Sexual assault if the forceful coercion through words, action or physical touching of someone with the intention of having sex without their permission. The most common example of sexual assault if rape. Young girls and boys alike in their adolescence stages have fallen victims of rape. Some of these cases have gone unreported or if they were reported, little or no action has been taken against the perpetrators. According to Perez-Pena, one in every four girls in campus in the US experience sexual assault (A17). There have been rampant cases in US College campuses with almost 50% of the cases reported being related to sex crimes (Stampler par. 1) People take advantage of ladies, especially when they are drunk or deliberately force them into having sex because they can easily overpower them. However, as many women come out to speak against this vice, there is need to support them in campuses and beyond to protect women from sexual violence. Activism on sexual assault has increased the awareness among college students to respect women and desist from engaging in sexual crimes.
Karasek, a victim of rape did not get any satisfactory help even when she sought legal help from the university (Par. 1). Sexual assault crushes someone’s life and eats into their emotional and psychological stability. However, using such a negative experience as a lesson and making the decision to launch campaigns against sexual assault is a plausible. The purpose of awareness campaigns is to reverse the American mentality on perceiving sexual assault as a normal part of life. Take an instance where Purdum described sexual assault as a normal thing in the universities, where “a man deliberately bites a woman’s breast, football players gang-rape a woman, a student rapes a female comrade in the hostel, and others murder female students for resisting rape” (012047). Awareness tries to reduce such animosity in men. With awareness, women can come out to share their stories, which in return may educate others to minimize future reoccurrence of the same. Awareness gives people the courage to report such cases to authorities. There have been concerns, based on the Association of American Universities’ survey that almost three-quarters of sexual assault incidences go unreported (Perez-Pena A17). Students are suffering in silence because of the fear of stigmatization or lack of moral support as they seek legal help. The incidences have also been on the rise especially on transgender students.
Today, people know their rights. As the society struggles to achieve gender equality, people know priorities. This has led to what Karasek referred to as “recognition of the scale of sexual assault and harassment, which has inspired a wave of outrage” (par. 8). People are finding such an act cowardly. Today, most college students are keen to protect the name of their college from appearing in the lists of shame. For instance Stampler reported that “the college town of Missoula, was nicknamed “America’s Rape Capital” after 80 cases of rape were reported in 2011 (par. 4). With such a shame, it is evident that every student would want to protect the name of their college. Therefore, that means awareness is bearing fruits. Nobody would want to be associated with a college that is known for such a bad reputation. The same opinion was shared by Gray, who argued that such a nickname could only be redeemed if the college provides reliable answers to the question, “What will it take to make women safe at college?” (par. 8). The first step of improving security is by promoting awareness. Most colleges today have policies that caution against sexual crimes within the school premises. These policies, coupled with awareness campaigns can be a good remedy to the rampant cases of sexual assaults in colleges.
Awareness is on the rise because everybody has developed an interest in stopping this vice. These efforts date back to 1990 when the Congress passed the Clery Act (Gray par. 20). According to this Act, all “colleges are required by law to publish annual reports on security policies and campus crime statistics, including sex offenses” (Gray par. 20). These statistics provide awareness to the public to gauge college security according to the published statistics. Furthermore, it enables all stakeholders to budget for awareness campaigns in these colleges. Talking about sexual assault and offering tangible solutions to eradicate this evil from colleges is an effort that everyone has embraced.
Activist groups like the #MeToo movement are helping in reaching out to rape survivors who lack the voice. There have been concerns that Black Americans fear victimization when they report to White officials (Karasek par. 10). Therefore, it is then easy for these survivors to speak through the activist movement that helps them press charges in courts. Through these movements, survivors also learn to share their experiences without fear of victimization. The movement reaches out to many people who could not be heard if a single person went out looking for them.
In an example provided by Gray, awareness is on the increase as many people are willing to share the secret they use to trick women into their traps. For instance, Gray (par. 18) talked of a young man who gave an account on how they lure freshmen girls into their house parties and drug them before assaulting them. With this information then, women will be on the lookout for such trickeries among men. Most ladies fall for these tricks because they want to have fun in their first years of college life without knowing what awaits them. By ensuring that they know what happens during house parties and other wild parties, ladies can protect themselves by turning down invitations, going out with friends they trust to look out for them, and going slow on alcohol. Awareness also educates ladies on the risks of engaging in unprotected intercourse. Equipping women and men with such information will minimize instances where some few people would want to take advantage of innocent college girls for sexual favors.
Conclusion
Awareness on sexual assault is on the increase after the rampant cases of sex crimes in colleges. Awareness is stemming from the painful experiences that ladies go through. The brave ones have opted to start movements like the #MeToo movement to speak out for those who fear stigmatization. As people develop a deeper understanding of their rights, they are showing the courage to fight for equality and protection of dignity among women. Interesting efforts like nicknaming colleges that have high cases of sex crimes have also enabled people to work towards redeeming and protecting the names of their colleges from being on the lists of shame. Developing strict laws can be a sure way to cub the vice. Pressing charges and charging the perpetrators will further promote awareness against sexual assault as people will fear the consequences.
Works Cited
Gray, Eliza. “The Sexual Assault Crisis on American Campuses.” Time, 15 May 2014, https://blog.ecu.edu/sites/dailyclips/blog/2014/05/27/the-sexual-assault-crisis-on- american-campuses-time-magazine/. Accessed 23 Nov. 2018.
Karasek, Sofie. “I’m a Campus Sexual Assault Activist. It’s Time to Reimagine How we Punish Sex Crimes.” The New York Times, 22 Feb. 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/22/opinion/campus-sexual-assault-punitive- justive.html. Accessed 23 Nov. 2018.
Perez-Pena, Richard. “1 in 4 Women Experience Sex Assault on Campus.” The New York Times, 21 Sept. 2015, A17.
Purdum, Todd S. “The Reality of Crime on Campus.” The New York Times, 21 Apr. 1988, 012047.
Stampler, Laura. “Report Sees Surge in Sex Crimes on College Campuses.” Time, 10 Jun. 2014, http://time.com/2851844/number-of-campus-sex-crimes-reported-surges-by- 50/. Accessed 23 Nov. 2018.
