TOPICS TO LOOK UP: There is now a lot being written about increased awareness among colleges about sexual assault/ rape among undergraduates. Also there is a lot being written about how college administrations and students are trying to do something about this problem.
Find an article about one or both these topics in a magazine or newspaper, and cite the source, name of article and date in this forum.
POSTING #1:Write something or several things you learned about the topic(s) above that you find important and/or surprising. Write one new idea you have yourself, or that you agree with from something you read, about how to decrease sexual assault among college students?
POSTINGS #2 and #3: Respond to 2 other students’ postings.
Suggestions for responding to students in class: You could, for example, state why you agree or disagree with something they have said in their posting; ask them a question about what they have said; or make some other type of substantial comment. Do not just say I “agree” or “disagree” or “that was a”good comment”. If you do did or did not like the comment, you need to write why you feel that way.
STUDENT 1 Jordan
http://nymag.com/thecut/2015/08/college-demands-rape-survivors-sexual-history.html
“Add this to the very long list of reasons why women often don’t report rape: In the latest account of a campus rape case being grossly mishandled, a college has demanded to see a rape survivor’s entire sexual history.”
I found this article on NY Magazine’s website, The Cut- it was posted yesterday. A young woman (Jane Doe) was drugged and raped during her freshman orientation at Virginia Wesleyan College three years ago. The case is ongoing, and now, the university’s attorneys are demanding that JD provide a list of all her past sexual partners and boyfriends. Basically, if they are going to shell out money to this poor young woman, they need to make sure that she is REALLY as messed up by the incident as she says she is, and they need to know everything about her romantic/sex life since the rape, because surely if she has dated men or had sex since the rape, she can’t have been that traumatized at all. I think it’s disgusting- it seems like they are hoping that if she reflects on any of her recent sexual behavior if there has been any, she will reconsider and think, “I’m actually okay- I am able to have sex so I must not be as badly affected as a real rape victim might be.” How is any of it relevant? She was raped. It doesn’t matter if she was/ wasn’t a virgin, or if she’s slept with no one since, or if she’s slept with ten people since- she was raped.
I think the best way to try prevent these occurrences is to simply educate students consistently- during orientation, workshops, public announcements, etc.; but sadly, if a person who is sick in the head has an agenda, they are probably going to seek opportunities to inflict harm and get what they want anyway. Young women should keep themselves as safe as possible by sticking together and being aware of potentially dangerous situations; like being the only girl left at the party with a bunch of guys they don’t know, or getting a ride home with a guy they don’t know. I am not man-bashing, but I do unfortunately know a lot of girls who have ended up in shady situations due to poor judgement, myself included.
Student 2 Nicole
http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/20/living/feat-rape-freshmen-women-new-study/
This article that I found was posted in May of this year. It was a study that was done at a university in upstate New York. What surprised me the most was that 19% of woman reported that they had been raped during their freshman year.
About 15% of the woman said they were raped or a victim of attempted rape while they were incapacitated, while 9% said they were forcibly raped or a victim of attempted rape by force (CNN).
These numbers disgust me and unfortunately those were number from females that only decided to speak out about it. Sadly enough a lot of woman hide this for many reasons. Mainly because they are scared of judgement from others and getting shut out.
I feel that campuses should have more security. For example, Bergen is open to anyone. Anyone could just walk onto the campus and then something terrible can happen. We definitely need to make changes so that we can prevent things like this from happening on our campus.
The only idea I have for myself is what I always do. I always make sure I’m never alone. When I go to my night classes, I always make sure when class is over to walk out with everyone else. Walking alone unfortunately makes yourself a target to someone that wants to do such a crime.
