Drunk Means No Consent by blogger Ashley from Bradley University

Going away to college is a big change for young adults. We are constantly surrounded by our peers now, and many of us are greatly influenced by them. Drinking is a big social activity on campuses, and many (if not most) students participate in drinking activities. Girls and guys go to parties, drink a little, meet up with one another, and sometimes hit it off. Many times we hear of girls and guys waking up next to someone they don’t know, and they have no recollection of what happened the previous night. Girls tend to be more vulnerable in these situations. We have a little too much to drink, meet some “great” guy, and go back to their place. At that moment, we think that is what we want, to go further, or we are too out of it to really say “no”. The thing that many college students don’t necessarily know before entering school is that you cannot honestly consent to sex when drunk since your mental process is clouded. For this reason, so many girls are devastated when they find out that they have slept with these guys. Many guys will argue that the girl did not say “no” or stop them, but if she was drunk, do you really think she was in her right mind? I know a lot of people are excited after having a one-night-stand with an attractive person, but there are many people who are not so excited for reasons like this. So guys and gals, protect yourselves and know your rights and the law. If the person is drunk (especially when you know that you are not), it’s safe to just abstain from sex for the night and not have a possible sexual assault/rape case at hand. 

Como prevenir asalto sexual por medio de la intervención del espectador? by Olive Harvey College Blogger Juan Cordero Vasquez

Tanto hombres como mujeres pueden prevenir el asalto sexual de muchas maneras. Una de las varias maneras de prevenir el asalto sexual es por el medio de la intervención del espectador. Pero que exactamente es la intervención del espectador?

La intervención activa del espectador es un enfoque que nos permite identificar situaciones que puedan terminar en asalto sexual haciendo que la persona intervenga para prevenir algún tipo de asalto sexual.  Tanto hombres como mujeres pueden ser estas personas que se enfocan en prevenir el asalto sexual por medio de observación. Digamos que está en la fiesta de graduación de Universidad de su mejor amiga y el licor está en abundancia. Todas las personas en la fiesta se están poniendo un poco fuera de control pero parece que todos se están divirtiendo. En una de las esquinas del sótano en donde la fiesta está situada nota que su mejor amiga está siendo acorralada por un muchacho que se acerca más y más a ella cada segundo que pasa.  Aparentemente el muchacho está borracho, pero no tan borracho como su mejor amiga. Usted ya tiene una idea de lo que podrá pasar si no interviene a tiempo. Estas sugerencias podrán ser de ayuda en esta situación:

1.      Tome acción a tiempo. La idea es tener tiempo suficiente para intervenir antes de que tu amiga sea otra víctima de asalto sexual.

2.      Llame a un amigo o a un grupo de amigos para que le ayuden a transportar a su amiga a un lugar seguro, lejos de peligro.

3.      Llame alas autoridades si no tiene control de la situación.

4.      No deje su amiga sola por ninguna circunstancia.

5.      Distraiga la situación, haciendo lo que sea posible para que pare al muchacho de seguir el acoso.

How can you prevent sexual assault through bystander intervention? Olive Harvey College- Juan Blogger

Men and women can prevent sexual assault in many ways. One of the many ways it’s Bystander Intervention. But what exactly is Bystander intervention?

Active Bystander Intervention is an approach that encourages people to identify situations that might lead to sexual assault leading that person to intervene in order to prevent the assault from happening. Both men and women could be active bystander interveners. Let’s say you are at your best friend’s college graduation party and the alcohol is in abundance. Everyone is getting a little out of control yet everyone seems to be having a great time. On one of the corners of the basement you notice a guy that is close in distance to your best friend and he’s consistently getting closer and closer while she is literally drunk out of her consciousness. You already know, or might have an idea of what might happen to your best friend if this isn’t stopped right away. Here are some suggestions on what to do in this instance:

 Act in time. The idea is to have enough time to intervene before your friend is yet another victim of sexual assault.


 Call a group of friends or friend at the party to help you get your best friend to a safe place as soon as possible.


 Call authorities if you have no control over the situation.


  Stay by your friend’s side at all times.


 Drift the situation away by doing anything that would disturb the guy from continuing his attempts.

Sexual Assault in the Workplace by Courtney Indiana University

Four years have gone by, faster than I could have ever expected, and I am now a college graduate.  The risk of sexual assault while in college is well known for college women, as it is generally common knowledge that 1 in 4 college women will become a victim of sexual assault during her academic career.  Because of this alarming and realistic statistic, sexual assault preventative resources and services were readily available around my campus, ranging from student run organizations, Greek organizations, philanthropic events and health care services.

                

Now that I am a college graduate and I am preparing for the next stage of my life – becoming a member of the work force, I wonder, are the same sexual  assault resources going to be available to me as a working woman that were available to me as a college student?  In order to find out more, I browsed around the website www.workplacesrespond.org, which is a national resource center that encourages workplaces to respond to domestic and sexual violence. This website is a great resource to learn about sexual and domestic violence within the workplace and to learn how to implement appropriate responses to violence within one’s place of work.

               

  Through out my college experience, the statistic that I stated before (1 out of 4 college women will be a victim of sexual assault while in college) was continuously used as a basis for sexual assault prevention programs and to encourage students to do their part in preventing and spreading awareness about sexual assault.  As I have been in this college bubble for four years, and as difficult as it is to admit, it made it seem as if sexual assault was primarily, if not only, a problem on college campuses.  However, as I have learned and come to realize, that is not at all the case.  According to www.workplacesrespond.org, the U.S. Department of Justice estimates that 8% of sexual assaults occur while a victim is working.  While this percentage is not huge, it still opened my eyes to the reality that even now that I am a college graduate, I still face similar fears of sexual violence as I did as an undergraduate college student.

                

I encourage all readers, especially college graduates, to browse over this website in order to learn more about sexual assault within the workplace, and how to implement prevention resources within your future place of work.  Now that we are members of the “real world,” it is our responsibility to continue doing our part to prevent and spread awareness about sexual assault the same way we did as college students.