According to RAINN, approximately every 98 seconds an American is sexually assaulted, 1 out of every 6 American women has been the victim of an attempted or complete rape in her lifetime. Women ages 18-24 who are college students are 3 times more likely than women in general to experience sexual violence. 1 out of every 10-rape victim is also male and 1 in every 33 has experienced an attempted rape or complete rape in their lifetime.
These numbers should f**king scare you. The very fact that these numbers seem to exist in our realm of life, to me, is complete bullsh*t. I’ve had friends and family members whose lives have been changed because of sexual violence, have lost friends and family, have had to console friends because they have nightmares of the violence. My parents warn me every time I go out or go to school, to be careful and aware of my surroundings, because they say, Angelica, anything can happen. Rape and sexual assault victims being blamed for things they had no control of, men and boys getting away with these heinous crimes because of the sheer fact that, oh she was drunk or she didn’t’ say no.
Within 2017, rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment have become definite terms in our vocabulary. The Leader of The Free World has shocking allegations of his actions against women, and the famous term he coined during his campaign, “grab ‘em by the pussy.” Rape culture is something that EVERYONE should be aware of and strive to restructure the way their minds think about rape and rape victims. RAPE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT ARE REAL TOPICS THAT HAPPEN TO REAL PEOPLE. THEY HAPPEN TO PEOPLE YOU LOVE. THEY HAPPEN WITHOUT DISCOURSE OR QUESTION. THEY HAPPEN OUT OF PEOPLE’S CONTROL.
The trending hashtag “Me Too” had surfaced this past week on social media. America Ferrera, Sophia Bush were those of the amazing celebrity advocates took part in the hashtag that shared their stories of sexual violence and harassment against them. I shared the trending hashtag as well with my own story. When I was 16, I was sexually harassed constantly at my first job. The manager who sexually harassed me was given a slap on the wrist, them saying, “just don’t do it again”. I was destroyed. I stopped wearing makeup, stopped socializing with my peers because I thought it was my fault for getting harassed.
As many women like myself did, we shared our stories, shared our frustrations about the culture presented in front of us, but I’d like to note that women who have gone through sexual violence DO NOT OWE YOU THEIR STORIES. “Me Too” gave victims a platform to talk about what happened and WHAT WE SHOULD BE DOING TO PREVENT THESE THINGS. We need to give a platform to this topic, we need to discuss this topic, and we need to address ways of preventing it. Too many people go through these tragic events that change people’s lives forever.
If you or someone has experienced sexual violence and would like to talk about it please visit www.rainn.org or call 1-800-656-4673.
Statistics taken from: https://www.rainn.org/statistics/victims-sexual-violence