“You can judge a nation and how successful it will be based on how it treats its women and its girls,” said President Barack Obama at last week’s announcement of a new task force devoted to ending rape on college campuses. “Those nations that are successful, they’re successful in part because women and girls are valued.”
As a father of girls who will no doubt attend college within the next decade, I sense the president’s sincerity when it comes to this subject.
The report by the Office of the Vice President and the White House Council on Women and Girls, released alongside the establishment of the task force, highlights the fact that women in college are especially vulnerable to rape. One in five college women have been assaulted.
Reporting rates are particularly low among survivors in college settings, making this task force a crucial element in ending rape on campus.
Universities, unfortunately, are not the only locations where rape is an issue.
In Baton Rouge, there have been a string of home invasions in which elderly women are targeted. The motive seemed to be not only burglary, but sexual assault as well.
Maybe these geriatric women were wearing sparkly miniskirts that made it look like they were “asking for it,” — something people often whisper when they see the way girls dress for a night out at Tigerland.
These attacks show that women, no matter the age, cannot feel safe from attacks even in the privacy of their own homes. Whether you are a 19-year-old at a campus fraternity party or a 70-year-old in the privacy of your own home, rapists don’t discriminate.
Hopefully, this task force can help end a problem that has persisted on college campuses for years.
On Monday, The Daily Reveille ran a poll that asked LSU students, “Do you feel safe running around the LSU lakes?” Less than half of the responders said no, they do not feel safe.
I am willing to bet that the majority of those who answered “no” were women, because women must always live in fear of being assaulted or worse — something I think rarely crosses men’s minds.
It’s difficult to ignore the varying ways men and women worry about sexual assault. How many guys have you seen taking those self-defense classes at the UREC?
According to the LSU Police Department, there have been 13 reported forcible sex offenses from 2010-12.
While this number may seem underwhelming, keep in mind that rape is the most under-reported criminal act, mainly because of the never-ending stigma attached to the survivors.
I’ve had conversations with close friends about their fathers insisting they bring mini cans of mace everywhere with them or their mothers warning them about leaving their drinks unattended at bars and parties.
Many say we have reached a high point in the nation’s level of gender equality because of voting rights and the rise of the more independent and empowered woman. However, there seems to be no apparent decline in sexual violence aimed at women and girls.
While there are male victims of rape, women disproportionately fall victim to rape. The vast majority, 98 percent, of rapists are male. This is a sign of a nation that does not respect or value female life, as Obama said.
I will not celebrate women’s so-called equality when I still clutch my keys in fear when I walk from the parking lot to my residence hall at night. Am I supposed to feel liberated when my friends are debating which can of pepper spray to hook on their key chains?
Maybe LSU should start selling purple and gold self-defense devices if this problem persists.
SidneyRose Reynen is an 18-year-old film and art history major from New Orleans.