jezebel.com: Unless you've been dwelling under a rock for the past couple of weeks, you've probably witnessed the raging debate surrounding college women, sexual assault, and drinking that all kicked off with that fun little number by Emily Yoffe, entitled "College Women: Stop Getting Drunk." While it's become quite evident that a lot of very smart humans have a lot of interesting points to make about the way we frame the relationship between binge drinking and campus rape, what's less evident is a viable solution.
5 comments:
I absolutely agree that sexual assault and rape are getting entirely out of hand nationwide, and are being swept to the side with claims of unimportant and victim-blaming that only makes the matter worse. Binge drinking definitely contributes to rape culture, but it is not in any way the cause, merely a factor in the greater scheme of society's ineptitude to treat sex the way it should be treated. Sex, especially in college and especially by men, is trivialized. It is seen as a a form of dominance, of success, of prowess. Bragging about sexual exploits makes men "cool," no matter the way the sexual interaction happened or what form it took. And cases of rape are trivialized and brushed aside; the men (or women) who commit the crime very rarely face any kind of disciplinary action, and are often lauded by their peers for their "conquest." This rape culture needs to end now, it needs to be put in the spotlight, and society's view of the ways in which we as humans approach sex needs to drastically change in order for college campuses to actually be safe.
I had several issues with this article. First of all, the article discusses how colleges are doing little to nothing when it comes to rape prevention, but it fails to recognize that society itself does little to nothing when it comes to rape prevention. The University of Illinois did a fascinating study in which 11-14 year olds (both male and female) were questioned about rape. "51% of the boys and 41% of the girls said forced sex was acceptable if the boy, 'spent a lot of money' on the girl." "31% of the boys and 32% of the girls said it was acceptable for a man to rape a woman with past sexual experience." "87% of boys and 79% of girls said sexual assault was acceptable if the man and the woman were married." "65% of the boys and 47% of the girls said it was acceptable for a boy to rape a girl if they had been dating for more than six months." The fact that youth find rape so acceptable is horrifying. If this what the youth believe, it should be no shock that college students believe rape is ok. To completely stop rape, cracking down on binge-drinking is not enough. Under-age college students are not supposed to drink anyway, and yet we still do it. So, even if we make written-down rules, no one is going to care about a piece of paper. I think the problem with rape goes back to the beginning of creation or evolution, whichever you believe. In Ancient Greece, China, and Rome, men were considered more powerful. Perhaps that is because men have a higher level of testosterone. Testosterone has an anabolic effect, which means it promotes muscle development. This could help men believe they are physically stronger than women, therefore they believe they are more powerful. Women were also banned from education and schools, so they were considered mentally weaker too. Genesis 3:16 states, "Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire [shall be] to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." This here gives men the right by God to control women. And this is what male population has been taught. Men should be taught how to respect a woman. I don't believe colleges are responsible for this. They should be taught when very young, by their parents and teachers. The female rape problem does not start in college. It starts with society's perception of women. My other issue with the article was that it mentioned male rape once, and turned a blind eye. I found it awful that in most cases, male rape would not be defined as rape in this country. Many people think that if a penis is erect, consent has been given, but that is not the case. The erectile response is involuntary. Not only should boys be taught how to respect women, but girls should be taught how to respect men. At my middle school, several rape victims visited and told their story, and those stories really moved me. Because I could pin a face to story, I found it more relatable. We all could see the result of what rape does, and I think it changed my whole class. If children, college students, and the rest of society could see those victims and hear their stories, things might be different.
Lindsay, I think you're missing the point of this article. I agree with you that the issue of rape culture should be addressed earlier on in a student's life than in college, however, this article is trying to discuss ways to address the issue when students get to college, because it is and always will be a huge issue for that age-group, regardless of whether students were educated about it in the past. In regards to your comment that "cracking down on binge drinking is not enough", that is exactly what this article was saying. Your point about colleges not being responsible for teaching men to respect women is interesting...I agree that colleges should not be solely responsible for this, but I don't think that means that colleges shouldn't be involved in the conversation. Colleges should promote a culture of respect, not only in reference to the different sexes but also in reference to different races, religions, and cultural practices. It would be irresponsible for a college not to do so; in ignoring the issues they would be ignoring the root causes of many of the issues in today's society and on today's college campuses- rape being just one of them. This article also speaks to the importance of consent education, as well as the promotion of non-bystander behavior. Those conversations are both great ways for colleges to focus on prevention, while promoting an underlying respect for all, specifically in regards to sexual relations, is a way for them to address the root cause of the problem. Colleges can't do anything about what their students were taught or exposed to before they came to college, but they can expose them to appropriate, positive initiatives when they come to their campuses.
Apparently I have been hiding under a rock because I have not known anything about this controversy. However I am aware of the ever going rape problem at colleges. I have a serious issue with this though. To blame this entire problem on alcohol is absolutely absurd. Thats basically saying that " a girl was raped because she had a short skirt on , it was entirely her fault". Im not saying that alcohol doesn't play a huge part in this problem. Because I know it does. But lets just take a moment and talk about how there is very little consequences for the perpetrator of the rape. And how maybe if there was more sever consequences associated with rape that there wouldn't be so many people that do it. Now i know that when it comes to this subject alcohol can make things extremely confusing. When a girl is drunk and says yes then that doesn't mean yes. Because the next day it would be invalid. I just completely disagree with the whole lets blame women getting drunk thing.
Like Alex I have been under a rock. However, now that I've been brought into the light on this issue I also agree that it is incredibly ignorant to blame this entire problem on alcohol. Yes, alcohol gives some guys the opportunity that they probably wouldn't have or take without the help of intoxication, but to blame the entire problem on alcohol is just plain stupid. The problem isn't drinking, the problem is guys thinking that it's ok. alcohol just makes it ok to blame the victim. However, knowing the problem doesn't solve it. CMU is technically a dry campus and we have problems with drinking all the time. We're also one of the tame schools. Imagine trying to ban alcohol at a party school. People will always find away around rules like that and they'll do whatever they can to keep it secret. Banning alcohol will only keep people from asking for help. The real way to solve the problem is to make people make better decisions. How do we accomplish this? No idea. But if people could identify the real problem maybe they'd be able to find a real solution.
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