In recent months, the subject of sexual assault has found its way into the forefront of national news and media. A topic that has been nearly absent from public discussion for centuries is suddenly sounding alarms across the country, which begs the question, why are we just now noticing?
The truth is that we have created a culture where we do not properly comprehend the very nature of sexual assault. Sexual assault is any forced sexual advance without consent. We’ve allowed a culture to permeate our campus and our country that a victim’s availability or consent is an implied right of the pursuer and that the responsibility to stop sexual assault lies in saying ‘no.’ Our generation was taught our entire lives to “just say no” and to remain constantly aware of how our actions put us in danger of sexual assault.
We’ve allowed each other to make jokes about sexual consent, have opinions on the length of a girl’s skirt, and target a person for his or her “easiness.” We don’t realize that those small comments enable this dangerous culture. The fact of that matter is that no individual can possess another’s sexual consent. To joke about consent is the problem.
As a generation, we have taken on an attitude that does not treat sexual assault as the serious matter it warrants. It does not matter how or why this belief was instilled in us, but it does matter that it has found a very tangible presence on our campus. Sexual assault and the culture that accepts and excuses it can no longer be tolerated.
This year, the White House launched the It’s On Us Campaign and tapped campuses across the country to create a cultural shift in the way we view sexual violence, and LSU is proud to be one of those campuses. We’ve spent a long time allowing a culture where students feel unsafe. It’s on us to change that. It’s on all of us, as the students who create the environment we live in, to stop allowing that culture and to stop sexual assault.
To find out more information on It’s On Us or take the pledge to be a part of stopping sexual violence, visit itsonus.org. If you or your organization would like to get involved with the It’s On Us movement on our campus, email [email protected].
We are stepping up to say that It’s On Us. Will you?
Changing the campus culture,
The “It’s On Us” campaign
LSU Student Government