Response to Discussion 1/29/15

The lists of what I would ban/limit and what I would be proactive about was a great way to look at the articles we talked about today. What I found very shocking what that on average there are 350 rapes that occur on college campuses. Seriously? I might hear of one or two, but never 350. Imagine, that is 350 women that do not report going through such a traumatic experience. But a question that I think of when I think of those numbers is where is the supervision? In class, we discussed the drama between the WSU Police Force and the Pullman Police don't exactly "get along." Honestly, that really frustrates me. Isn't the point of a police force is to make sure that all of society is safe? So shouldn’t their shared goal is to make sure the citizens of Pullman, including the students, be safe?

What I also found very shocking was the idea that one person in the entire Pullman area is certified to run a rape kit, who is usually located in Moscow. Resources are so scarce that it only makes me wonder, how many rapes really do go unaccounted for? So many women that go through rape and their perpetrators don’t even get caught, because someone wasn’t able to perform the rape kit? The necessary resources and funds to help prevent rape are at such a minimum, that its amazing that we as a society even consider it a crime anymore. And unfortunately, this is what our community has come too. The choice of language we use to describe such a harsh and brutal crime are soft and not at all intimidating. And unfortunately, this crime is intimidating and we need to make it so. This crime should never be taken lightly and yet it is.

I really enjoyed talking about the idea’s and things that we can do to help prevent rape. Unfortunately, banning/limiting is never a good idea because that may cause a rebellion. I feel as though, there are more things that we can to help prevent rape that we are not doing. By creating more resources for young women on college campuses would be a great first step. Here, at WSU, I feel as though there aren’t very many known resources that women can turn to when in need. As for women’s transit, I have never personally used it but it would be nice if that was advertised more at the bars, so women aren’t walking home by themselves. Also, adding more lighting to off campus streets and places women are walking at night. B-Street is a very poorly lit street and even at 5 p.m. in the winter time, it’s a sketchy place to be walking alone at. Another area that needs improve are the parking garages. After talking to many of my female friends, they express their fear of parking garages. With barely any cell phone service, poor lighting and tight parking spaces, it can be a very scary place for women to be alone. I know I am always looking over my shoulder to make sure that everything is okay.

Rape is a very sad case that goes unreported. Now that I am more aware of this crime and how brutal is truly is, I find myself being more cautious is public places and finding myself choosing to stay in than go out anymore. When I am by myself, I am learning to become more aware of my surrounding, with just three weeks of class underneath my belt. Imagine the results if this knowledge became everyone’s knowledge. This crime would barely occur.

Class Discussion Response, 1/27

During class today, I felt that the conversation that we had was very important that we were able to cover what “no means no” and “yes means yes” actually is. I found that many points that were brought up are extremely valid and those points are also introducing the idea that the line is very, very thin when it comes to many things in regards to rape.

When it comes to gender differences, I believe that there are a lot of misconstrued language barriers between men and women and what exactly each of those mean. I believe that women, especially young women are in stages in their life during college that they are insecure so they wouldn’t want to come across as prude or turn down “that one football player.” According to the New York Times article I posted, the girl could be asking for a “social suicide.” So I do believe that many young women can find themselves in a poor position and will want to consider their reputation as well. However, it is also very sad when young women do not say no and do not put up a fight if they are put into a bad situation. With saying all this, there are so many fine lines and struggles that occur in the lives of young women that it is hard to know where to stand. Young women face so much criticism about body images, what clothes they wear and buy, who they are dating, who their friends are. With all of this going on, imagine how hard it is for a young girl to be lead on by a football player or a frat boy that has a “nice” reputation and then get raped by them. Can you imagine the psychological problems that the girl is then going through?

During class when we were talking about the practices that we don’t practice as well as we should, one thing I wanted to make clear was let people know that there are so many barriers that are placed between the rape itself and then trying to persuade a young woman to go to the police to report the rape that happened. Plus, Pullman police are so focused on issuing out MIP’s and DUI’s that rape doesn’t even seem like it’s on their radar. Plus, people appear very scared of them. Pullman police a d their reputation and how they present themselves is very unwelcoming and the last thing anyone wants to go do is go up to these police officers, while you are drunk and say you you have been raped. Like seriously? Not many girls will be able to do that, because rape isn’t just scarring, but can be embarrassing. Another factor, like I mentioned earlier is the psychological damage that women have already been through. It's all traumatizing. Like when I am out and about at night, going to the bars I usually try to stay with a group of people, majority my boyfriend and a close group of guy friends. This way I do feel safe and I know I have people looking out for me. However, this is not available for everyone.

When it comes to rape, I have a hard time finding words for how frustrating it is that so many cases go without being reported. If we as a society, could build a better system for young women and their safety, and if they do get raped, what can we do to help them feel less like a victim and more like a fighter? How can we value the person and seek justice, while we still find the evidence to convict the perpetrator? Rape in the American Society is so flawed that we have a long ways to go before we start finding some justice.

Response to Class Discussion, 1/22

During class today, I found it very shocking considering some of the laws and statistics we discussed. However, I would like to say that I am excited for the large range of essay topics we get to choose from. During class, when we were discussing ideas, I though of what I plan on doing, so that was really helpful.

After reviewing the RAINN Statistics about rape, I was quite shocked in reading the differences between sexual assault, the different degrees, and what classifies as rape and what classifies as sexual assault. I had a really hard time understanding the difference between sexual misconduct with a minor in the first degree and rape of a child in the third degree. According to Washington State Law, it classifies Rape of a Child in the Third Degree as “Engaging sexual intercourse with another one who is at least 14 years old but less than 16 years old, not married to the defendant and the defendant is at least 48 months older than the victim.” Sexual Misconduct with a Minor in the First Degree is classified as the following: “Engaging, or knowingly causing another person under the age of 18 years to engage, in sexual intercourse with another person who is at least 16 years but less than 18 years and not married to the defendant; and the defendant is:

• at least 60 months older than the victim;

• In a significant relationship to the victim; and

• Abuses a supervisory position within that relationship in order to engage, n or cause another person under the age of 18 to engage in sexual intercourse with the victim.

I guess what I found hard about this and generally with all the laws, that rape is rape right? If someone forces someone else to engage in sexual intercourse then that person is in the wrong. If that person is under the age of 18, then yes, that is rape and yes, that person should be faced with punishment - which includes prison time.

Another question that rises in my mind is what if the girl is just “crying rape?” Unfortunately, a story comes to mind, in which a family friend back in the day has gone through an exact situation like that where the girl faked it. Fortunately, the situation never got too far out of control and both parties were able to settle the differences and come to an understanding. In this particular situation, a friend of mine went home with a girl we knew of, but didn’t know. She wasn’t apart of our normal friend group, but was always believed that she had a small crush on our friend. One night, with both of them being under the influence of alcohol, he went back to her place with her and they had sex. However, the next day she confronted him and told him she was going to press charges because he raped her. Of course, in complete distress he told us about the situation and told us that is was consensual. By the end, after having many conversations and trying to save our friend’s reputation, it turned out she had a boyfriend and had cheated on him, but didn’t want to tell him the truth. In situations like that one, it was extremely lucky that our friend was able to come clean. (Plus, he is a very genuine person and none of us would ever expect him to rape a girl.) However, situations do occur like this all the time, which I believe is where we have a flaw in our legislative system. We as a society, need to find more effective ways in finding the right bad guys and saving the one’s who need it most.

Response to Class Discussion 1/20/15

I don’t know about the rest of the class, but I found today’s discussion really interesting. I really enjoyed that we were able to focus on pop culture and it’s views on rape as well as being able to connect that to rhetoric. From our readings, it is interesting to take an article like the Rolling Stone article about the student at University of Virginia and apply, such as the common topic of conjecture and figure out the answers for each of those questions. Those questions being, “What exists, what does not exist, the size or extent of what exists, how things use to be (past conjecture) and how things will be in the future (future conjecture).” If applying those questions to that Rolling Stone article the answers will be the following. For “what exists” we know that Jackie was gang raped by the Phi Kappa Psi house members. For “what does not exist” is the proof that these men committed that crime. As for the questions, “the size or extent for what exists” is very large due to the amount struggle and emotional pain, along with sexual assault and violence that Jackie has gone through to get close a peaceful place again. For the conjecture question, “How things used to be” is that many students wouldn’t come out about rape and when it happened to them. Many women learned to doubt themselves and convince themselves that they were over reacting. And for “how things will be in the future”... I can only hope that we as a society can learn to support and help these women come out and face their fear of judgement and retaliation. It is so sad that women face that fear after they are the one’s that are victimized. It is hard to understand where society went wrong in making women fear the consequences after they are the one’s who have been hurt.

But I wanted to go back to the conjecture question of “how things used to be.” When we talked in class today, and Professor Condon talked about how they were allowed to ask out girls and it made me laugh, but at the same time it made me start thinking too, would it be that bad if things were like that? Understandably, it would be hard to run things and push people to act like that when we have such a strong grasp on technology. With the way that society is ran and the way my generation is so attached, controlling young adults would be almost impossible. And if it got too strict, a rebellion would break out. (Not super shocking.) Is there a way now, in present day to control dating to some degree, and make it safer for young female college students too go out and have a good time? Also, is there a way for us to filter out the nasty, gross inconsiderate men that run these frat houses? And also, where is the University when these problems do occur? Are more universities, such as Florida State University, more concerned about their reputation and the athletes they produce versus the well being and safety of their students? Also, another thing is where is the guidance and the rules taught from the parents when these students were younger? Didn’t anyone teach them that “no means no?” There are so many fine lines, you wonder where does that fine line end? And how we can help make that line not so fine? And how can we properly teach young women the signs and safety that is required to live in a society like this?

Response to Class Discussion, 1/15

Today, in class, I really enjoyed talking about Stasis Theory in relation to such a sensitive topic. To be honest, I didn’t know that this class was about Rape culture and it caught me by surprise when we were handed the syllabus. However, I find it really cool and interesting that we can take the things we learned last semester and apply it to an issue that clearly is not taken care of properly. Honestly, thinking about Rape and forceful sexual assault makes my stomach cringe a little bit. And it is such a shame that this issue is not taken more seriously by society. After we talked about the Jameis Winston case, I googled more about him because I hadn’t really heard much about the case before. I was aware of it a little bit last year, only due to my boyfriend being a college football fan and telling me that FSU’s quarterback was being investigated for rape, but I didn’t put the pieces together until today. But when I googled his name, I found the results from the search interesting. The first entire page was all about his potential for being drafted into the NFL and how his college football career was going. Otherwise, until I searched around would articles regarding the investigation actually show up. Given that this accusation was made last year and it has been awhile, I still feel as though giving athletes special treatments is a very valid point. I even see it here at WSU. (No cases of rape have been reported through athletes here at WSU; at least that I am unaware of) And with this seriousness of an issue, I find it extremely difficult to just stand by. Obviously, there is a lot of injustice to the situation. However, it is simply wrong for a University as well as the Tallahassee police to stand by and let this go untouched for x amount of time. A question that the investigation should ask also is, does FSU care more about their reputation and what star athletes they produce or do they care about their students, not just the one’s that bring them money? It clear in my point of view that FSU only cares for their reputation for Jameis Winston and what he can bring to the table for them. So in this case, it is clear that athletes do receive special treatment.

Another interesting aspect in class today was the relation between the four questions, “the facts, the meaning or nature of the issue, the seriousness of the issue and the plan of action.” I found it interesting that we could take these four questions and easily apply it to a case of rape or sexual assault. I think these questions become very helpful in any trial, obviously. However, being able to take rhetoric and apply it so easily to a contemporary issue is actually really exciting for. Personally, rhetoric can be drug out and at times, the execution of the act of persuasion is poor so the performance that is being made can be dull. However, when applying such simple questions to not such a simple issue, it can create a very interesting conversation.

What I also found interesting was that I didn’t really realize how brushed off rape is. It can almost fall into the same category as racism, in terms that people don’t openly admit just how atrocious this issue is. When I heard about the Jameis Winston case for the first time, I will even admit, that is honestly flew over my head. I don’t even acknowledge the seriousness behind the issue. And that is something that needs to be fixed. People need to start acknowledging how serious this issue is.