Banning & Regulating

Yesterday in class we each made lists of the things we would ban and the things we would regulate, or take action toward in order to prevent, or limit, rape culture on college campuses. In my personal opinion I think banning things may increase the problem. As eighteen to twenty two year olds, knowing that something is against the rules, makes the rebelious side of you want to do these things more. However, I feel as though there are many things that can be done to take action.

A few of the things we discussed in class were making the resources known to the students, adding more resources, adding lighting to the streets, adding supervision at parties, etc. I think there should be posters in each dorm-room with a list of phone numbers stating who to call when in danger. However, that doesn't mean a student is going to remember to call these numbers when in actual danger. Adding more lighting throughout the streets would make a huge diffrence, especially on those streets that are heavily trafficked (such as B street) by pedestrians.

The most important thing though is education. It's something that is extremely under-done. It's almost as if universities perform the bare-minimum when it comes to this issue so they can avoid being sued. It's a saddening truth because universities are so worried about their reputations. However, I think the universities that spend the money to educate their new students throughout their freshman year will make a GOOD name for themselves. Parents are going to want to send their students to the university that is known for it's proper education on real-life problems, not the university that is known for brushing these issues aside.

No means no VS. Yes means yes.

"No means no" and "yes means yes" seem to be the same argument at first glance, but they're actually quite opposite. No means no is the common argument made these days in a rape trial, but there are so many ways for the "rapist" to claim not-guilty with this mind set. If a women didn't explicitly say the word "no" then arguably it was not rape. There are so many factors in a victims ability (or inability) to say the word no. If the victim is drunk, drugged, etc. he/she may not be able to say the word no and the rape may very well be overlooked.

On the other hand, in a yes means yet culture the "girl who cried rape" aspect would likely increase. As sad as it is, women who willingly made a mistake with someone on a "one night stand" could report rape because she didn't explicitly say the word "yes."

Maybe the argument shouldn't be "yes means yes" or "no means no" but rather did the victim resist or struggle at all? If the victim did not resist at all, and gave in to having sex with no argument then it shouldn't be considered rape. People argue that the victim may have been too drunk, but unless the person doing the act of rape purposely got them overly-drunk then it is the victim's choice.

This is a hard argument that may not have a right answer, but it is my hope that soon there will be a way to drastically reduce the amount of incidents that get overlooked. Rape is a huge part of our culture and it has not gotten the attention it deserves.

Statistics

The statistics on rape are truly appalling. It was brought up in class that the rape statistics should be compared to statistics on other crimes in order to truly tell whether rape is specifically bypassed or if all crimes are bypassed. Yes it is true that a lot of crimes are looked over, even ones as significant as murder can fall through the cracks, but the sole difference between that and rape is the amount of instances that get reported.

Murder is going to get reported 99% of the time by a family member or loved one who notices they're missing; whether the killer gets caught or roams free may be a different story. Burglary gets reported 99% of the time because the owner realizes their stuff is missing; again, whether the burglar gets caught or roams free may be a different story.

A large percentage of reported rapists aren't convicted which is truly devastating for their targets, but an even larger percentage of rapists are free because women are afraid to report their incident. The fact that women are afraid to report their situation is a direct result of the society we live in. Society needs to take a stand to make a larger deal of rape and the trauma it causes. We discussed the booze, sex, and reality checks class today, and while that may be a good start it is nowhere near going to solve the problem or even make a dent in it. It's a good idea to start brain storming ideas that will make a bigger impact on this epidemic. In my personal opinion, the idea of having a U-Core course that's once a week would be more beneficial than having a one and done course during orientation.

Commonplaces

Commonplaces can be defined as a place one would look to form an argument. Some questions that can be asked are 1. Whether a thing has (or has not) or will (or will not) occur. 2. Whether a thing is greater or smaller than another thing. 3. What is (and is not) possible. Reading this book last semester in English 360, I had a different mind set than I do in reading this in English 460. In 360, I had never heard of this term whereas in 460 I have an understanding of the topic and am now relating it to a controversial subject.

Common places in rape can be difficult to find, but in discussing with some of my classmates we found a pattern within a lot of college-based rape incidents; colleges want to protect their reputations. As sad as it is, no college wants to be known as "the rape school" and will go to great lengths to avoid that.  Universities will let this issue slide, and leave women to deal with the aftermath of the "girl who cried rape." If a university must say a man is guilty, they will generally say "sexual assault" because it has less of a negative connotation.

If universities would withstand a few years of a bad reputation by calling people out for rape, within 5 years, their schools rape culture would most likely drastically decrease.