If you're not familiar with the film "The Hunting Ground," it is a documentary film about the incidence of sexual assault on college campuses in the United States and what its creators say is a failure of college administrations to deal with it adequately. This movie is very eye opening on the problems college campuses face when dealing with these types of crisis. This type of assault is not always handled properly by schools and I am inspired to get the reality of this open to the public. So if you're not interested in watching the film, here is the run down;
The film opens with YouTube videos of high school graduates receiving their acceptance letters to their dream colleges. What seems to be an exciting moment in ones lives, is also the beginning of what could end in absolute terrifying circumstances.
See, like the film explains, students are not really informed enough about the dangers of what could potentially happen to them in college. Even in the film, a mother explains she understands that a college isn't going to explain, 'congratulations on your son's acceptance, by the way there is a chance that your son could be sexually assaulted while attending our university.'
However, schools need to be honest about the realities of this concept. Rape is not something that should be set aside for tomorrow, or forgotten. It needs to be dealt with and done so properly. Colleges have been known to cover these situations up and students are encouraged to not even go to the cops when this happens. Colleges are concerned about their reputations and will cover up mostly anything to keep their school in high ranking. An example in the film is Harvard, this schools deliberately let a sex offender back in its doors after the guy was found guilty and honestly made a big mess of the situation. I won't go into too much detail about it but in 2014, the White House released guidelines on how campus rapes are to be treated. Harvard, along with 55 other schools, were then under investigation by the Department of Education for their handling (or mishandling) of rape accusations. At issue is whether they violated federal laws under Title IX, which bans gender discrimination at colleges receiving federal money.
Things to Know about Rape;
NEVER blame the victim. Too many times are victims blamed for what they were wearing, drinking or doing. People don't just ask to be raped. NO MEANS NO.
Instead of telling people to try and not get raped, we need to teach, don't rape! Be the generation that helps end rape culture.
2 percent of rape cases are ever found false, that means 98 percent of victims are telling the truth!
80 percent of rapes go unreported.
Speak up! If you've been affected by rape or just feel passionate about it, speak up and defend those who are unable to.
The large, national The Washington Post-Kaiser Poll (2015) found that 20 percent of young women who attended college during the past four years were sexually assaulted.
Assailants can be anyone.
Colleges need to wake up to the realities of rape in their schools and make their students feel safe again. Stop asking questions and covering it up, make your schools safe and make sure your students know you CARE!
"The Hunting Ground" inspired this article and encouraged me to spread the word of sexual assaults in colleges and wake up those who have been blind to the issue. Starting with what you've read here, become a part of the movement that ends rape culture amongst college students, and anyone else.
