An Ohio University student comments about a silent protest on campus Tuesday and why you should feel proud to go to a school where students are involved with activism.
To the Editor,
On your way to classes yesterday, you might have noticed the growing group of students lining the sidewalk on top of Jeff Hill. Unlike the students at most protests, these students stood silent, each equipped with a sign that said everything they wanted to convey.
The protest touched on numerous feminist topics, but the issue at hand is one that I’m sure you’ve seen flash across your computer screens, or on headlines of newspapers or even through the emails repeatedly sent to our phones from the Athens Police Department: rape and rape shaming. One sign said so much with three simple words, “Survivors, Not Victims.”
I overheard a fellow classmate discussing the protest and how he was against it. Confused by how someone could possibly be against an anti-rape and shaming rally, I questioned him on why he was so contested. He told me, “They were staring at me like I raped someone, and I would never do that. It’s embarrassing.”
If you’re someone who felt similarly to this student, then try to imagine how it feels to be in the shoes of many survivors. The anxiety, the embarrassing pain that bellows inside your stomach when walking past those protesters is the same feeling many felt when being told the solution, “don’t walk alone; don’t walk at night, and don’t wear anything revealing.”
We live in a society that’s rightfully fed up with “victim” shaming, and wants the solution to be pushed on the ones to blame: the rapists. As easy as the solution is, we should teach the world, “DON’T sexually assault.” To give a proper definition: Sexual Assault (verb) — forcing an action on someone without a prior, conscious, consent.
These people are standing up for the ones who survived a traumatic experience, and then society pushed them to feel guilty. I’m happy and proud to see my fellow classmates holding signs in a stand of community, safety and hope, and you should feel the same.
Jacob Midkiff is a junior studying integrated media at Ohio University.
