Now, more than ever, we need to focus our attention on the problem of sexual assault. Not just on campuses and in our communities, but within our government. Our president-elect is accused of 12 plus counts of sexual misconduct and was accused of this for months before he was elected.
Donald Trump’s election only shows that a culture of disrespecting women, of sexual assaulting women, and not believing women is acceptable. This type of culture disparages over half of the population and puts them at risk for discrimination, harassment, assaults, and worse.
Sexual assault and rape victims often face PTSD, depression, anxiety, low self esteem, body image issues, and other mental illnesses/disorders. The effects are devastating, yet much of our society works to place blame on the victims of these crimes, instead of the perpetrator.
In nearly no other crime does this happen. We do not blame a person for having a house if it catches on fire. We don’t tell them “well, if you didn’t want to be a victim of arson, you shouldn’t have had something that burned so easily, like your house there”. We do not say that to victims of arson, and we shouldn’t say it to victims of sexual assault or rape.
This is a difficult topic to talk about in our society because of the way that American culture inherently stigmatizes sex and sexual relationships. American culture goes so far to avoid talking about sexual situations that in many states, you cannot teach sex education in schools. But sex education is important. It not only helps young people learn about themselves, but it helps them to understand a vital concept: consent.
Consent seems to be a topic that is constantly misunderstood. But if you’re at the point where consent is still a fuzzy concept, go ahead and watch this video. Then watch it again. Then come back and finish reading.
This concept is misunderstood so often that someone who breaks the rules of consent can still run for office. And become an elected official. Someone like Donald Trump, who has walked in on teen beauty pageant changing rooms, who has assaulted women in elevators and in airplanes, and who has made sexual comments about women, including but not limited to his own daughter.
Because we allowed this man to be president, millions of people are going out today, and believing that because our president did it, that they can do it too. Millions of people will go out and think that harassing, discriminating, and assaulting women is acceptable. This is a dire time in our society where we need to start a discussion about consent.
We must start teaching children from a young age what consent is, not solely from a sexual standpoint, but from a standpoint of treating other humans with respect. That means teaching your child that if their friend says they don’t want them to touch their hair, or grab their arm, or to use their stuff, then your child should not do that. Consent is about boundaries and respect, something that children need to learn and be continually reminded of as they grow older.
But for now, with a culture of adults who still do not understand the concept of consent or why it is important, we must continue to battle for what we believe is right. Those of us in society who believe that all humans deserve to be treated with dignity and respect must fight for these values and morals. It doesn’t seem like respect is all that difficult of a concept to grasp, but it is a concept that needs to be learned and promoted in our society if we want to see positive change and specifically to prevent negative change.
