Andrew Goodman, an American activist and social worker, once said, “The road to freedom must be uphill even if it is arduous and frustrating.” During the 1900s, there was a war in America. It was not a war for power or territory; it was a war for equal rights, and Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, and James Chaney paid for this war with their lives. Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman were both Jewish men who wanted to prevent another Holocaust from happening. They had already lost their family during World War II; they could not stand the thought of losing more people to pointless violence.
We tend to pay more attention to subjects in the news that usually relate and have an impact on our lives. I for one, am normally like that. When I saw the list of topics to choose from, I felt like I had a good understanding of all of the topics except for one. Although I did have a base of understanding about sexual assault, I knew there was still a lot for me to learn to truly know the topic. Before diving into the issue, I decided that I wanted to focus on a few specific questions.
Until one young man assaulted me in a cruise and insulting way, and I ran” (Prout 1). Had Prout mentioned more stories of survivors, they would have provided a more comprehensive view of sexual assault and offered a platform for a more diverse array of stories to be heard. Furthermore, the narrative occasionally lacks depth, leaving readers yearning for a more comprehensive exploration of the emotional, psychological, and social repercussions of sexual assault. A more nuanced examination could have offered greater insight and a deeper understanding of the survivor's
However, from the late 1970s through 2008, rape and sexual assault rates, as measured by the National Crime Victimization Survey, steadily declined (Mears, 2010, p. 82). This survey, however, does not consider all crimes that are considered sexual crimes. There is no existing data on all the various crimes that could be considered sexual crimes. Over the past 30 years, according to a new
However, even though they are usually not the ones at fault, nothing is ever said about the event. In a report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, it was found that 75 to 77 percent of sexual assaults, attempted rapes, and completed rapes were never reported (“Sexual Assault and Rapes”). Furthermore, the blame of the whole event was never put on the person responsible. Instead, the victim was blamed for not denying the advances, or for not making themselves clearer in their intents(“Sexual Assault and Rapes”). This huge chip to carry often leaves the victims feeling isolated, scared, full of shame, depressed, and with a low self-esteem(“Sexual Assault and Rapes”).
Sexual assault has effected many people like Melba and is still a big problem now. Underprivileged groups are often taken advantage of and are scared to report the assaults. One example of this is that “rape appeared to be a growing problem as data collected by the FBI displayed that the rate of reported rapes began to increase dramatically in the 1960s as women entered the workforce in larger numbers. ”(Columbia). This quote shows how rapists and assaulters take advantage of groups like newly employed women.
But to directly tackle the issue of stopping sexual assault, schools have implemented online programs that educate students about the details and facts of the crime. These programs seem like a good idea since they are easily accessible, comply with state and federal requirements, and require time for students to partake in them. In a broad sense, these programs do a good job spreading awareness of the issue at hand. However, the programs fail to help enact the drastic change that many schools hope the programs would. These programs are unsuccessful due to the fact that they are taught through a computer screen; users never truly interact with the actual experiences and emotions that one goes through during sexual assault.
In 1997 the total number of sexual assault cases recorded in Australia was 14,138, 60 percent of victims were aged under 20 and 79% of victims were female. Statistics by ABS show in the year of 2021 there were 11,550 reports of sexual assault, 71% of victims being under the age of 18. 83% of the victims were female, an increase of 4 percent since 1997. Many sexual assault cases go unreported in fear that the justice system will fail the victims, statistics such as recent as 2019 show that 14,994 incidents were reported to NSW Police but only 1,207 finalised charges. This shows that the conviction of sexual assault is also a problem towards the victims. Although with the many law reforms in place, sexual assault is still a continuing issue in todays society with 1 in 4 women having experienced sexual assault in their lifetime.
Throughout this documentary, viewers learn that many sexual assault cases happen on college campuses. However, many of these cases are often ignored by college administrators because universities want to keep rape statistics low and they have an financial incentive to do so. In the film it states that there are less than 8% of men in college that commit more than 90% of sexual assaults. This indicates that because
According to my analysis of current American legislation and policy on rape, we have a long way to go before victims are afforded adequate protections. Seeking justice and holding offenders responsible may be challenging for victims since they are frequently treated with skepticism and face an uphill struggle in court. The video effectively illustrates the disparity between the legal and social treatment of
Native American women are twice as likely to experience rape or sexual assault compared to women of other races (Gebhardt and Woody 2012). Findings have shown that the needs of these women who do fall victim to sexual assault, just as many others, are not being
In society and college campuses, sexual assault occurs quite frequently. According to an estimation one third of women experience a forced sexual experience at least once in their life and most of the time it occurs in colleges. Men have also been reported to be victim of sexual assaults mostly by other men. Most of the time the sexual assault is planned and perpetrated by a third person, who is known to the victim of incident. Drug and alcohol use play role in this issue and contribute to the problem as most of the time the victim and perpetrators are under the effect of alcohol or any other drug during the incident.
Sexual assaults are often committed by someone a person knows. Instead of simply removing this person from all of the classes the victim and the offender have in common or trying to rearrange schedules so that they will not run into each other, more extreme measures need to be taken. Offenders need to know that there are serious consequences. Campuses must try to ensure that the offender goes to jail or is removed from the campus permanently so that victims do not have the constant worry of running into their offenders on campus. Besides just removing offenders, campuses need to be more open to students and raise awareness about the incidents that are occurring.
According to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network, another person endures sexual assault every 98 seconds. This information may have been shocking ten years ago, but for many, this news is a basic fact of life. Sexual assault cases have continued to become more and more common as time goes on. What is causing this surge in unwanted physical contact? The cause of sexual assault is one hundred percent of the time, the assaulter’s fault.
Sexual assault is one of the most heinous and despicable crime one can commit. Very often, the victims are blamed instead of being helped. It is a fact, that we are in 2018, yet when someone is assaulted sexually the society tends to question that person as if they did something to deserve being raped. Not too long along, a friend of mine was sexually assaulted we went to the police and the first questions that came to the detectives mine were: What type of clothes you had on? what time was it?
