Sexual Assault On A College Campus: Analysis Of Articles
Thesis:
Rape should never exist however since it does it needs to come to an end and that needs to start with universities stepping up and helping the fight against rape.
In “Rape on campus: Athletes, status, and the sexual assault crisis” Lisa Wade explores sexual assault and rape on campus which has been a major issue for many, many years. At first, it was illegal to rape someone else’s spouse but, not illegal to rape your spouse. Thankfully laws have changed, and now rape is rape period. However, a lot of rape cases are overlooked or dismissed due to the popularity or higher social status rankings of the rapist. Athletes are the main ones, this higher ranking class as a lot of rape cases on college campuses are due to them thinking they can do no wrong. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar commented on this “immortal mindset” athletes have and said, “I’m especially aware of the culture of entitlement that some athletes feel, as they strut around campus with the belief they can do no wrong.” This comment speaks volumes on the dangers college athletes enforce when it comes to rape and sexual assault.
Athletes may dominate their respected sports, but sex dominates social status in college. As said in the article, “In the culture of sex that dominates college campuses today, status is what sex is all about.” With sex being the main driving force in popularity for students in college, rape ensues just to get their social hierarchy. It’s a barbaric pursuit to the top of their culture and needs to be stopped. College is supposed to be a safe place parents send their children to learn, not a place for children to lose their innocence. This article will help me show that rape is being overlooked and not taken as seriously as it should.
Jeremy Bauer-Wolf wonders why colleges still recruit athletes who have committed heinous sexual assault crimes. One quote states, “When Indiana University at Bloomington recently adopted a policy barring athletes with a record of sexual violence, people questioned: Why aren’t all institutions doing so? Amid high-profile cases and increased awareness of sexual assaults perpetrated by college athletes, advocates have lobbied the National Collegiate Athletic Association to institute some sort of blanket measure”. This statement speaks volumes as Indiana State was the first university to implement this rule and no one knows why this was not put in place sooner and by more universities. This should have already been a rule, to begin with, but, now that sexual assault among campus students has been a controversial topic recently it is now being taken care of. Years and years of people being sexually assaulted and not having a voice finally gets what seems like a whisper in this huge epidemic as Indiana State steps up to the plate and helps battle the issue.
“Other stories and an investigation followed; ultimately 17 women reported 19 domestic or sexual assaults by football players between 2011 and 2015“. The author continues this article with a statistic that shows how many women have reported sexual assaults from 2011 to 2015. This, of course, does not state the woman that did not come forward because of how scared they would be. Sexual assault is a major issue, and that statistic only scratches the surface. It’s crazy how much rape and sexual assault go unseen and when it does get reported a lot of times nothing is done. It’s despicable and cruel not only to the people that were assaulted but to their families as well.
In “The Furor Over Campus Rape is More Than A Moral Panic” Michelle Goldberg goes in-depth on the rape crimes committed and how it’s more than just an act for sex but could be to gain popularity. “We are now fully into the backlash phase of the campus rape story. It’s only been a few years since the issue burst into public consciousness, driven by an extraordinary group of young women who’d turned their victimization into fuel for activism”. The fight against sexual assault on a college campus is becoming stronger and stronger. More and more women and men are coming together to fight against this epidemic that is growing each year. With more and more cases coming into the light those cases are now being fought harder and without being overlooked. More women and men are speaking up against their attackers and rapists. Now they have a voice that is so loud you can’t help but listen.
“At its center are Andrea Pino and Annie Clark, two heroic young women who, after being violently raped at the University of North Carolina, helped catalyze a nationwide movement to hold schools accountable for failing to protect their students”. The movement keeps getting stronger. These heroic females are adding fuel to the fire as they started a nationwide movement to have schools own up to failing to protect their students. These students parents trusted the universities to protect their children, and a lot of parents are furious with the universities for failing to do so. With rape becoming a bigger and bigger epidemic each and every year you can’t help but wonder when it will come to an end.
Martin D. Schwartz and Carol A. Nogrady tag-team an article about how fraternities, drinking, and sexual tension play major roles in violent sex crimes. “Several theorists have attempted to tie student drinking patterns to the development of these attitudes and vocabularies”. Alcohol plays a big factor in a lot of heinous crimes that occur in the world. Whether it’s drinking while driving that results in a person being killed in a car accident to murdering to rape all have had cases where alcohol “made them do it.” This, however, should not be used against the victim to help protect them in any form. Drunk or not you should never in a million years rape another human. That is wrong and inhuman. Yes, alcohol does alter the way one thinks, but it should be justified in the case of someone losing their innocence in such a violent manner.
Alcohol is cruel and disgusting and using it in a way for some people to “get laid” is stupid. Most of the time that mentality leads to an individual getting raped by someone who is drunk and has a seniority type mindset. Thinking that an individual runs the world plus alcohol is a horrible equation with a bad answer. A step in the right direction needs to be started by the university and the people within, and if it starts by banning on-site alcohol, then that may be the best option in solving this rape epidemic.
Conclusion:
Rape and sexual assault on a college campus is a major problem going on in our society that is affecting the youth of our nation. With rape continuously being a problem there needs to be something to solve it. These articles that I used helped the fight against campus sexual assault and, with multiple movements occurring, it’s only a matter of time till rape on college campuses ceases.
