Time to have a little chat …
Rape, or any type of sexual misconduct for that matter, is fucking stupid. At no point in our dinged up history should this have ever been an issue, and it especially shouldn’t be one now — a time we’re supposed to believe people are somehow refined and far removed from our animalistic ancestors.
There is no viable reason for one — not to mention many — incident(s) of sexual assaults to happen, especially here at home, where damn near 30 percent of women claim to be victims during their time at CU in Boulder. One in three, one in four, whatever, it doesn’t matter, it’s too many.
Newly published results, stemming from a fall survey of more than 13,000 undergraduate and graduate students at the university, show just how bad it still is. Of the shittiest data points revealed, 15 percent of students experienced sexual assault (ranging from unwanted sexual touching to penetration), 18 percent have dealt with sexual harassment, 10 percent endured intimate partner abuse at one time or another and 6 percent were stalked.
According to Valerie Simons, CU's Title IX coordinator and executive director of the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance, campus results are normal and mimic others nationwide.
“We were within that range and obviously we were hoping to be lower,” she tells CPR. “It needs to go down. We believe any amount of sexual assault is too much.”
Those that reported to the survey claim a bunch of dipshit tactics were used to commit the crimes against them, including verbal/physical threats, deception, force, outright ignoring refusal or surprising someone with unwanted advances.
It’s unfortunate organizations worldwide have actual studies, campaigns and staff working to end this kind of a thing. This would be a completely unnecessary facet of humanity if not for the actual pieces of shit out there committing these crimes against people. Luckily, the study also claims many have either spoken out against a perpetrator or intervened when a situation seemed shady — though it’s likely not everyone that should have done something did so when it happened.
Here’s the thing, we’ve all got loved ones — kids, parents, siblings, friends — that we hope never get assaulted. But it unfortunately happens, and while we all need to continue denormalizing a culture of entitlement within our close proximity, there should be and can be more done to extend that reach to strangers. See something, do something …
Again, though, these are behaviors that shouldn't even be happening. It shouldn’t be up to complete strangers to quell an attack; it's up to spineless cowards to keep themselves to themselves. All around, this is a ton of unnecessary energy and resources being used because of a few power hungry egos being driven by archaic means for a species’ survival.
If this is you we’re speaking to, boys … girls, if you feel the need to assault others in a manner inconsistent with what’s acceptable by society’s standards, feel free to drop by the office anytime. We'd love to chat …
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