The Rapid Incline in Campus Rape

She was asking to be raped because her shorts were too short, her makeup was too seductive and her words were too tangled in her tongue to utter the word “no”. She was asking to be raped because she consumed the drink a guy handed to her. She was asking for it because the alcohol justified the words she could not say, and accepted the actions she could not defend. She was not asking to be raped.

She was raped because in today’s day and age, the absence of the word “no” is presumed to be an invitation into a girls body, even if she is too staggered to spell her own name. She was raped because revealing clothing is guy code for “have sex with me.” She was raped because the loosening liquid in her red solo cup contained more than 90 proof Fireball, but a chemical that knocks her unconscious and makes her unable to even attempt to protect herself. She is not alone.

One in four women say they have been sexually assaulted in college, according to a report conducted by the Association of American Universities. The American Civil Liberties Union also verified that 95 percent of cases, however, actually go unreported. Only one in 71 men are raped.

It is not uncommon for the victim to ignore the incident internally. Victims often times do not want the attention that comes with disrupting the social flow of their life, especially since the victim knows the attacker in 84 percent of the cases, according to the White House task forces report, “Not Alone.” With the numbers of college rape statistics on the rise, it is easy to wonder what is being done to prevent these incidents on campus.

On college campuses, date rape is much more common than stranger rape. According to a study conducted by the Department of Justice, 82 percent of rape victims were raped by someone they knew, and 18 percent were raped by a stranger. Date rape is defined as a rape, in which there has been some sort of romantic or potentially sexual relationship between the two parties.

“I think society and schools should stop blaming the victims and start developing educational resources for groups and individuals on how to prevent sexual assault and support survivors,” senior Kayla Ladis said. “We need to be advocating for unbiased and equitable sexual assault policies and legislation on campus, local, state, and federal levels.”

The phrase, “she asked for it,” has cemented itself in the justifiability behind rape. Rapists have, on many occasions, blamed their victims for dressing provocatively and perpetuating their urges.

“It is a free country; you can wear whatever you want and men need to get out of the mentality that a woman who wears something revealing wants to have sex with them,” sophomore Michelle Monjarrez said.

The term, “boys will be boys” has also appeared in many rapists’ defense, who simply do not know how to control themselves in the presence of a victim.

In August of 2014, four male students at the University of North Carolina released a product called “Undercover Colors” which is a nail polish that changes colors when it comes into contact with common date rape drugs. If a victim’s drink were to be tampered with, she/he would know within seconds after stirring the drink with their finger. This invention could potentially save many victims from planned sexual assault.

“I believe that the nail polish is an extremely clever invention,” sophomore Joshua Ehrenkrantz said. “However I feel like other things are much larger factors in sexual assault, such as alcohol.”

On the contrary, some believe that there needs to be more protection for females than nail polish.

“I think it is a very useful invention for the protection women, but I do not think that it is necessary because women should not be alone at bars, clubs or any social settings without the company of a man,” senior Keaton Zargham said. “Physiologically women are inferior to men, but reproductively equal. Therefore they need the guidance of men.”