#TheHuntingGround

When you go off to college you feel your life change, you are off to a new world with new opportunities and endless activities. College should be a place to learn and make friends, but most of all it is a place you will begin to call home. One thing important about “your home” is that it should be a place you feel safe. Tonight I watched the documentary “The HuntingGround,” this movie shared the shocking truth behind sexual assault getting swept under the rug by various Academic Institutions.  I strongly suggest viewing this documentary to gain insight on the serious issue that: not everyone in your life will take care of you, or treat you with the respect you deserve.

Jameis Winston 

Fortunately for me I go to a University that strictly enforces rules against sexual assault and they care more about the victim’s safety than saving face with alumni and parents. This documentary calls out well-known schools that have swept these incidents under the rug and shamed victims for coming forth and “ruing lives of men who were just being men.” Big schools like Florida State ignored, and hid, several rapes committed by their Quarterback Jameis Winston so he could continue playing football; the school/students ran his first victims out of Tallahassee for coming forth. This makes me sick to know that an academic institution would rather expel students for cheating than for sexual assault.  The school is more worried about students violating various publications with plagiarism than violating a woman. Mr. Winston is now going on to the NFL with several accusations under his belt, and he is sure to commit more.

The idea that a prestigious, and assumingly intelligent, academic cooperation doesn’t seem to understand the detrimental effects that come along with such a serious issue is a frightening notion. It is as though one’s safety is compromised if it conflicts with the careers of athletes or potential cash flow from tuition or alumni donations. How can an institution that collects over ten grand a year per students treat that student as insignificant, or let them be treated like an object?

Schools claim that if they publicize such issues it will create conflict between student’s parents, and give a bad reputation. If you ask me, I would be more willing to send my son or daughter to a school that actively takes care of such situations, which almost always occur.  Men and women are saying that the process of reporting such issues becomes more painful than the attack itself. This to me shows that a place one should be calling “Home,” is not a safe place to be.

Unfortunately not all people are good. People will rape, and people will become victims. The problem is that schools are allowing students to feel victimized, and continuing to make them feel as though they deserve their current predicament. These administrators pose more negative consequences to students that cheat and plagiarize, yet allow them to assault one another without batting an eye.

People fail to realize a few things about victims of rape and sexual assault. Women, and men, who are raped are NEVER at fault!!! NEVER. Even if a girl is walking naked down the street she is not asking for sex. If a girl is drunk she is not putting herself in a situation to be taken advantage of.  There are laws in place to say that consent to sex must be a “sober consent,” in other words, any form of alcohol negates a verbal “YES.” Both men and women can be victims of sexual assault; due to our sexist society men rarely come forward, and many incidents go un-documented.  Regardless of who is being assaulted and who is doing the assaulting one thing is always constant, THE victim is NEVER at fault. Even a girl in a tube top and a crotch length skirt flirting with every guy in the bar is not “asking for it.” These ideas seem to be difficult for most to grasp.

Our society has made a majority of victims feel as though their situations are meaningless, or due to some fault of their own. If these administrators put their child in the same position as their students I bet their tune would change dramatically. These schools are money hungry and have shown that the well being of their students comes last to that of outsider’s views and monetary gains.

Part of this documentary focuses on the efforts of two survivors who have made it their mission to help those who have been kept down by these situations. Title XI (9) is a law that holds schools to standards that have been violated when rapes go unreported or ignored. These girls are hero’s, they have helped bring many things to justice, and although things are in the rough state, some institutions are under review and may lose funding if they continue to carry on as they have in these situations.

My hope for the future is that this documentary is seen by everyone, and opens America’s eyes to the seriousness of these offenses. People need to understand that athletics should not be put ahead of RIGHTS. Women shouldn’t be silenced to encourage an offender’s career. Most of all, we need to quit blaming victims of sexual assault!

PPPS: Linked is the website for this documentary and areas where it can be viewed.