For Sexual Assault Awareness month, I would like to focus on how society and media effect our thinking when it comes to sexual assault. I would like to do this by focusing on a single news article that I read. The story goes a little something like this:
A woman is anonymously suing Michigan State University over the counseling services she received after 3 basketball players at the university raped her in 2015. At the age of 18, the anonymous woman, going by Jane Doe, was at a bar with her roommate. After being lied to about a party and her roommate’s presence at the basketball player’s apartment, Jane Doe, believing herself to be drugged, was raped by a basketball player before 2 more followed suit. When Jane Doe went to MSU’s counseling services a week after the incident, she alleges that the mention of basketball players being her assailants quickly changed the counselor’s demeaner and continued by bringing in another party. The counseling services failed to provide Jane Doe with any advice on receiving or seeking medical treatment, her right to file a complaint with the Office of Institutional Equity, her Title IX rights, and her rights to academic assistance. Instead, they informed her that she could make a police report but strongly discouraged over the anxiety and media coverage that would come her way if she were to do so. Jane Doe suffered from seeing her alleged abusers on campus and in her dormatory complex causing her admittance into a psychiatric hospital before her withdrawal from the University.
The issue that clearly effects Jane Doe is rape. Not only the fact that society is a place in which rape is so common, but the fact of a society that covers it up and sweeps it under the rug for boys that are just being boys, especially if they are athletes. The fear of losing an athlete due to their actions allows for institutions in which are okay with silencing victims to allow the athletes to live out their lives without fear of ruin. It allows men’s actions to go unnoticed. By the comment a player made to Jane Doe, “You are mine for the night,” it shows men’s inability to understand that women are not property. Men like that believe that women are objects, sexual objects, for their taking because they were never taught that they are not entitled to whatever they want and please. By services that are provided to help people with their issues hindering the process of healing due to the norms that the rest of society goes by, the behaviors will continue and healing is no longer an option. Women will continuously not be taken seriously, not seek professional help in fear of ill treatment, and be silenced. The counseling services falls under the confidential source that is not required at MSU to report. Therefore, if the victims are not knowledgeable of their options and abilities to do something about their situations, crimes will continue to go unreported. Though the chances of a reported assault having punishments dealt out are slim as is, not reporting lowers the chances of something being done about it even more. Furthermore, the treatment of athletes in this case persists the idea of the most masculine of men and their privilege and ability to have control over the weaker men and the women that they presume to be objects. The ideology that men are superior to women persists the actions that lead to rape. On top of that, the failure of counseling to allow Jane Doe information on reporting to the Office of Institutional Equity is an issue of itself. It is in the name. Equity. Equity is an issue women already suffer from, but on top of that this office is offers equity that she was unable to receive because of lack of knowledge.
My current position about the news article has much to do with the issue, but it includes the way in which the article was written that continues to perpetuate the issue. As a communications major, I know a bit about news writing. The most important information goes at the very beginning and then the rest of the news article goes into further detail to keep the reader interested in getting every tid bit by reading to the end. Instead, this article was written so that the most important information went at the top, then completely lost focus on Jane Doe and spoke of other men and the Larry Nassar case along with a football player named Auston Robertson who was kicked off of the team for raping a woman in his apartment in April of 2017. Though these cases surround the same issue, the complete lack of allotted time given to Jane Doe, whom the article is about, lessens and slightly discredits the story. The story seems to the reader as an extra side note on the big Larry Nassar case rather than what the article is particularly written from. It is like the battered woman or Mary was beaten phrasing issue. On top of this, the journalism used to write this article feels slightly sloppy. Jane Doe was 18 years old when everything occurred to her. So, the failure to mention details as to why she is in the bar and the allowance of service to her opens the story up for readers to victim blame. “She was underage so she shouldn’t have been in the bar drinking… She deserved it,” style wording will be common among readers who are guilty of victim blaming. Personally, the entire reason the case is occurring disgusts me. I have already had a lack of trust in any counseling because of 5 years of searching for a good fit and finding only 1 of 8 that actually made me feel heard. With cases like these, how are women who read these supposed to believe in the system? How are women supposed to get help if it is not even offered? At this point, counseling seems to be a front to make people feel as if they have somewhere to turn when they really do not. I wish the best for Jane Doe in getting her justice. I wish the best in all females for getting their justice. For until we women decide we will no longer be silenced and we take it upon ourselves to gain the knowledge we need to help ourselves since it feels that nobody is, these problems will continue to torment us. I have learned in my life to always fight for other women who cannot or will not fight for themselves. I will continue with the lessons I have learned.