Sexual Assault on Campus

Zoe Brady                

Writing 101

Ms. Harper

November 18, 2016

Sexual Assault on Campus

Sexual assault is a rampant issue not only in America as a whole, but more specifically in the “college-age range”. This range presented statistically by an organization called RAINN, the go to for sexual assault statistics in America is defined as 18-24 and includes college goers and those who do not attend. This organization has a website and in that website I found the most startling statistics I’ve ever seen, the ones on college age sexual assault cases. Women attending college that fall into the sexual assault high point of 18-24 are three times more likely to be sexual assaulted than women as a whole. Sadly, this isn’t the most staggering statistic. As for women in this magical age range that don’t go to college? They’re FOUR times more likely than the average woman. So where and how does this issue start? What causes the high level of risk that college aged women face? For the sake of simplicity, we can boil it down to two major issues: ignorance and the normalization of sexual assault in America today.

Now I know what you’re thinking, everyone knows sexual assault is wrong. I wish I could say that statement right along with you but the sad reality of the situation is, most people don’t. They don’t know what sexual assault even looks like. They do not understand that ANY unwanted touch or gesture in a sexual nature could be and most likely is sexual assault. Webster defines it as “illegal sexual contact that usually involves force upon a person without consent or is inflicted upon a person who is incapable of giving consent (as because of age or physical or mental incapacity) or who places the assailant (as a doctor) in a position of trust or authority”. This definition however is one not taken seriously in our society. Donald J. Trump, President Elect, soon to be leader of the free world has now become the poster boy for the masoginistic white male wave we have rising up in America today. Living in Mississippi, an undoubtedly red state, I’ve seen the great magnitude of young men which see Trump not as a hateful sexist, but as a role model. If he is a role model for the true gentleman than we are truly a country gone under, one far beyond immediate repair. What happened to southern charm and chivalry? These days you can apparently just “grab them by the p***y” as stated by our ever so loving soon to be commander-in-chief. If the President Elect, Trump can do and say it, why can’t the Trump supporters? What stops common folk from partaking in the practices of the president? I mean he is our role model, isn’t he?

The normalization of this sexist masoginy is the paramount issue facing anti-sexual assault groups today. The rapes that occur on the campuses of universities are an endemic problem. In a lot of colleges, they occur and the victims are not encouraged to bring a complaint because this may have negative effects on the reputation of the universities; an argument so trivial compared to the seriousness of the facts. A culture of rape is therefore installed in a lot of universities. The concept of sexual assault remains blurred for students. Sigma Chi Derby Days, have become a public part of the ever growing issue on the campus of Ole Miss. Even with organizations like RASA (Rebels Against Sexual Assault), we face more and more sexual assaults on campus and at events hosted by school organizations.

        On average one in five students undergo a sexual assault during the first four years of his studies. But only 12% of these assaults are denounced. A national campaign against rape in the face of the magnitude of the problem, the White House has launched last September a national campaign. Entitled "It is on us", it provides recommendations to universities, visits on the campus and a study of the laws to check that they correctly protect the victims of sexual abuse. A working group is created to avert and prevent the sexual assaults in collaboration with the universities. The objective is to draw on the "Yes, means yes”, a law passed in late September in California. If a sexual relationship has not been the subject of a clear agreement, it can be qualified of rape in the case of filing a complaint with the university. The establishment must not search anymore if there has been a rape but if there was consent. This law could be an extremely beneficial one and could make our society not one that immediately assumes the victim is lying, but one that immediately believes, something that might lead more women to come forward and to speak out about their assault.