Rape at College

“Rape at College” By Alia Dastagir Critical Resource Response (AK Group 8)

“College women ages 18 to 24 are three times more likely than women in general to experience sexual violence” (Dastagir). Women on college campuses who experience sexual violence are often victimized and blamed whereas men are exempt from the responsibility of their actions. In order to reduce sexual violence on campus, colleges should educate their students on the resources available to them such as the women’s center and the school’s sexual violence policy.

The responsibility of preventing sexual assault on college campuses is often placed on women. As stated in the article “Rape at College” by Alia Dastagir activists “criticize the policies for focusing more on how women can avoid rape” (Dastagir). Women have to and are constantly told to look after themselves, especially when they’re alone, because you never know who may be lurking around. Women are taught to travel in groups at night so they don’t get picked up by a stranger or to not set their drink down at a party or bar so they don’t risk being roofied. Society puts so much responsibility on women to prevent their own sexual assault.

With responsibility falling a lot on women, so does victim blaming. Although men are the perpetrators of these horrible acts of sexual violation, oftentimes it is the woman who carries the blame. Dastagir states “victim blaming can be harmful beyond immediate ethical considerations, reducing the likelihood that victims report assaults and increasing post-traumatic guilt and stress” (Dastagir). Victim blaming allows these male predators to walk away as if nothing happened or no one was violated. This guilt women feel stops them from taking legal action. It’s a mind game and manipulation. Men think that they can do what they want when it comes to women and seem to forget that consent from both parties needs to be present.

College campuses are infested with acts of sexual violence. In order to reduce the statistic mentioned above, colleges need to be transparent about their sexual violence policy and educate students about the resources they have that work to help combat sexual violence on their campus. In her article “Rape at College,” Dastigar states "the more public an institution is about their policy, the more it sends a message to the community that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated” (Dastigar). Transparency is key and following through one’s words with actions will help reduce the amount of sexual violence crimes experienced by women during their college years. In conclusion, women have so much responsibility and pressure placed upon them to prevent their own sexual assault, while majority of the time, men make their unsolicited move on a woman only to victim blame and recieve no punishment whatsoever. Young adult men need to become more educated on rape and sexual violence and student body’s as a whole need to become more educated on their college’s sexual violence policy and the resources they offer to get help where help is needed.

Word Count: 492

Dastagir, Alia E. “Rape at College: Why Back to School Is so Dangerous for Women.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 26 Aug. 2019, www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2019/08/26/rape-college-back-to-school-sexual-assault-safety/1930485001/.