Students should work together to prevent sexual assaults
Two sexual assaults were reported to the Ohio University Police Department last week — they were within two days of each other. The first reportedly occurred on Jeff Hill, where three men followed a woman back to her dorm. The second reportedly took place on South Green Drive. Both places are well-traveled areas — the kind of places women are told to walk if they want to feel safe.
The National Institute of Justice estimated in its 2007 Campus Sexual Assault Study that less than 5 percent of attempted or completed rapes and sexual assaults are reported to law enforcement. It is commendable that those women had the courage to report the assaults, but what happened to them is not uncommon. That should anger people. Instead there was silence.
A recent study conducted by the University of North Dakota found that about one in three college men admit they would act on “intentions to force a woman to sexual intercourse” if they knew there would be no consequences. That’s the FBI’s definition of rape. However, when the word “rape” specifically was used in the study’s questions, 13 percent of the male college students still said they would do so.
The Department of Justice also found that one out of 12 college men admit to raping women but almost none call themselves rapists.
Although the sample size of the University of North Dakota’s study is small, the results are still incredibly alarming. What is wrong with our society when so many men would have no problem raping a woman if they could get away with it? Why aren’t we teaching young people that they don’t have a right to others peoples’ bodies?
According to the report from Jan. 15, the three men followed the woman back to her dorm to terrorize her. Actions such as these let women know that they don’t belong in public spaces and that their bodies don’t belong to them. Women and non-binary people already fear public spaces.
I have personally had men on this campus follow me home. We’re harassed verbally and physically. Harassment is mostly about power, and men who feel threatened by women in their space use threats to take it back. They want to let women know that they, as men, are still in control of women’s bodies. It’s no wonder why women are afraid to walk around this campus.
We shouldn’t have to ask our male friends to walk us home at night. We shouldn’t have to hear that it’s our fault for not traveling where other people are, since that clearly doesn’t prevent assaults from happening. The assaults that occurred last week shouldn’t be just another email you read about and forget.
Good men of OU: Where are you? Why aren’t you taking a bigger stand against this? This should make everyone angry enough to voice their opinions against harassment and to do something about it.
Jessica Ensley is a senior studying journalism and an active member of F--kRapeCulture. Email her at je726810@ohio.edu.
