“In our day, it’s
just become something you shut up about. You deal with it. It happens.”
Sexual assault, "as quiet as it's kept", occurs
every year victimizing anywhere between 300,000 to 1.3 million
people according to the CDC. However, no definite number exists for this
statistic since nearly 54% of sexual assaults are not reported! One
of the most prevalent faults today is the casualty and lack of importance we have
allowed to lessen such major issues. Victims become afraid of speaking up or
are unaware of what truly occurs due to the
societal standards that are instilled through its youth. The problem
becomes concrete when you realize that since you were a ten year old child, you
have either been being told to "cover up" because "you don't
want to distract the boys in class" or you have been told that "it's
not you who is to blame. It's their fault for not dressing
'appropriately'." The first of course being the mantra that has been
chanted into every girl's mind and the second being
the excuse that has been made and taught to all the young boys. A
woman should not be raped and then told by a judge that it is her fault since
her clothing was too sexy, tight, short, revealing, or provocative. As a
whole, respect should be taught from a young age because people
cannot control whether or not they will be sexually assaulted. We could all
wear burqas, but that isn't going to stop it.
This was so interesting to read! I liked how you were able to use a quote from the book to talk about a new issue that we didn't really discuss in class. It was also nice that you provided statics - it really opened my eyes as to just how frequent sexual assault occurs, and that pretty sad!
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate what you said about rape and how its overlooked, overlooked to such an extent that it almost cannot be discussed. As someone who has been through these horrible circumstances, as have so so so many others, I was glad you spoke about this, the stats, and how rape is normalized to a point where it is now a recognized culture.
ReplyDeleteI have been told many times by friends and family not to wear what I want to wear when I go running, and that it'll cause me to be catcalled, or worse... raped. The fact that my appearance can spark such fear in me and in those who care about me is horrifically wrong. My family won't allow me to wear all sorts of things just because of the male influence. Loved this writing, you took a dark topic and discussed it with great respect
I think you incorporated that quote very well and connected it to your topic very well. I also really enjoyed how you used statistics, it shows the reality of this problem.
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