light of this idea that women can falsely accuse men of rape, I would like to acknowledge that I understand this. There are bad women out there, just like there are bad cops, there are bad teachers, bad firemen, and there are just some bad people, but false rape reporting has a prevalence of around 2 to 10 percent across our country total.

Go back to where I had asked you to read this as a human and reflect: did you? Were you able to accurately reflect on the women in your life and say to yourself, "I would believe them if they said it happened to them" or did you assume they were part of that small percentage who made up a story?

It is a scary time to be a female, living in a world where rape culture is public and accepted and I do not believe that every women needs to be subjected to sexual assault to believe one another. I do not believe that a man's daughter needs to be raped while away at college to understand and empathize with another father, whose daughter had been.

So, to the women out there battling with sexual assault, sexual violence, rape, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Depression, Anxiety, and just simply fear:

I stand with you and I believe you.

I believe that if we set aside views to look with a perspective as simply human we can find peace within our own homes, own families, own cities, and we can learn to have empathy for others.

Imagine if it were you.

#MeToo

Reference: https://www.nsvrc.org/statistics