Incidences of sexual violence have been a brutal part of the human history for a long time (“How Sexual Assault Has Been Portrayed-or Erased-Throughout History.”). Rape has been documented since the writing of the ancient letters of the early explorers (1). According to the history.com staff, wars were mainly known for reporting such incidents Greeks, Bible, and letters of the explorers (1 War II, Soviet Union soldiers committed mass sexual ). In the most famous war, World War II, Soviet Union soldiers committed mass sexual assaults while they were in Germany (1). These behaviors were encouraged among the Soviet soldiers, due to the anger they had towards the Germans; while trying to defeat the German Army, they raped the women and conquered. The cause of the rise of the well-known mighty, Alexander the Great was a result of a sexual assault (1). In 336 B.C., Alexander’s father, King Philip II and his bodyguard, Pausanias (who was also his lover) were invited to a banquet Philips ather-in-law had invited them to (1). While they were there, Pausanias was sexually assaulted by the soldier men of Philips father-in-law (1). When the court came to find out, King Philip II refused to punish the with anger murdered King Philip and that was the rising of Alexander the Great (1). Actually, there aren’t enough fingers to count how many years rape soldiers. Pausanias with anger murdered King Philip and that was the rising of Alexander the Great (1). Actually, there aren’t enough fingers to count how many years rape has been a part of our society. As we saw in Alexander the Great’s example, a man was sexually assaulted, however, let’s take a look at women involved in these incidents.
The famous, Christopher Columbus, while he was sailing the Caribbean sea, not only found new land, but also met new people of different races (“How Sexual Assault Has Been Portrayed-or ErasedThroughout History.”). He was gifted a number of “Carib Women” by his noble friend (1). It took a long time to sail to different landmarks, so on the way Columbus tried to rape Michele de Cueno, one of the “Carib Women," but she aggressively denied and pushed him (1). He wasn’t able to tolerate this behavior, therefore he took a rope, brutally beat her and eventually raped her (1). These were the men of our history we call “Great” or “Famous”, and these men still exist today.Throughout the history of sexual assault, these incidents only happened when men found their ego being hurt or they saw themselves getting damaged.
After your daughters’ recovery, she’s been too scared to go out of the house ever since the incident; however, she decides to face her fear and goes out. As she walks alone at night, in an empty parking lot, she’s anxious and keeps looking back to see if anyone is following her. As she approaches her car she sees two men stand at the corner looking her directing and slowly walking towards her. She shuffles through her purse and goes straight for the car keys. Luckily, she gets in the car on time and leaves the parking lot.
When searching “social effects of rape “ on the internet, you seem to find articles about medical reports and physical conditions that happen due to rape. Some of these conditions include, bruising, vaginal and anal bleeding, difficulty walking, broken bones, sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy (“Effects of Sexual Assault and Rape”). Yes, all of these effects are critical, however, none of these searches include the mental and emotional effects that rape victims go through. Rape victims go through a load of post mental and emotional stress, affecting their ability to communicate properly and becoming involved in their social lives again (1). Some of the most common mental and emotional effects include, Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), including flashbacks, nightmares, anxiety and uncontrollable thoughts (1). Some victims also go into prolonged depression, sadness, unexplained crying, and feeling of hopelessness (1). Out of all of these mental and emotional effects, the most life threatening is attempt to suicide. A study done by the research center at Medical University of South Carolina, shows that 31 percent of all rape victims develop PTSD throughout their life (“Mental Health Impact of Rape”). It also showed 30 percent of all rape victims develop major depression and about 43 percent of all rape victims get STDs, HIV or AIDS after the episode (1). If not all, but most of these conditions lead to victims committing suicide (1).
In the past 20 years of research on sexual assault, researchers have found rape to be a widespread problem in American society (“Understanding Rape and Sexual Assault”). Every one in four women are raped in the United States alone, which causes post traumatic severe psychological distress (1). The impact of rape extends beyond the victim, their family, friends, but also to those who helped the victims (1). The rape victims advocates, therapists, all are effected in the process. Moreover, the effects of rape go far beyond physical conditions. Rape is a type of torture that last not only in those moments when it was done, but throughout the victims’ life. Victims have to deal with mental, emotional, and traumatic problems and some unfortunately lead to death.
Anna, an 18 years old freshman, at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Central New York, made the news last year because she was brutally raped on campus (Bogdanich, Walt). She had been on campus for only two weeks when this happened (1). It was a Saturday night when she was out with her friends (1). However, at midnight, her friends seemed to not find her anywhere when they received a text from Anna, saying she was frightened by a couple of football players she had met that evening (1). “Idk what to do,” she texted (1). “I am scared” (1). When she didn’t answer her friend’s call, they began to search for her (1). Early morning, her friends found her bent over a pool table where the football player had sexually assaulted her from behind in a dark dance hall with other players watching and recording the process (1). This incident was reported to the administration (1). The test reports indicated intercourse with multiple partners, multiple times and that the intercourse was forceful (1). When Anna was asked what happened, she said she could not recall the pool table incident, but did remember being raped in a house bedroom at a frat party (1). Later on in the investigation they discovered that the football players had also been at the frat party (1). When being accused of sexually assaulting a woman they all denied the charges even when sperm or semen was found in the vagina reports (1). It took 12 days to investigate the incident (1). The football team went undefeated for the season and Anna was left to face the consequences (1). Nothing came out these reports and investigation at the end.
An anonymous freshman at Florida State University also faced a similar incident at college campus (“Errors in Inquiry on Rape Allegations Against FSU's Jameis Winston.”). On a December night, she was at a popular Tallahassee bar called Potbelly’s with her friends (1). In the report to the administration she said she headed home feeling uneasy after drinking at the bar (1). With not many further details given in the report, she stated that she was raped by the quarterback of the football, Jameis Winston (1). She reported the incident the morning after the rape and after being tested they found semen on her underwear and vagina (1). This investigation went on for a whole year and yet the outcomes remained the same (1). The quarterback won the Heisman Trophy and led his team into national championship while the victim was left to face the consequences (1).
There are so many stories where rapes have happened and have been left unreported. Or where they have been reported, but there was no justice for the victims. Along with the two mentioned above, other include, Amanda Tripp, a student at University of Indianapolis reported that an acquaintance sexually assaulted her (Nelson Libby). Another victim who was left with no justice is Sarah Patten (1). She was a student was Patrick Henry College, where she also filed a report and was told there was an error in her judgment of the incident (1). Sofie Karasek, a student at University of California-Berkeley, was also sexually assaulted her freshman year in college and later faced traumatic problems. Lastly, rape cases have been part of our society ever since mankind was documented. It has become an epidemic and is spreading like a wildfire in a dense forest.
When your daughter’s sexual abuse court case started, the first few
questions raised were all against your daughter. All fingers were pointed
at her, asking “What was she wearing at the time of rape?” “Was she
hungover when this happened?” “Was she the one who initiated the talks
with the rapist first?” You as a parent rise with anger and yell because no
one is asking questions against the rapist, only against the victim.
Moreover, your yelling didn’t help at all and at the end the rapist won
the case because there were no evidence to support the claim.When a girl is brutally sexually abused and there is no action being taken, it is your responsibility as a courteous member of the society to raise awareness of the situation. It is difficult for a girl who is a victim in the situation to speak up for herself if she is panicked or scared. At this point in time the best solution is a good support system. Additionally, finding solutions to situations like these are challenging because the family might be ashamed or even too afraid to raise their voices. This may be the case because they have seen examples in the society where the victim was once again victimized in the court and the rapist freely roamed. Oftentimes the rapist will victimize people that they know wouldn’t do anything about the situation and take advantage of that.
The best way to stop sexual abuse victims from being victimized once again in the court or police case is by providing strong support groups. In school we are taught during our advisory lessons about sexual abuse hotlines and support groups. It’s about time that these social networks are put into use towards a good cause. Rape college campuses that happen and some go unreported, therefore, there should be support groups for the victim and the victim’s family that has a good team of therapists, doctors, and possibly lawyers. All of these sources can be used in during the process of giving justice to the victim and recovery period. Along with that, community outreach is very important to educate and spread awareness to the younger generation about the importance of protecting a woman, respecting her, and behaving with her.
Rape is endemic to our culture because there is no widely accepted cultural definition of what it actually is (“Ten Things to End Rape Culture.”). Rape culture exists because we don’t believe it does (1). To change this status quo, the action that needs to be taken is to make men understand that sexual assaults are “men’s” issues not “women’s”. In a post made by the activism group, The Nation, they wrote that “Rape is a standard result of a culture mired in misogyny, but for whatever reason —denial, self-preservation, sexism—Americans bend over backwards to make excuses for male violence.” (1), basically they stated that when the talks come to a male figure being accused for violence, people of the United States go to the extremes to prove that wrong. However, in recent headlines describing instances of sexual abuse, Americans have become more self-aware about the role every citizen plays in propagating a culture that allows justifications of sexual violence against women (1). The real problems are violent masculinity and victim-blaming (“Ten Things to End Rape Culture.”). When an instance of sexual assault makes the news, the first question media asks about is the victim’s sexuality, clothes, or sobriety (1). News like this ruins the victim’s image more than it already has since the incident. To bring a solution to this, the questions that need to be asked instead are about the rapist who dared to do such an awful action. As part of the society, being the anchor of the news channels or a regular householder, we should be prepared to pivot to ask sobriety, sexuality, and about “being a man” to the rapist rather than the victim (1). The right question is not “What was she doing/wearing/saying when she was raped?” rather is “What made him think this is acceptable?” (1). Ultimately, there are many solutions that can change the statistics of numbers of rapes done in a country, but having support groups for the victim and the family can for sure increase the number of victims getting justice. Along with spreading awareness of incidents like this and putting men in their place with the help of genuine men who can stand up for the women in their society
Albert Camus was a French philosopher, author, and journalist,
whose work revolved around the art of absurdity and how it affected a
person’s life. He questioned the meaning of existence. He also believed
that there was no purpose to life because it was emotionless, belief-less
and that life only had a philosophical meaning. “We no longer believe
because it is absurd: it is absurd because we must believe.” (Julio
Cortazar). This quote shows a better philosophical connection between
the belief system of a man and rape culture (1). Mankind itself is
illogical in the sense that, we have so many belief systems in our day to
day lives that give us moral in life or a purpose of life, yet we have
people in the society that go against the belief systems and take upon a
cruel act such as rape/sexual abuse. Even with so much cruelty around
us we teach those morally true beliefs to our children that once we were
taught by our parents and our parents were taught by theirs and so on.
Maybe this is what gives us a satisfaction is life that we did our part by
teaching the young one but what about the people around us that are
suffering through these cruelty.The absurdity in the topic of rape culture is that if mankind’s meaning of life is to have satisfaction by just knowing that everyone knows these morally true belief systems and everyone acts upon those, then why do we see the statistics of sexual abuse go up every year? The act of sexual assault/rape is morally wrong and we know that it is not part of our true belief system, then why does it still happen? This proves Albert Camus’s theory that mankind’s meaning in life, purpose of life is unreasonable because we know the rights and the wrongs.
Sexual abuse has become an epidemic, a common problem that goes unreported. Talking specifically about young women between the ages of 18-24 are at high risk of getting raped in this country (“Sexual Assault on College Campuses Is Common.”). Women are a representation of equality, growth of this nation, and when they are not respected by the men of this country an action needs to be taken that speaks loud and clear that such behavior is no expectable. There should be better support groups that include therapists, doctors, lawyers, and society support for the victims. The fingers always point towards the victim when it comes to investigating the incident and the rapist is/are set free. Therefore, men need to understand that this is not the women’s problem but actually the men’s problem because they were the cause of this incident. No women should ever have to experience such a calamity
CATHAlUNE A MACKINNON & REVA B. SIEGEL. A Short History of Sexual Harassment . law.yale.edu/system/files/documents/pdf/ Faculty/Siegel_IntroductionAShortHistoryOfSexual HarrasmentLaw.pdf.
“How Sexual Assault Has Been Portrayed-or Erased-Throughout History.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 9 Oct. 2018, www.history.com/news/sexual-assault-rome- slavery-columbus-jim- crow.
“Effects of Sexual Assault and Rape”Joyfulheartfoundation.org, www.joyfulheartfoundation.org/learn/sexual-assault-rape/effects-sexualassault-and-rape.
“Mental Health Impact of Rape”, mainweb- v.musc.edu/vawprevention/ research/mentalimpact.shtml. “Understanding Rape and Sexual Assault.” SAGE Journals, journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0886260504268604. Bogdanich, Walt.
“Reporting Rape, and Wishing She Hadn't.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 13 July 2014, www.nytimes.com/ 2014/07/13/us/how-one-college-handled- a-sexual-assaultcomplaint.html?_r=0.
“Errors in Inquiry on Rape Allegations Against FSU's Jameis Winston.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 16 Apr. 2014, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/04/16/sports/errors-in-inquiry-onrape-allegations- against-fsu-jameis-winston.html. Nelson, Libby.
“9 Stories That Show How Badly Colleges Handle Sexual Assault on Campus.” Vox, Vox, 7 Dec. 2014, www.vox.com/ 2014/12/7/7349523/campus-rape-uva-title- ix.
“Sexual Assault on College Campuses Is Common.” Womenshealth.gov, 13 Sept. 2018, www.womenshealth.gov/relationships-and-safety/sexual-assault-andrape/college-sexual
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