Newsflash: 21-year-old. Female. Rape victim. Local university’s frat party. Attended party alone. Your first instinct, “Well, why was she foolish enough to attend this party alone?”

Why is it that your mind immediately inspects the circumstances the victim was in rather than condemns the rapist or worries for the victim? This gut reaction is a part of something called rape culture. It is a culture seen through occurrences of sexual assault and rape, especially on college campuses, and is strengthened by the quiet, under-the-radar policies universities use to deal with cases of rape and sexual assault. Using the term “rape culture” has polarizing effects, though. Controversy over the term has detracted from conversation about the high statistics of rape occurring on college campus and created a debate over whether the culture exists or not. In the national conversation about rape culture on college campuses, the more important factors, like the victim and the university’s response to the assault, are addressed minimally, while other factors, like the clothes of the victim or the background of the perpetrator, are frequently referenced to provide evidence of rape culture or lack thereof. It is up to us as college students to focus attention on increasing safety on college campuses and stopping the justification of rape, no matter how unconscious this justification is. To do so, we must expand the conversation surrounding rape culture to the more critical elements in an effort to increase safety on college campuses.

As many students can attest, rape culture has been used as a scare tactic for college students around the globe. It is more than that though; it is a reality. In addition, it is a politically loaded term. When the conversation about rape culture comes up, people often shut it down because they are uncomfortable talking about it. This discomfort surrounding the idea of rape culture creates conversations about rape in institutions that are problematic and unproductive, as people begin to focus on exposing the culture as a myth, or start debates based off of their own political agendas. Rape culture should not be a binary argument regarding whether or not it exists; it should be an ongoing discussion focused on helping the victim and being aware of the perpetrator instead of being focused on minor details. The media is especially guilty of focusing on less important factors that may have set the scene for the rape (what the victim was wearing, where the assault occurred, etc.) than on the more important elements such as the people involved, university involvement, and tackling rape culture head-on on college campuses. The conversation about college rape culture needs to be revamped in order to create safer college environments with better, more informed conversations. There should be zero tolerance for rape, no matter how “ambiguous” or “unclear” the circumstances are, and statistics/facts that colleges keep under wraps should be brought to light.

The media, along with college campus representatives, is guilty of disclaiming the idea of rape culture in favor of “keeping the peace,” even though rape culture has been statistically proven to be a prominent issue at most universities. One in five women and one in 16 men are sexually assaulted while in college (National Sexual Violence Resource Center, 2015). In addition, when the media covers rape culture, it doesn’t do justice to the most important elements of sexual assault on campus. The most important details that should be focused on by each university and the media when sexual assault occurs on campus are the status of the victim, the status of the perpetrator, how the university plans to handle the assault, and the rate of occurrence/statistics of rape and sexual assault on campus. The victim and the perpetrator, the main people involved in the sexual assault, are the most important players in each case of sexual assault or rape. The act of the perpetrator, along with the silence of the victim (and the silence of the university in handling sexual assault cases) only adds to the longstanding idea of rape culture. Rape culture continues because discussion about it is rare, and when it is discussed, people tend to focus on less important factors, thus missing the very real problems that must be dealt with. Universities need to be held more accountable for how they handle sexual assaults on their campuses. Most universities, when dealing with sexual assault and rape on campus, keep the cases concealed from the public in order to perpetuate good ratings and reputation. Rape is the most under-reported crime: 63 percent of sexual assaults are not reported to the police and more than 90 percent of sexual assault victims on college campuses do not report the assault (National Sexual Violence Resource Center, 2015.) The blatant “hush hush” nature of sexual assault on campus only perpetuates rape culture by hiding the true nature and number of sexual assaults on campus, or justifying the assaults based on less important factors, which we will address next.

While the media often tries to paint a whole picture of sexual assault on campus — if it is reported on at all — by mentioning many details about the cases, it often focuses on elements that are not conducive to battling (and may even play a hand in perpetuating) rape culture. Some of these elements include what the victim or perpetrator was wearing, the location and environment of the assault, if any/how much alcohol was consumed by the victim and the perpetrator, the relationship between the victim and the perpetrator, the background/habit assumptions of the victim and the perpetrator, and societal norms that trivialize each case. In cases of sexual assault, the media tends to use certain details to “explain” why the assault happened. For example, points will be made about how revealing the clothes of the victim were or how the assault took place at an unregulated party in order to (sometimes unintentionally) justify the event. Or, articles choose to go into details such as whether the victim and perpetrator were friends, perpetuating this culture in which rape can be interpreted as something lighter than sexual assault. In such cases that place an emphasis on the situation the victim was in rather than the rape itself, society reinforces norms that tell victims how to avoid being raped rather than teach people not to commit rape. Such norms are reinforced in things as seemingly normal as dress codes, which are created to prevent girls from dressing in ways that would “distract” their boy classmates unfairly. These rules create an atmosphere in which girls are body-shamed and blamed for promoting sexual harassment (ABC News 2014). The current conversation revolving around rape on college campuses is also problematic because its focus on details like alcohol intake and clothing creates a culture that discourages victims of sexual assault to step forward due to feelings of blame or shame. With the fear of having their stories put under a microscope, to be scrutinized and told that they don’t have enough evidence or shouldn’t have wandered away from their friends, sexual assault victims are being hurt by the very conversation that is supposed to bring awareness to their situation.

So, how can the current conversation be shifted? We do not necessarily have to get rid of the term “rape culture,” as it is very much relevant and prevalent on college campuses, but we should avoid letting the controversy of the term steer the conversation toward unproductive binary debates. To expand the conversation about sexual assault on campuses, many parts of rape culture left out of the national debate must be brought to light. For example, despite the high statistics of reported sexual assault on college campuses, there are still many more cases of unreported sexual assault. A big reason victims don’t report assault is fear of being shunned, criticized, and dismissed as exaggerating or lying. This fear is not surprising in a society where even influential celebrities such as Ke$ha find themselves having to fight to have their stories be heard. (No matter your personal beliefs toward Ke$ha’s case, it is still worthy to inspect the negative treatment she has received simply for accusing a famous producer of committing sexual abuse.) Thus, the conversation surrounding rape must shift to allow women — and men — to feel that they have the space to stand up for themselves. Another part of sexual assault that must be included in the conversation is the statistics that are often overshadowed: According to the CDC, 47 percent of bisexual men, 40 percent of gay men, 75 percent of bisexual women, and 46 percent of lesbians have experienced sexual violence. According to AAU.edu, one in four transgender students experience sexual violence while in college. As witnessed by these staggering statistics, conversation about rape on college campuses must be widened to include all aspects of sexual assault in order to dismantle the socialized beliefs such as “men cannot be raped.” Also, we need to talk about the inclusivity of the term “rape culture,” as it may be regarded as not inclusive enough for cases of sexual assault that are not necessarily categorized as rape.

There must be a mindfulness that rape and sexual assault cannot be placed on a scale in which attempted sexual assault is regarded as “whew, at least it wasn't rape.” Once again, such ways of thinking place an emphasis on the circumstances of the case rather than the responsibility of the perpetrator. Therefore, we are proposing a new conversation: a more nuanced, complex inspection of rape culture that will tackle issues that have gone unnoticed in the current conversation over college rape cases.