The Prevention of Sexual Assault

 Madison Welker

April 27, 2021

The Prevention of Sexual Assault and Harassment

Sexual assault and sexual harassment are both things no one wants to deal with. Back in the day, there wasn’t really information on it, such as, how to prevent it, where it happens, how it happens, and why it happens. All of that information may not be known today, but it's more common to hear about and more commonly talked about than before. Currently, one of the most important ways to keep people safe, especially women, is to make a change. We need to create a law to prevent sexual assault. This change needs to be demanding. In order for this change to work, everyone needs to see the problem.

Years and years ago, the main focus of sexual assault and sexual harassment were entirely the girl’s fault. Most people complained that it was the girls fault due to what she was wearing or whether or not she was intoxicated.

     This seems to be a reoccurring theme over in Minnesota. According to the article, Court Overturns Sex Crime Conviction Because Victim Was 'Voluntarily Intoxicated', a woman had decided to go to a bar after taking a narcotic and five shots of vodka. When she arrived at the bar, they told her they couldn’t let her in because she was too intoxicated. Instead, a group of men offered for her to go to a party with them. Here at the "party", “She woke up to Mr. Khalil sexually assaulting her. She lost consciousness and awoke later with her shorts around her ankles.” Later, “The Minnesota Supreme Court overturned Mr. Khalil’s conviction on a third-degree criminal sexual conduct charge. The woman, the court said in a unanimous decision, was voluntarily intoxicated…” Since she was voluntarily intoxicated, she didn’t meet the idea of mental incapacitation. 

        People have referred to this case as horrific and have opened up about how brave the woman is for continuing to fight her trial. This is a sad issue in today’s world.

       Could you imagine your children or grandchildren heading out to a bar and coming home saying this happened to them? It would be infuriating. It was not the girl’s fault that she was intoxicated or wearing shorts. The guy should have known better. The guy should also have gotten an actual charge against him. There needs to be something done to change the standards. We need to accept the fact that things like this are happening around the world, sometimes to our family members. There needs to be a change. 

Statistically speaking, “Nine out of every ten victims of rape are female,” according to Scope Of The Problem: Statistics. If you went off of the basis that girls are raped because they chose to drink, there would be almost no justice for sexual assault victims at all.

       “Every seventy-three seconds another American is sexually assaulted,” Almost every minute, someone falls a victim of sexual assault. How does this happen? This happens because there’s no laws or even some sort of system / guidelines in place to prevent it.

        Isn’t it upsetting to think, if there are six women in your household or family, that at least one of them has been a victim of a completed or an attempted rape? There needs to be some sort of protection against sexual assault. 

        Sometimes women can’t even feel safe doing simple everyday things. No matter where they go, there is always a sense of disrespect from men, like catcalling. Sometimes sending your granddaughter off to school, dropping her off at work, or even letting her sleep at a friend’s house is unsafe. “48% of sexual assault survivors were sleeping at a home or performing another activity, 12% were working, and 7% were attending school.” Imagine sending your child off to perform a normal activity and having to feel uneasy about it. No one should have to worry about sending their daughter or granddaughter to a place they are supposed to feel safe. You shouldn’t have to question their safety; we need to do something to put everyone at ease. How would you feel if your daughter came home from work and said she was sexually assaulted? She wouldn't know what to do or how to react, and neither would you. It's her job, she uses it to make money. She can't quit because she wouldn't be able to pay her bills. If she begins looking for a new job, she wouldn't know how long it would take to find one, or if that job would even be safer than the last one.

       No parent or grandparent should ever have to sit around and lecture their daughters and granddaughters about sexual assault, especially at a young age. They shouldn't have to tell them what to do and what not to do, or what to look our for.

Trump is largely known for saying some negative things about sexual assault. “Donald Trump defended a comment he made in 2013 that sexual assault in the US military happened because men and women serve alongside each other.” From the article, Outcry as Trump Defends Sex Assault Tweet. 

(Image one, also from Outcry As Trump Defends Sex Assault Tweet)

        In image one, the tweet shows how Donald Trump viewed sexual assault. He was claiming because girls are around boys, this is what they should expect. Years ago, that’s how people thought, but now we have to teach people to have respect. This goes along with what I mentioned before about how a few years ago, sexual assault was viewed differently than how it is viewed today. Even Donald Trump agrees that something has to be done with sexual assault in the military. In that article, he mentions, 

““The best thing we can do is set up a court system within the military," he said. "Right now, the court system practically doesn't exist. "When you have somebody that does something so evil, so bad as that, there has to be consequences for that person," he continued. "You have to go after that person. Right now, nobody is doing anything.””

     Thus, proving that he believes sexual assault is bad and that there needs to be something done about it. Surely, he is talking about the military in this case, but if it’s a problem there he must know it’s a problem here as well. In no world should we not be able to protect the people who protect us. He refers to it as evil and bad; something that happens every day should not be evil or bad. If Donald Trump believes there is something wrong with sexual assault and something needs to be changed, then so should you.

    So, let’s make a change. Let’s find a way to let everyone in this country feel safer. Let’s change the statistics where people should feel the safest, they don’t feel safe at all. Let’s change the idea that it’s a women’s fault for how they look, act and behave. As Donald Trump said, we should, “Make America Great Again.”