The Effects Of Rape Culture On College Campuses

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Rape culture on college campuses is a prominent issue that various universities cannot effectively tame. Unfortunately, many put quotations on the issue as if its presence on college campuses is not as dramatic or detrimental as statistics illustrate. Although there are programs that receive grants to educate youth and young adults on rape prevention, the percentages of reported incidents and unreported incidents are not reducing as planned. This is in direct relation to some colleges and programs believing that “rape prevention is still a woman’s job”. (Allen) As reported by the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, 1 in 5 women and 1 in 16 men are sexually assaulted during their college career suggesting that this is more than a woman’s …show more content…

It has been statistically proven that most people never speak up possibly because of the fear from being attacked and/or blamed for such a crime being committed against them. Unfortunately, sexism plays a tremendous role in these situations. Webster’s dictionary defines it as prejudice or discrimination based on sex; especially: discrimination against women. It was found that out of 1 in 5 female college students only 11% report their abuse. (NASPA: Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education) One can only imagine that part of this reason may arguably be because of the stigma that is placed around being sexually abused which is single handedly enforced by colleges. It may not be said verbally, but on college websites, seminars, and flyers across the nation women are automatically being held responsible and are thoroughly judged when bringing up the issue of being sexually assaulted. Two researchers, Nicole Bedra and Kristjane Nordmeyer, discovered that out of 500 prevention tips posted by colleges or universities over 80% of them targeted women and less than 14% targeted men. When gender neutral tips are only a whopping 6%, this sends off the message that men should not be held responsible for such actions. Most rape prevention techniques toss much of the burden on women and it creates …show more content…

We have a great number of men and women being tragically affected by this problem because of sexism intervening the matter. Although it is a rough mindset to break, sexism must be erased from sex education for the sake of future generations. Women feeling afraid to speak out because of cruel beliefs is unacceptable and it only results in unstable adults. Men being granted privileges for these life altering crimes is disheartening and contributes to an unsafe society. It should never be okay for anyone to be manipulated or forced to do anything against their will, then blamed for it. Tackling this topic fairly, in a gender-neutral sense, will empower women to use their voices and will encourage people to respect each

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