Sexual assault is not a joke, but yet in today's society we are still trying to figure out if a privileged college athlete should go to jail for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman. That woman is not just some girl who attended a Stanford Fraternity party; no she's all of us. She's us when some of us were partying and intoxicated, and could not find our friends or someone we knew. She's us trying to be stronger for our younger or older sisters. She's us when we're smiling and being care free with our friends, and not thinking anything like this could ever happen. She's even us when sexual assault happens to you or someone you know, and you can't even look yourself in the mirror. No one expects things like this to happen, but college has been trying to make it more aware on campuses. Yet, the question is why in today's society there are more articles with the named "Brock Turner" in the title than about what needs to happen for the victim. What are the measures being taken to stop this from reoccurring on more campuses? What are the measures being taken to strengthened or make stricter sexual assault sentences FOR EVERYONE? A lot of colleges Sexual Assault "awareness" is barely awareness. According to Huffington Post, in November 2014 there was a survey distributed to all Indiana University students, and 29% of the female students reported to dealing with some non consensual inappropriate sexual contact. 29% is a pretty high number, because it's higher than the national average.
1 in 5 Women (20%) of College Women are Sexually Assaulted As Opposed to 4% of Men
This statistic is not new or unknown, yet Sexual Assault is still ignored until it happens to someone or a women on campus. So yes we can talk about alcohol abuse, but the real issue here is the fact that there are more women being attacked than men, but there's still not enough being done. There is also another a statistic from DoSomething.org that states, "42% of college women who are raped tell no one about the assault." Honestly, you've made a bold stance by even speaking up about how you've felt and it was great that those two guys saved you. But what if they didn't? I wonder if you would have told someone or kept it inside like the other 42% of women. Well, I am glad that they saved you, and you spoke out about this issue. Everyone including males were able to feel your pain. Women who may have felt judged if they told someone, women who thought that the blame would have been on them; women who may have felt just like you? This happening to you has helped so many women share their stories, and that is what counts.
Under Reported Crime
According to DoSomething.org only 5% of sexual assaults on college campuses are reported, which makes sexual assaults a very under reported crime. There are a lot of girls out there who have been carrying around the baggage of how you have felt during this whole process. You're not a victim you're a powerful young woman, because you chose to speak out. What I mean is you could have said nothing or left out details, but you chose to let the whole world know how it feels to be sexually assaulted. This helped so many girls , including me, speak out and share their stories. There is too much of a lack of female support when it comes to sexual assault. This is probably why many young women do not speak out about it, because they have been told by society that it's their fault, that it was something they were wearing, or that they deserved it. The top five reasons why young women do not report sexual assault according to Global news, are:
- Feeling young and powerless 56%
- Shame 40%
- Self-blame 29%
- Desire to move on 26%
- Belief reporting wouldn't do any good 21%
Yet, sometimes shaming comes from the legal system as well. The shaming may not be intentional, but sometimes questions like "What were you wearing or doing," can come off that way. No matter what a woman is wearing she still should not be blamed for what happened to her. A lot of times we want to teach young girls to wear modest clothing, or do not drink too much at parties, or even act a certain way, but what about guys? What if we talked to guys as much as we talk to girls about appearance, and how to behave themselves? Maybe things would not happen at that blink of an eye, but maybe things can begin to make a transition. There also needs to be a change in the way some police officers handle sexual assault, because victims should not feel like they are not credible when speaking to the police. All of the answers won't be here quickly, but on the behalf of probably majority of women and girls thank you for speaking out. For not, not saying anything when Brock Turner gave his statement. Yes, it was hard, but you gave so many girls hope and belief that they are not alone. Sometimes, we may think we are alone in this. We might feel devastated, empty, and shameful, but the truth is it was not our fault. Those nights we felt alone, and scared to open up won't disappear, but there is now a chance for a better future. Thank you, and you're not a victim you're a powerful young woman even if you don't feel like it.
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