We cannot ignore widespread sexual violence
We need to put an end to pervasive rape culture
Photo courtesy of Fourandsixty/Wikimedia Commons
We do not have enough productive conversations about rape culture on our campus and in society more generally. Rape culture, as defined by the University of New Hampshire, exists when sexual violence is “prevalent and normalized.” This culture is created and perpetuated when rape victims are insistently questioned, doubted, and blamed for their experiences; it involves a mindset that excuses the perpetrators of sexual violence while focusing on what the victims were doing, wearing, or drinking at the time of their assault.
It might also involve talking points I have frequently heard myself, wherein people exclusively discuss how men’s lives might be “ruined” by false allegations of sexual assault. I find these conversations particularly frustrating, especially considering the apparent immunity men in power have to allegations; consider, for instance, the numerous assault allegations against the man currently occupying the highest office in our country, Donald Trump, who is also famously quoted by the BBC as saying, “When you’re a star they let you do it…Grab them by the p****. You can do anything.” We have also witnessed other men who have maintained their positions of power despite credible assault allegations. According to The Guardian, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., current secretary of health and human services, when responding to a sexual assault allegation from a former employee, stated, “I am not a church boy,” further commenting, “I have so many skeletons in my closet that if they could all vote, I could run for king of the world.”
Former president Joe Biden also faced a sexual assault allegation from former Senate aide Tara Reade; despite consistent assertions from members of the left that we must always believe women, Reade faced severe skepticism and criticism in her testimony. An article from The New York Times on the situation stated, “Ms. Reade, a former Senate aide, has accused Mr. Biden of assaulting her in 1993 and says she told others about it. A Biden spokeswoman said the allegation is false, and former Senate office staff members do not recall such an incident.” Other reporting on the allegations adopted a similar tone of skepticism and immediate discrediting of her story. Women’s experiences were once again sidelined, and we were shown that even among liberals, politicians can get away with sexual violence against women if we think they can win an election.
Though false allegations do happen, what concerns me far more is the number of unreported or uninvestigated rape allegations. According to Ballard Brief, “a survey of criminal justice system officials found that nearly a third of officials thought rape reports were more frequently fabricated than other crimes,” but that “despite these perspectives, studies have found only 2–10 percent of sexual assault cases are false allegations.” On the flip side, it is estimated that “less than one out of three sexual assaults are reported every year, with some estimations being under 5 percent.” The way we talk about rape and sexual violence in the media and in casual conversations contribute to an environment in which sexual trauma is trivialized and people—most frequently women—feel uncomfortable coming forward about their experiences.
This is particularly important to consider on college campuses. According to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN), “Women ages 18-24 who are college students are three times more likely than women in general to experience sexual violence.” Additionally, 26.4 percent of female and 6.8 percent of male undergraduate students “experience rape or sexual assault involving physical force, violence, or incapacitation.” Though we might like to ignore our unique position of vulnerability and complicity on college campuses, it is essential to have serious conversations about our culture surrounding sexual violence and what is done for survivors.
It is difficult to have these conversations when the media often pushes the narrative that these issues are relatively unimportant, and when movies, television shows, and online spaces cultivate an environment of skepticism and blame toward survivors of sexual violence. It is our responsibility to actively push against that narrative, and to create a respectful, empathetic dialogue surrounding these issues—a dialogue that does not end at discussion, but is also backed up by substantive actions to support survivors on campus.