Teach men how to not victimize women

Teach+men+how+to+not+victimize+women

Miles Jordan, [email protected]

ULM took a major step forward in terms of protecting its students last week in its introduction of the Equalizer Clinic, ULM’s first class for women to learn how to defend themselves from the dangers of the world, also known as men.

ULM should take this a step further by offering clinics and workshops that teach men how to not assault at all.

Assault will never be totally eradicated. There are truly sick- both morally and mental health wise- people that will continue to rape, assault, and molest but colleges should be creating clinics and workshops that help teach those who may be confused or were never taught.

Men must learn that under no circumstance is abuse of another human an okay response.

There is no such thing as a woman “asking for it” because of clothing. There is no such thing as a woman saying no but really meaning yes.

There is no such thing as consensually having relations with someone who is intoxicated.

These are the first steps in teaching young men and to a lesser degree young women, how to not abuse.

The other reason why this is necessary is that there is an abuse problem in the world, and especially on college campuses.

According to RAINN.org (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network), college-aged women are three times as likely to be a victim of rape. Among undergraduates, nearly a quarter, 23.1 percent, of women are victims of rape through physical force, violence or incapacitation.

Women are also more likely to be victims of rape than of robberies in college than outside of college as there is a two to one chance of rape over a robbery.

The issue becomes larger when looking at the statistics of how few people report rape, women on college campuses only report a rape to the police 20 percent of the time. A large reason for this is how few rapists will go to jail for their actions.

As of RAINN, out of 1000 rapes, only 310 are reported to the police but of the 310 only six will on average become incarcerated.

No one wants to sit and relive their trauma just to have a judge say that the person is innocent.

Better yet, no one wants to relive their trauma for it to never even reach an arrest as of the 310 that are reported only 57 become arrests. This is for men and women.

Similarly, in 1000 robberies, 619 are reported but only 20 lead to incarceration. Of batteries, it is only 33 are incarcerated.

These statistics paint a grim picture of both abuse and the process of reporting abuse. No person wants to report something just for them to be told that officers can do nothing about the situation.

Or worse, going through the whole process and having the person found innocent or given an otherworldly lenient sentence.

An example of this is Brock Turner who was given six months in jail, three years of probation and sexual offender status for penetrating an unconscious and intoxicated girl while at Stanford.

While every case does not result in no sentence or a lenient sentence, too many do to shame victims by not reporting it to the police.

The reality of assault is that it is not simple enough to just report. There are many consequences for the victims, creating fear and possible backlash for telling the truth.

ULM owes it to its students to continue on this path of protection for all students by teaching men, especially to not victimize anyone.