On the bright side: The shocking statistics about sexual assault

Over the last week I came across a really disturbing article with a shocking statistic. According to rainn.org, at least 1 in 6 women are sexually assaulted in their first year of college. If you are not repulsed by that, please re-read that sentence once more.

This number is really high. So, why aren’t colleges campuses talking about it and putting more resources out there for victims? Well, many of them are still trying to figure out what the cause is. Many cases confirm that alcohol was present but I want to make it very clear; that is not an excuse. This is not the only factor though. It does vary with region and so many other things.

Another shocking number from the same site is that  only 20 percent of female students who are sexually assaulted report the incident to law enforcement. That means 80 percent of students who experience sexual violence do not report it. That is incredibly depressing, to think the majority of female victims feel they cannot share what happened to them. Reasons vary from believing it was a personal manner, that it wasn’t important enough to report. Some didn’t want to get the perpetrator in trouble. These reasons are valid but we need to end the stigma around reporting it so we can help these women out.

There is an enormous shame around reporting rape and sexual assault. People keep it on the down-low because it makes some people uncomfortable, but the fact that it is happening and as often as it is, we need to end the stigma and give the victims support.  We have to be okay with making people uncomfortable to help those people who actually need help.

Sexual assault doesn’t just stop. Just because you don’t hear about it does not mean it doesn’t happen. Just because there aren’t immediate resources does not mean there aren’t people who care. 

I believe there should be a women’s center on campus. I know that there are a few resources in town but I truly believe that we as a college campus need to help people out. It is really hard to hear these statistics and not want to do something. We need to have more resources readily available on campus for sexual assault victims.