Sexual Violence a Problem on Campus!!

Jasmine Blain

Sexual violence is a very serious situation that no one wants to ever be apart of. It is one out of many issues that face us on the campuses we walk on. In fact "sexual violence includes sexual harassment, incest and childhood sexual abuse, and sexual exploitation, in addition to those behaviors commonly called “rape” or “sexual assault.” Sexually violent behavior can be physical, emotional, verbal, or a combination" according to the Georgia Tech Violence Prevention. Now that you understand the definition of sexual violence, you may want to think twice before you make that certain decision.

The real question is, what drives these people to be perpetrators? Well as we all know the kind of people that are the perpetrators are extremely aggressive. Some lines they use to find this out are: "“I never take ‘no’ for an answer”,“She calls it ‘rape,’ but she wanted it”, “A real man ‘calls the shots’ in his relationship”, “When women say ‘no,’ they really mean ‘yes’ or ‘maybe”,“I’m just ‘playing the game”, and “It’s a man’s job to take the initiative when it comes to sex. All of these lines are signs of an aggressive person who just might be involved in sexual violence. "About 55% of men reported one or more instances of non-assaulting coercion to obtain sex, and The percentage of female students victimized during their careers at GT may be 20-25% … given that nearly 5% of college women are victims of rape or attempted rape each calendar year". THIS IS NO JOKE!!

Now don't always blame the men, even though it is mostly them, the women are often giving them signals and leading them on, which isn't good if that girl isn't ready. So.. people out there, if your partner or some stranger at a party is using verbal pressure, playing mind games ,making you feel guilty, giving you alcohol or drugs to make you less likely to resist sexual advances, making you afraid by using looks or gestures, making threats, or even displaying or using a weapon, then you shouldn't be around that person or go anywhere alone that person.

People aren't realizing the effects that this may cause the victim to do. The victim is usually unable to sleep or they often sleep way too much, Abuse of drugs or alcohol, may start thinking about suicide, and not being able to study or finish homework. This may effect the university in many ways. So some ways to get away from these type of situations or not even be involved, you can easily think twice before you do certain things, make wise decisions, get help if you are ever involved, help out your friends that are in the same situation, talk to close family members or people you can trust before just doing what you feel, and lastly just always be aware or the things and people around you.