Sexual Assault And Harassment Essay

For 200 years Fraternities have been perceived as a building block for loyalty, friendship, and life time connections, yet to those who are ignorant of the Greek system across campuses remain unaware of the debauchery happening to achieve these goals. Sexual assault and harassment have become pledges ' selling point in proving such loyalty. At least 1 in 4 college women will be the victim of a sexual assault during her academic career (Hirsch), and at least 80% of all sexual assaults are committed by an acquaintance of the victim ( Bureau of Justice Statistics). Fraternity members are usually well known, well rounded and on paper, typically outstanding young men. It’s a mystery as to why these “brothers” find it necessary to think harassment

The problem is, these young men are seeing it as an excuse to be overly aggressive in sexual situations. It’s not being understood, as to how this problem evolved. College campuses across the country are having continual problems with the Greek system’s sense or moral. Yes, not all fraternities are all the same, some even try to redeem themselves of the slanderous rumors and gossip, but it is not enough redemption for what has been proven to be happening. These young men are being conditioned to think that abuse against a woman is nothing to bat an eye at, which is not the case.

Nearly 50% (48.8 to be exact) of college women who were victims of attacks that met study’s definition of rape did not consider what happened to them rape (Sexual Victimization of Collegiate Women). Because they knew their attacker, or weren’t physically penetrated by a penis, but rape comes in all types. All with the same result of shame and

With Fraternity houses being referenced to as “rape factories,” that should be enough of a shock to get some sort of action taken against these young men. Most campus infractions are looked to as just that: simple student to student infractions. When in reality, these situations need to be taken above campus security, and to the police. Because taking individuals out of the equation is simply not enough. There will always be another to replace them. With talk of shutting down the problematic houses, the topic of them just going “underground” comes to light. What people need to see, doing so is just as unsafe, if not worse. If all else fails, keep the specific house(s) under watch and/or probation until they can deem themselves worthy of independence. Going underground just puts these abusers even more out of reach. The changes need to be within the individuals, and supported by their peers.
Stop teaching young adults how to not get raped and/or assaulted, and blaming the victims for not being careful enough and start teaching young adults to fully respect one another in spite of gender, color, or background