You do not deserve to be raped

Have an opinion? Let us know with a letter to the editors!

Have an opinion? Let us know with a letter to the editors!

My sophomore year at Tarleton, a police alert went out after an alleged sexual assault took place on campus. If you read our last print edition’s story about the victim blaming language used in those alerts, then you know that the safety tips urging students to watch how much they drink, stay away from strangers and stick to their group of friends imply that these kinds of assaults can be avoided if students, particularly women, would just be more careful at parties.

While sitting in my broadcast journalism class the next day, the alert was brought up and discussed among the students, most of whom, like me, were sophomores or older. Students were speculating about which dorm it took place in, what may have happened, and how likely it was that the crime actually took place. Suddenly, from the back of the room, a senior student spoke up.

“She was probably some drunk freshman who slept with a frat guy, felt guilty about it, and now she’s regretting it and crying ‘rape,’” the student said, rolling her eyes. “It’s pathetic.”

Immediately my blood boiled. This was not my first experience with rape culture, nor, sadly, would it be my last. Memes like “rapist sloth”, t-shirts advocating violence against women, and conspiracies to protect rapists from criminal charges have become commonplace in the last decade.

In 2012, a Texas defense attorney referred to an 11-year-old gang rape victim as a “spider” who lured the men into her “web.”

In Steubenville, Ohio, a high school student was sexually assaulted in full view of her peers. The incident was even documented in videos and photos by bystanders. Her rapists, two football players for Steubenville High School, were convicted, but not before several adults attempted to cover up the incident and hinder the investigation.

Even now, with the rapists convicted, sympathy for their “wasted youth” has flooded the media. CNN reported that the court proceedings were “incredibly emotional” to watch as the boys “believed their lives fell apart.”

Rape culture exists because we consistently excuse violent behavior in men. “Boys will be boys” and “Men are just wired that way” can no longer be accepted as viable excuses. The answer to sexual assault is not teaching women not to drink. It is not providing them with rape whistles, asking men to walk them home at night, or instructing them to keep their legs closed.

The answer is teaching people not to rape, refusing to tolerate sexual assault jokes in movies and television, and rejecting excuses for sexual assault.

We need to talk about rape culture. We need to come to the conclusion, as a society, that there is nothing okay about rape. If that seems like common sense to you, congratulations – you’re not insufferably ignorant.

CNN’s headline for their sympathetic report of the Steubenville rape verdict read, “Two high school football stars found guilty.”

No, CNN. Two rapists were found guilty.