1 in 5 women get raped?

You have no idea, from any of the crime statistics, how many women are sexually assaulted each year?

The Tables Turn on College Rape
09/05/2014
by Amy Siskind

As our country moves forward with awareness and acknowledgment of the epidemic of rape on campus, someone's been left behind: our college men. While momentum is growing for a Senate bill which cracks down on sexual assault on campus, college men are grumbling about their plight. One frat boy at Harvard lamented that he doesn't even know if he should serve women alcohol anymore! While a Stanford guy griped, "Some men feel that too much responsibility for preventing sexual assault has been put on their shoulders." Up till recently, things were neatly as they should be: college women shouldered all the burden of not being raped -- and blame if they were victims. But now, as the school year gets underway, college guys suddenly have to worry about new concepts like consequences for their actions -- and that dreaded word, accountability. This is so unfair!

No, this is not an excerpt from The Onion or a SNL skit. This is the on-campus reality. As the default setting of 'victim blame' dissipates, we are finally beginning to grapple with an epidemic which impacts 1 in 5 women on campus.

The rape crisis on campus is not new, but our acceptance of it's existence sure is. Exactly four years ago today, I wrote an article here, "Back to School, Back to Rape," highlighting a DOJ report with startling findings on the prevalence of college rape. The comments to my column were representative of the mood in our country at the time: that the rape statistics were likely alarmist and disputable, and even in the off-chance true, it was college women's fault for drinking alcohol and dressing provocatively (read: the victims deserved it). This meme conveniently cast college men as helpless victims of their surging, ever-present hormones -- incapable of separating things like right and wrong, good and bad, moral and immoral.

That was George Will's argument when he penned an op-ed in June. Will decried that the rape crisis being brought to light by the Obama administration was a made-up concoction in which college women were conveniently using the "coveted status" of rape victim to make college men -- who were, of course, helplessly fueled by a "sea of hormones and alcohol" -- look bad. It was clear we were at a turning point when social media erupted. Will's column was condemned by everyone (including US Senators) other than a few conservative allies, and he was summarily dropped by the St. Louis Post Dispatch.

Credit does go to President Obama who, after countless Title IX complaints were filed by college students alleging that their schools did not provide a safe environment, addressed our nation in April and provided research data and steps forward. For starters, the US Department of Education was empowered to investigate these complaints. So far, 76 colleges are under investigation, and the list is growing. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has taken the lead on legislation to hold colleges accountable as well, which is gathering bi-partisan support in the Senate.

Back to college men. As the concepts of accountability and consequences enter the fray, I have a few suggestions for the guys based on the 76 colleges under investigation.

1. If a woman is unconscious or incapacitated, don't have sex with her. Walk her home to safety or get help.

2. Don't put rape date drugs in other people drinks.

3. Try to imagine your female classmates as people, not prey. No, means no.

4. If you see a woman being sexually assaulted by a man or group of men, do not take photos or video footage. Intervene!

5. When you're drunk and feel the urge, try not to wander into your dorm-mate's room and hold her down. That's not hooking up. That's rape!

Sarcasm aside, I'm grateful that we're having the conversation, and that our college men are examining their behavior in the mix...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-siskind/the-tables-turn-on-colleg_b_5769910.html?utm_hp_ref=breakingthesilence

Sarcasm aside, I'm grateful that we're having the conversation, and that our college men are examining their behavior in the mix..

I stopped reading that when I came to the first line of the third paragraph. Any writer who doesn't know that there's no apostrophe in the possessive 'its' has no business getting published, even on the internet.

It all depends on what is being defined assault.

I stopped reading that when I came to the first line of the third paragraph. Any writer who doesn't know that there's no apostrophe in the possessive 'its' has no business getting published, even on the internet.

Have you seen that viral video claiming that a woman was harassed 100 times on the street, to include guys saying hi to her as she walked by...or " have a nice day" ?

College Students Around the U.S. Are Carrying Mattresses to Fight Campus Rape
10/29/14

A Columbia University senior's performance art project has become a powerful social movement.

College students across the country are dragging some baggage behind them today. As part of the Carry That Weight National Day of Action against campus sexual assault, students are taking mattresses, pillows, and blankets with them to class.

Columbia University undergraduate student Emma Sulkowicz inspired the day of protest. Sulkowicz was sexually assaulted by an acquaintance at the beginning of her sophomore year. After she reported the crime, the university held a hearing to determine whether to kick Sulkowicz's alleged attacker out of school. In a New York magazine profile, Sulkowicz says the experience was humiliating and that one of the adjudicators “kept asking me to explain the position I was in” during the attack.

According to Sulkowicz, the student who raped her is still in school despite that two other women have come forward and accused him of similar assaults. In response, Sulkowicz vowed to carry her mattress with her from class to class until the university expels him. It’s become her senior thesis project—a piece of performance art with deeply personal significance.

Other students sometimes show up to help Sulkowicz carry the bed—a practical and symbolic gesture.

"Mattresses are heavy and unwieldy. We can only get through this day if we collaborate and help each other carry this weight,” Sulkowicz wrote in the Columbia Spectator.

This issue of sexual assault on campus goes beyond Columbia University. Campus sexual assault, and the manner in which universities handle accusations, has received a flood of national attention in recent months. According to the National Institute of Justice, between 20 percent and 25 percent of women will experience an assault or an attempted assault. Only around 5 percent of victims report the crime.

A poll of MIT students found that one in six undergraduate women had been sexually assaulted at school.

California passed a law known as "Yes Means Yes" that would require universities to have an affirmative consent policy to qualify for some state funding. The White House launched the It’s on Us campaign in September to raise awareness of the larger community’s role in responding to sexual assault.

On Wednesday students at schools around the United States posted pictures of themselves carrying mattresses with the hashtag #CarryThatWeight:
http://www.takepart.com/article/2014/10/29/carrying-mattresses-end-sexual-assault

17% of female undergraduates reported an experience that fits the survey’s definition of sexual assault-- “unwanted sexual behaviors … involving use of force, physical threat, or incapacitation”.

Just to be clear, kissing and touching even if not intending to touch the breast or the butt of a woman is under the MIT definition sexual assault.

Just to be clear, kissing and touching even if not intending to touch the breast or the butt of a woman is under the MIT definition sexual assault. If not nearly 100% of the females there have not been sexually assaulted at a party one needs to wonder why they are such lame partiers.

Rape myth beliefs and bystander attitudes among incoming college students.
McMahon S.
Author information
Center on Violence Against Women & Children, Rutgers University School of Social Work, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901, USA. [email protected]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE:
The bystander approach to rape prevention is gaining popularity on college campuses, although research is limited

It’s On Us” aims to fundamentally shift the way we think about sexual assault, by inspiring everyone to see it as their responsibility to do something, big or small, to prevent it. The campaign reflects the belief that sexual assault isn’t just an issue involving a crime committed by a perpetrator against a victim, but one in which the rest of us also have a role to play. We are committed to creating an environment - be it a dorm room, a party, a bar or club, or the greater college campus - where sexual assault is unacceptable and survivors are supported. This effort will support student-led efforts already underway across the country, and will focus particularly on motivating college men to get involved.

Most men are not comfortable with violence against women, but often don’t speak out because they believe that other men accept this behavior. By getting men involved, we can change this way of thinking and create new social norms. Research shows that bystander intervention can be an effective way of stopping sexual assault before it happens, as bystanders play a key role in preventing, discouraging, and/or intervening when an act of violence has the potential to occur. As the latest CDC report on preventing campus sexual violence shows, wide-ranging, population-based strategies like bystander intervention – which address individual, community, campus, and societal-level factors – have the greatest potential to effect positive and meaningful change. Bystander education and training aims to heighten awareness, challenge social norms, decrease misperceptions about sexual assault, and provide skills that increase one’s confidence to intervene effectivel

have the greatest potential to effect positive and meaningful change.

have the greatest potential to be shown to effect positive and meaningful change

Bystander education and training aims to heighten awareness, challenge social norms, decrease misperceptions about sexual assault, and provide skills that increase one’s confidence to intervene effectively

Quote:

You have no idea, from any of the crime statistics, how many women are sexually assaulted each year?

Have you seen that viral video claiming that a woman was harassed 100 times on the street, to include guys saying hi to her as she walked by...or " have a nice day" ?