Every year in America 293,000 people fall victim to sexual assault, with approximately 80% being under age 30 (RAINN). Those victims are loved ones, daughters, sisters, nieces, and friends that are now permanently scarred, mentally and physically, and that is chilling. Sexual assault on college campuses in America has become an increasingly discussed issue within the past few years, and for good reason. Does a more disrespectful, horrid act exist? There are many different views on the matter ranging from "society is indifferent to rape" to "that girl should not have dressed or acted so promiscuously." What I find to be very disturbing is that the most important question regarding this serious problem is often ignored; how do we stop it? The debate over whether or not the victim's actions led to her being assaulted is not what should be focused on. Instead, the focal point should be finding a solution to this grave issue and taking action immediately to prevent more students from being violated. I have the utmost respect for the effort and courage of the numerous activist groups that have taken initiative and fight against sexual assault. Unfortunately, that effort and courage alone is not enough to solve this issue. There is strength in numbers, and the most effective method of resolving a problem like this one is to attack it from multiple angles. A collective effort from both male and female students, university officials, and parents is imperative in order to put an end to sexual assault on American college campuses. 

The root cause of the issues surrounding sexual assault is that, as a whole, society has become desensitized toward sexual assault. Lyndsay Anderson lived in residence halls on campus for 13 years with students and, while doing so, gained first-hand experience of how undergraduate students live and communicate. In a TEDx Talk, Anderson makes the claim that she noticed students are desensitized toward the concept of rape and do not appreciate the severity of it (Anderson). She notes that she often heard students casually say something like "I just got raped by that exam" when trying to indicate their poor performance on a challenging test. Or another instance where, at a charity hockey game between two nearby colleges, fans brought a pillow and wrote "bite down Burke (the opposing college), we're coming in dry" (Anderson). She also makes reference to a trend on social media, "#rapeface." People, primarily young adults, post pictures of others making creepy facial expressions with this hashtag on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook. 

If you really think about it, the fact that anything involving sexual assault is being used with comedic intentions is a huge red flag. Think back to the Civil Rights Movement. It was widely accepted that blacks were inferior and were not deserving of equal rights that whites had. It was not until there was a call for a change in what was accepted that the problem began to be resolved. President Barack Obama said it very clearly in an address where he introduced the "It's on Us" campaign: "And today, we're taking a step and joining with people across the country to change our culture and help prevent sexual assault from happening...that's what prevention is going to require-we've got to have a fundamental shift in our culture" (Obama).

Where exactly does this desensitized culture come from? It can be partially attributed to kids being exposed to a sexualized world at a young age. For example, marketers target tween girls between the ages of 9 and 12 to sell them padded push-up bras, kiddy thongs stamped with slogans that scream "juicy" or "wink, wink," and even bikini waxes (Bridges, Condit, Dines, Johnson, and West). I see young kids all the time with smartphones and tablets and laptops. If they have any of those devices, they have access to view essentially anything on the Internet. Whether it be pornographic material, R-rated movies, or websites where they can communicate online, sexual content is readily available to any kid with access to the Internet and a curious mind. It used to be that a few teenage boys would somehow get their hands on a Playboy magazine, but that is not the case anymore. It is estimated that 12% of all Internet websites are pornographic, 40 million Americans regularly visit pornography online, 35% of all Internet downloads are pornographic, and 25% of all search engine requests, or 68 million per day, relate to sex (Weiss). The problem with this is that when kids are growing up in a "hypersexualized" culture (Bridges et al.), sex becomes something that is not taken as seriously and leads to potential problems in the future. This is not to say that if a young boy watches porn he will become a rapist. However, from both studies and personal experience, I have seen the effects that premature exposure to sexual material have on adolescent males regarding how they view women and sex. 

The simple answer to the problem of unlimited access to sexual content is to tell parents to monitor everything their kids watch. However, that is unrealistic and will only drive a stubborn child to try harder to obtain it. The more effective method is to teach kids, boys and girls, about sex-related topics. For example, starting around when I was 12 years old, my mother always emphasized that sex is something to not be taken lightly and it is more than merely a physical act. In addition to that, she always told me that pornography is not an accurate representation of sex and that I need to know that. This was very important because in this day and age, pornography is often the first form of sex education that kids receive (Winerip). Parents must teach their sons to always respect women and their bodies. This is done indirectly by the "hands to yourself" rule, but it is vital for boys to know never to touch a woman, or anyone for that matter, without their permission. As far as educating girls, parents have to teach them how to determine if they were victims of unwanted contact in addition to staying together and looking out for one another. It is extremely unfair and wrong that females have to be extra cautious, but I think everyone will agree with me when I say that if it means preventing a sexual assault, everyone should do it. The bottom line is that parents play a pivotal role in stopping sexual assault because they are the first people that kids learn from and are influenced by. If good manners and how to ride a bike are important enough to be taught, I don't see why educating children about a subject such as sexual assault is not. 

Although sex education will certainly make a significant impact, parents can only do so much. At the end of the day, it is the lack of morals and respect that cause male students to sexually assault someone. Sure, the "hypersexualized" (Bridges et al.) society we live in certainly contributes to the problem of sexual assault at American universities, but blaming outside forces is a huge issue that needs to be stopped. RAINN, (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) America's largest and most influential anti-sexual-violence organization, said the following to the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault: "In the last few years, there has been an unfortunate trend towards blaming "rape culture" for the extensive problem of sexual violence on campus. While it is helpful to point out the systemic barriers to addressing the problem, it is important not to lose sight of a simple fact: Rape is caused not by cultural factors but by the conscious decisions, of a small percentage of the community, to commit a violent crime" (Kitchens). Ariel Zwang, the CEO of Safe Horizons, the largest nonprofit victim services agency in the United States, told CNN's Carol Costello that blaming outside forces such as a "rape culture" or alcohol when it comes to sexual assault gives rapists an excuse for their actions (Zwang). RAINN explains that focusing on rape culture "has the paradoxical effect of making it harder to stop sexual violence, since it removes the focus from the individual at fault, and seemingly mitigates personal responsibility for his or her own actions." Does playing violent video games serve as a valid excuse for the actions of someone who shoots up a school? Does being drunk excuse someone from sending someone to the hospital after a bar fight? Absolutely not. Holding individuals accountable for their actions instead of other contributing factors is crucial to the prevention of sexual assault on college campuses, and it is everyone's responsibility to do so. 

While on the topic of responsibility, it is important to discuss male students' role in preventing sexual assault. Not to be pedantic, but the most obvious part is to simply not assault anyone. However, since approximately 3% of college men are responsible for more than 90% of rapes (RAINN), that advice does not apply to too many people. The biggest contribution that male students can make toward ending sexual assault is promoting consensual sex while scolding those who assault female students, or even talk about doing so. As a male college student, I know I'd care much more if my friends were disapproving of my actions than if some adult stranger was lecturing me while giving a presentation on something. Bystander intervention is one of the most effective and easy ways to prevent assaults from occurring. For example, if you see someone at a party holding a girl up because she can't stand on her own from being too intoxicated, you and possibly a few others intervene. Will Little, a Massachusetts high school student and co-founder of the organization Stand With Everyone Against Rape (SWEAR), spoke about bystander intervention by saying, "It's about changing the attitude. It's about leadership and peer pressure -- in a good way. We tell the students, instead of standing by and being uncomfortable speaking up, they should be uncomfortable about NOT speaking up" (Booth).  This does not by any means suggest you start a fight, but simply letting him know you're aware of what is going on will most likely deter him from taking it any further. 

President Obama claims, "the truth is, it's not just okay to intervene, it is your responsibility...It is your responsibility to set the right tone when you're talking about women, even when women aren't around-maybe especially when they're not around" (Obama). Not only will telling your friend, or even a stranger, that is about to make a bad decision save the potential victim, but it will also potentially save your friend from going to prison. I've told my friends in the past at parties to leave a girl alone because of how inebriated she was because I knew she was in no condition to give consent and because I knew that my friends were not rapists and were too out of it to realize that they could be accused of rape. The bottom line is it is everyone's duty to speak up and do something if they see or hear anything that looks suspicious. Bystander intervention will save everyone from that one night that would otherwise haunt them for the rest of their lives.

While it is obvious the role of male students in ending sexual assault is pivotal, female students also play a large part. To be very clear, I am a firm believer of the idea that it is, by no means, ever the victim's fault. However, there are some suggestions for women that I believe will prevent sexual assaults, and that's the goal, right? It is extremely unfair, but female college students simply have to be more careful than male students when they are going out or partying. It is not the acts of women, but the acts of men that can be blamed for this sad reality. It is incredibly unfair but, if female students avoid reaching levels of excessive intoxication, this will mitigate the risk of being raped. A report published by Harvard University claims that in 64% of cases involving physical force, the victim was voluntarily using alcohol and in 88% of cases involving incapacitation, 88% of the victims were voluntarily consuming alcohol (Riley). To reiterate, the intentions of these statistics are not to claim that it is the victim's fault for drinking too much at a party because there is never any excuse for rape.  Following common safety tips such as the buddy system, only accepting drinks from a very trusted person, making a plan and others will also decrease the number of sexual assaults. One could make the argument that safety tips directed toward females are sexist because they are telling women ways to avoid being assaulted, which is a valid claim. However, since females accounted for 91% of rape victims from 1995-2010 (RAINN), it makes perfect sense that safety tips are generally created with women as the targeted audience. Also, men are already taught not to assault women, but it's the 3% that refuse to listen who account for over 90% of rapes (RAINN). 

While the aforementioned safety tips are certainly helpful, they require one to be dependent on others in order to be effective. Self-defense, however, does not. One analysis of National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) data showed that when women used any form of self-protective action, it resulted in an 87% reduction in the probability of a completed rape (McCaughey & Cermele). A more recent analysis in 2014 demonstrated similar findings: Verbal and physical resistance reduced the likelihood of rape completion without posing the risk of additional injury to victims, while those who resisted were between 80% and 86% less likely to be raped (McCaughey & Cermele). Studies show that college women who took a self-defense course were less likely to experience sexual assault later than a comparison group of women with no such training (Hollander). Self-defense training teaches activism and resistance through a strength-based approach, rather than victim-based so women are empowered instead of shamed. Although it is unfair to tell an innocent college student that they need to be extra responsible due to the moral shortcomings of others, it is safe to say most would agree that they would rather do so than increase their chances of being assaulted. 

The last group that must make contributions in order to end campus sexual assault is American Universities. Only 75% of total disciplinary actions taken against students found guilty of sexual assault crimes by universities were only minor sanctions (Gulite). According to a 2014 report prepared by the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Financial & Contracting Oversight, out of a sample of 440 colleges and universities, more than 40 percent of them failed to conduct a single sexual violence investigation in the past five years and more than 10 percent do not have a Title IX coordinator on staff, as required by law (Booth).While it is often an exaggerated stereotype, college athletes are given preferential treatment when it comes to disciplinary action, and it needs to stop. As a former varsity athlete, I noticed special dispensation being given to fellow athletes and me. Whether it be administration turning a blind eye to athletes being intoxicated at a school dance or school security smiling and saying "good luck this weekend" as they passed me in the hallway followed by yelling at another student for not having a hall pass, it exists. And that was high school. Universities invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in their scholar-athletes and with good reason; they bring in so much revenue every year. Despite that, universities must be thorough and impartial in their adjudications of sexual assault because the safety and well-being is vastly more important than the school's reputation or athletic superiority. If plagiarism can cause a student to get expelled, shouldn't rape have, at least, the same ramifications? 

In the time that it took you to read this essay, approximately four sexual assaults have taken place (RAINN). Sexual assault on American college campuses is an issue that needs to be put to an end. The way people think about sex and rape need to change. The manner in which certain male students conduct themselves needs to change. The manner in which certain female students conduct themselves needs to change. Without these changes, among others, campus sexual assault will continue. That means more sisters, daughters, nieces, and friends will go through a traumatizing experience that will have lasting effects for the rest of their lives. It is everyone's responsibility to contribute to the prevention of sexual assault, and a collective effort is the only way to do so. Elie Wiesel said that "the opposite of morality is indifference." If you're not part of the solution, then you're part of the problem. 

