_Annie Jennemann is a sophomore journalism and English major at MU. She is an opinion columnist who writes about politics for The Maneater._
#####_The following column contains sensitive material regarding sexual assault._#####
To begin, there is a trigger warning for this column. I would also like to add that journalism is about freedom of speech, an important piece in columns specifically. It opens conversation for dialogue. The Maneater’s columns do not represent the views of the paper.
A freshman at MU went to a party, and drank a little too much alcohol. They were intoxicated enough to not make their own decisions. Yes, this is illegal and you should always watch how much you drink. That is not the point here. The cops arrived at the party, and another student took this person back to the dorms, where they were sexually assaulted. This person, although “blacked-out,” had vague memories of this event.
Rape culture is real. It is a severe issue that is arising, especially in the past year. #MeToo and #WhyIDidn’tReport are some of the most common hashtags the world has seen within the past year.
Rape culture has nothing to do with leftist views. This is not a liberal versus conservative argument. It is not political, but it is made political when politicians speak out, claiming allegations of sexual assault are wrong. Once again, rape culture is not political in this context.
Now here we are, present day, where women are beginning to open up about why they did not report abuse. I would also like to emphasize that sexual assault happens to women and men, and this should not be ignored.
The hashtag #WhyIDidn’tReport became a trending topic after Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was accused of sexual assault in high school. Yes, this is related to politics, but the topic of rape culture as a whole is not political.
It is not verified that all freshmen are told that one in every five women are sexually assaulted at MU. And it is true that an article from The Washington Post published a study about one in five women being sexually assaulted on May 1st, 2014. However, The Washington Post followed up with this study in December of that year, as it was uninformative. An article was published to check the facts of the study, and The Washington Post released the information that was found.
“In the winter of 2006, researchers used a Web-based survey to interview undergraduates at two large public universities, one in the Midwest and one in the South,” the study said. “A total of 5,446 undergraduate women, between the ages of 18-25, participated as part of a random sample. The survey was anonymous and took about 15 minutes to complete. (Participants received a $10 Amazon.com certificate for participating.)”
Yes, this survey was voluntary and anonymous. These two surveys, sent to two universities, are not reliable enough to represent a whole population.
An analogy for this would be if newspaper advertised a survey asking people’s opinion on a restaurant. Since this is voluntary, people who like the restaurant would be more likely to ignore the study, but people who had a bad experience at the restaurant are more likely to participate. So, this cannot be applied to the population. This is the case for the study. It should not be considered reliable or representative of sexual assault victims.
The study was uninformative and wrong. Survey participants were anonymous and participation was voluntary. This creates bias because some may want to speak out but others might not. The problem with the survey is that since it is anonymous, people may provide answers that are not true. They also received an incentive for completing the survey.
As I wanted to fully understand the issues with the survey, I consulted Chris Boley, the AP Statistics teacher who taught me at Affton High School in St. Louis, Missouri. He explained how it was informative, but also pointed out other issues.
“I agree that the lack of a definition of sexual assault is troubling,” Boley said. “If we as a society don’t have a definition, how can we believe that these 5000+ people have the same definition? If not, then that girl that thought the guy was looking at her for too long in the parking lot might say ‘I’ve been assaulted’ and others might say she hasn’t.”
When The Washington Post followed up again on June 12, 2015 about a nationwide poll conducted, it confirmed the fact that one in five women are sexually assaulted in college. This study was much more in depth and striked more questions about not just rape, but unwanted sexual contact and sexual assault.
Personally, I believe sexual assault is not just rape. It is inappropriate touching. It is words implying sexual desires that are unwanted. It is cat-calling. It is saying no over and over, then giving in and saying yes. It is being in a relationship and being emotionally manipulated into sexual actions. It’s so much more than rape, and this needs to be clearly defined in order to educate this entire society.
According to Merriam-Webster, sexual assault is defined as “illegal sexual contact that usually involves force upon a person without consent or is inflicted upon a person who is incapable of giving consent (as because of age or physical or mental incapacity) or who places the assailant (such as a doctor) in a position of trust or authority.”
I want to emphasize on this definition that needs to be clear to everyone.
I want to ignore statistics for a minute. It is nearly impossible to count every woman who has been sexually assaulted, especially since they were afraid to report it.
The person identified in my first paragraph is myself. I have never spoken about this in a public way, except for the day after the incident, when I talked to Title IX about my options. I refused to even use the word rape, after all, I drank too much, so it must be my fault. Title IX was helpful, telling me I could move dorms, report the person’s name, or even press charges. They also offered therapy. I was scared and avoided every email and call they followed up with.
Why I didn’t _actually_ report was because said person was a resident from a different floor in my residence hall. All of my friends lived on my floor. If I reported this person’s name, it would be known to all of the people in my residence hall what happened. I felt as if I would be harassed and questioned. That was the last thing I wanted. I carried on with my life and will continue to do so. I will not report because I am afraid of the consequences. I have gone through self healing and have had the help of friends during my recovery.
My trauma is not political. It is not a liberal scheme. It happened and I was ashamed of myself. Sexual assault victims don’t always speak out because they are afraid, ashamed and more.
People may say that the statistics are wrong, but rape culture is not fake. It is an epidemic and we have a long way to go until everyone understands this.