Rape on College Campus

By: Katie Krider

Being accepted to college is probably the most exciting time in a teenager’s life. You could be excited because you are finally able to be a free adult and make your own decisions. It could be because you are living out your dream of being a doctor or a journalist. Or maybe you are able to play on your favorite athletic team. Maybe you are excited for college because it is a fresh start to meet new friends and go to parties.

Going to college comes with a few fears as well. Such as, doing the laundry yourself and worrying all your whites will come out pink. Maybe a fear is finding your way around campus and you’re worried you look like a clueless freshman. Or you can’t cook and you’re spending all your money on Take-out! However, I bet a fear you didn’t have was being sexually assaulted or raped.

Most schools post low assault rates and claim their school is the safest learning environment for you. I mean, of course you wouldn’t have chosen a school where there was the potential of getting hurt. However, even with Title IX, rapes and sexual assaults are occurring way too often.

When people think about drinking too much, what mostly likely comes to mind is a nasty hangover the next day. Falling down. Potentially, misplacing keys, wallets, cell phones, etc. Maybe a more sad consequence is drunk driving with the chance of a crash. What should not be a consequence of drinking is rape and/or sexual assault.

If I was passed out on a couch on at a party I would not be assaulted unless there was a rapist present. According to the documentary, The Hunting Ground, less than 9% of men on college campus are rapists. Yet, victims are still asked questions such as “How much were you drinking” and “What were you wearing” instead of questioning the same men who rape over and over again.

So, why don’t we question the victims of other crimes? For instance if someone were mugged why aren’t police asking them what purse they were carrying? Why isn’t the police saying, “Well of course you were the target, you were carrying a designer handbag!”? Or “Of course you were robbed, you were driving around your expensive car basically advertising your wealth.” We don’t ask these questions because they are silly. The people who have something stolen from them are the victims, they didn’t want their property taken away. So, why do we ask them of rape and sexual assault survivors? They didn’t want their privacy violated no matter what they were wearing or how much they were drinking that night.

The answer to why rape victims are the ones brutally questioned is because we live in a rape culture. A culture where sexual assault is effectively supported and excused. Every since we were little we have gotten subtle messages from adults saying sexual assault is okay. Such as “If she says no, she is just playing hard to get” or “He only hit you because he likes you”. These messages tell kids that hitting means love and no means try harder. This will cause abusive relationships, when women grow up and they’re with an abusive man they won’t know any different. This also goes with men. If little or teenage boys growing up hear that girls play hard to get then when they grow up and hear no they won’t know any different. This situation would lead the grown man to force themselves on women, especially if the woman is wearing a scandalous outfit.

Clothing may be the most used excuse for saying sexual assault and rape is okay. As stated before one of the first questions victims are asked were what they were wearing. Why does that matter? Worrying about what a girl is wearing is basically saying a girl wearing a short skirt is more deserving of rape than a girl wearing jeans. Neither girl would want their privacy violated! Instead of trying to change what girls wear, you should change how men react to women.

The way victims are questioned is why most rapes go unreported. If the first thing a rape victims hears is,” well you shouldn’t have worn that, men can’t control themselves”, then why would she report her assault?

In most cases the assailant is not punished. But, if he is punished it is small so it doesn’t ruin his “bright future”.

Schools don’t punish these rapists because most of the men who rape are athletes and the universities don’t want to lose a game. Another reason universities don’t punish the rapists severely is because of the media. If the media finds out that a students was expelled or in jail for rape it will be a huge scandal. That then will result in less students feeling safe there and less students applying to that school. That is why schools post low assault rates so you won’t know their problem.

To highlight the frequent occurrences on college campus rape, compete or attempted rape on women is between 20%-25% over a college career. To translate, 1 in 4 women will be raped during their time in college. To make it worse, less than 9% of men rape, that means the ones who do are raping over and over again will little to no punishment. Beginning to wonder what you should worry about during college?