Transform the World (Full Essay)

Sexual Assault on Campus:

A Lack of Consequences

America has a problem. According to RAINN (the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network), 11.2% of college students experience some form of sexual assault. RAINN also reports that 70% of these incidents go unreported. This issue affects not only women, but men as well. Although awareness of this issue is significantly higher than it used to be, college campuses are still struggling to fix it. What can be changed to improve this situation?  Education should be the starting point. Incorporating education on what consent really means into our Health class curriculums would make a change. Some people might be unclear on what is illegal and what is not, especially when the victim is incapacitated. Another part of the solution should be harsher consequences for perpetrators that all too frequently get off with lenient punishments. We need to solve issue of campus sexual assault by educating on consent and having consequences for the perpetrators.

Sexual assault is far too common on college campuses. This deep rooted issue affects more people than one might think. 23.1% of undergraduate women and 5.4% of undergraduate men experience some form of sexual assault (Statistics). The majority of these cases include a victim that is incapacitated by alcohol or drugs (Statistics). Some don’t consider this cases as “valid” because they blame the victim for being drunk in the first place. However, my solution doesn’t include any form of victim blaming. If someone is drunk and gets sexually assaulted, it is in no way their fault. This is a serious nationwide problem that needs to be dealt with.

As far as negative effects go, there are plenty. There is the trauma the victims go through, as well as making people feel unsafe in their own community. Sometimes people experience sexual assault but do not come forward for a variety of reasons. One of the reasons is that frequently not much action is taken against the perpetrator. For example, in 2015 a Stanford student-athlete named Brock Turner raped an unconscious woman. He was proven guilty, but only given a sentence of six months with parole. This shows the kind of systemic oppression that sexual assault victims face. The judge who sentenced Brock Turner, Judge Persky, was quoted saying a “prison sentence would have a severe impact on him” (Huffington Post). But what about the impact on the victim? Brock Turner got out in just three months. How might the victim feel now that her attacker is walking around free? This lack of action by our schools and our justice system makes it more likely that people will commit these crimes and less likely that the victims will come forward.

The outlook isn’t all bad. There are prevention programs and investigations into schools going on as we speak. However, these  may not be enough. Most prevention programs are one-time hour-long educational programs focusing mainly on teaching women how to be safer. While it has made progress, this has not solved the problem.

I propose that not only do we educate on safety, but also on consent and what it means. Some may not know that if one person is drunk or incapacitated in some other way, that person cannot legally give consent. This needs to be taught right alongside regular Sex Ed in schools. The other way we can deter people from committing sexual assault is to have just consequences for the perpetrators. The Brock Turner case is an example of gross injustice. If we can make it so the judicial system and the educational system takes these issues more seriously, maybe we can bring those percentages down.

Sexual assault is often overlooked on college campuses. The ways to fix this lie in education, system reform, and consequences for those responsible. People need to feel safe on campus. People should not have to be afraid of leaving their drinks alone or walking home at night. We need to take action immediately so that the new year of college students will not feel the effects of this issue.

Works Cited

Lam, Mollie. "Ending Campus Sexual Assault Tool Kit." AAUW: Empowering Women Since 1881. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 May 2017.

Lombardi, Kristen. "Sexual Assault On Campus." Center for Public Integrity. N.p., 24 Apr. 2015. Web. 18 May 2017.

O'Connor, Lydia, and Tyler Kingkade. "If You Don't Get Why Campus Rape Is A National Problem, Read This." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 24 June 2016. Web. 18 May 2017.

"Statistics." Statistics | RAINN. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 May 2017.

Zimmerman, Eilene. "Campuses Struggle With Approaches for Preventing Sexual Assault." The New York Times. The New York Times, 22 June 2016. Web. 18 May 2017.

Transformation

How do you stop sexual assault on college campuses? According to RAINN, 70% of incidents go unreported to the police. RAINN also reports that a total of 11.2% of all students experience some form of sexual assault. This is a problem for both men and women. So how can we fix this? Well, I believe we should start with education. We need to start with educating people on what consent really is. For example, when one person is sober and the other person is drunk, the drunk person’s judgement is altered and they cannot legally give consent. Some people might not be clear on what is consent or not, and this is where education comes in.

Dreams

I dream of peace.
I dream of a day immigrants are afforded the same opportunities as natural born citizens.
I dream of the day we have justice for Trayvon Martin.
I dream of a time that we don't assume the worst of refugees.
I wish for a country not so deeply divided that we throw insults at each other.
I hope for the day the Confederate flag doesn't fly on state buildings.
I hope for the time women and men get equal pay for equal work.
I dream of peace.

Transformation in Literature

What is a transformational book? To me, a transformational book changes the way you look at things. One of the most transformational book I've ever read is Challenger Deep. It helped me imagine the experience of someone with a mental illness. The main character, Cayden, seemed like a teenage boy not to different than most. As the book went on I experienced his descent into schizophrenia right alongside him. This book completely changed my perspective on what it's like to live with mental illness and have everyone call you "crazy" and a "burden to your family" for something that you can't control. This book is transformational and I think anyone who may be discriminatory towards the mentally ill should read it.

The New Deal

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal changed many lives when it was put in place over his term as president, and some of the programs put in place still change lives today. The Federal Emergency Relief Act proposed by President FDR is similar to the more permanent Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, that is in place today. This provides funds for individual states to help those in need in the case of emergency.

The Civilian Conservation Corps, or CCC, is an environmental program instituted in 1933. It paid young unmarried men to help in the environment in ways such as fighting fires and draining swamps. This was the first step towards the many environmental programs that exist today such as the Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA.

Other programs such as welfare are still crucial to our government and country today. Someone from FDR’s administration said “People don't eat in the long run. They have to eat every day.” I believe this is extremely important, especially when people today are trying to defund welfare programs because they “promote laziness”. I think welfare programs sustain people and help get them back on their feet so they can get jobs and do better in the long run.

One more program that is still in place today is the Social Security Act. Social Security helps people by giving them small amounts of money over time so they are able to retire when the time is right. This is especially important so that people who are getting older do not have to work as hard as they always did to sustain themselves, especially if they can’t. Social Security also provides some funds to states to help people who are unemployed.

Nature vs. Nurture: Our Moral Compass

                        Nature or nurture? This question is the basis of a debate about whether you or born who you are or if you are made that way. I believe you develop your morals and ethics with a combination of both. If you want to learn an instrument, start early. This is a common suggestion with varying degrees of scientific evidence behind it. When you’re younger your brain is still developing, so it is the most opportune time to start learning an instrument. Why not apply the same logic to morals?

Children aren't born with prejudices. They find their beliefs through the people and environment around them. Some people grow up to be racist and some people grow up to be activists and win Nobel Prizes. I believe it’s extremely important for a child to learn to accept people from an early age. My family’s neighbors and close friends when I was younger were a lesbian married  couple. I went to their wedding and didn’t question it for a second. To me, they weren’t a groundbreaking progressive couple and they weren’t two sinners destined for hell.  They were just Patty and Jen who lived in the condo next to us with their boisterous dog Girshwin. They moved away and we moved away, but I never forgot them. I got older and I learned about LGBTQ rights and understood more about some of the struggles they may have gone through. Being friends with them at such a young age was crucial to the way I think about acceptance and how I treat people. Another way I was taught these values was through what I read and watched.

As a young child, I was immersed in the storytelling of books and movies. I loved every word of the worn out pages in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series that was once my brother’s, and I devoured every Harry Potter book as soon as I could Harry Potter is hugely influential to my generation, as the books came out in the 90s and the movies came out in the 2000s. The books deal with themes like discrimination, being an outcast, and finding where you belong. Harry’s Muggle family, the Dursleys, hated the magical side of him and worked to suppress it. He was neglected growing up and punished for expressing who he truly is. This is experience, minus the magic, is very real for many people.  I also watched films like Happy Feet, which had strong environmental messages but were centered around progress and leaving behind old ideas and traditions that hold us back. These stories all made me who I am today.

Your childhood is vital to the way you think and make decisions, both logical and moral. I am who I am because of all the stories I've heard. These stories, whether they're from a book, movie, or the Museum of Tolerance all made me think about the world in a different way. It wasn't a single moment that changed me, but a long process. I am forever improving my ethical standpoint and trying to be the best person I can be, but I need a little help along the way.

Witness to Tolerance

This really happened. These events occurred in real life and affected real people. This fact is difficult to wrap your head around when you’re an 8th grader learning about the most famous genocide in recent history; the Holocaust. We recently toured the Museum of Tolerance, which is a museum designed to educate people about this horrific tragedy. The experience is nothing like learning about it in a sheltered classroom, where the bell rings and breaks you out of their world and back into yours. The Museum of Tolerance put you in the shoes of the millions of Jews who were forced from their homes and murdered. This 3 hour experience of our tour guide’s raspy but powerful voice describing the worst acts of humanity, simulated gas chambers, and the chilling words of Adolf Hitler and his followers being read out over loudspeakers will make you come out a different person than you were before you entered. The museum excels at bringing out your empathy. Their terror becomes your terror,  and their suffering becomes your suffering. The sensory experience made you forget about the honking of LA traffic outside and put you in 1940s Germany. TVs lined the walls, displaying photographs of mass graves piled with dead bodies while recordings played of laughing Nazi generals telling their compatriots to finish their drinks. Our tour guide brought us to a model of the gates of hell and beyond. Many of us cried for them and their pain, but some felt detached because they didn’t want to think about all the innocent men, women, and children who were murdered with no remorse. They lived and died in the past. We can’t change what happened to them, so what are we supposed to do to help them? This question has been asked many times, and our guide gave us an answer. We have a responsibility to make sure everyone remembers the horrors of the Holocaust so it may never happen again.