Rape culture versus Athlete Entitlement in rape cases by blogger Veronica

Although there appears a decline in well profiled rape cases on college campuses, there is still a lack of justice for those female students who fall prey to athletes who are labeled “special” for their athletic backgrounds and popularity in little known sexual assaults? It almost recognizes those victims as non-victims and females considered the enticers rather than the helpless victim, which is sad because many women are drugged and belittled into having sexual intercourse with those athletes. It may be possible that athletes are entitled to act or behave that way because they are given everything to them on a plate and have been forgiven for every bad grade or loud party they thrown at their parent’s house. If every victim were given the same amounts of treatment as their aggressors, then there will be less crime and more awareness of the cause to prevent rape or sexual attacks. In fact, more and more young women are even relying on security or escorts and hanging out in groups when they attend class in the evening. Nevertheless, It is great that most of these female students admirably choose their first college pick because of the schools surroundings and safety. It is a wise choice since nowadays crimes are happening everyday and with the lack of punishment over athletes that carry on these heinous crimes, there will continue on being a lack of justice and shame for the victims involved.

Athletes and Rape Culture
    by Jade  

Athletes on all levels are praised members of the community.  The provide entertainment to the general public, and instill pride into the fans of the teams they play on.  On college campuses, student athletes are sometimes revered as celebrities.  These celebrities are accessible: there in the classes you attend, you might see them at the cafeteria, or a friend’s party. 

What happens when one of these “local celebrities” are accused of rape?  When someone of public stature is involved with the areas of consensual sex and rape seem to grey.  Statements of “she wanted him”, and “she shouldn’t of drank that much”; statements that are all too familiar in rape culture seem to pop up all over social media when an athlete is accused. The bottom line is: No means no, it doesn’t matter if you are a person of social standing or not.  The same rules apply.

It is clear to see why more women do not come forward.  Being publicly ridiculed and having parts of your personal life blasted in the media does not seem like an easy thing to cope with.  To them it may seem easier to not acknowledge what happened.  It seems odd that in a country where the actuality of a woman president is looming in the near future, we are still fighting to be taking seriously.  To have our voices heard.  

 The headlines are bringing more and more of these cases to the public.  Maybe this can be a wakeup call to universities; a spring board to implement rape awareness as part of the student body curriculum.   Also it could support those who are too afraid to come forward.  

Football and Assault: How Male Athletic Entitlement Contributes to Rape Culture by Katiera Sordjan

     People have long marveled at the physical prowess and potential of the human body. 

Athleticism has played a powerful role in society. On college campuses, sports are also heavily ingrained. Many students are able to receive scholarships to go to college because of their hard work and athletic talents exhibited in high school. In turn, these schools can raise funds through their sports events. Most notable are the football teams, which attract many students, both as spectators and participants. The sport represents what many Americans feel to be one of the great pastimes of the country. A look at the enormous revenue generated during Super Bowl weekend can attest to that.

     I recall somewhat bitterly the affairs of my high school football team. At pep rallies, other teams were given brief recognition, while each football player got an individual mini-biography. Lawnmowers and landscapers painstakingly poured over the football field every day, while students indoors didn't even have proper desks or textbooks at times.

Even in college, I must remember that the distinguished title of Ivy League was not originally used to describe my school’s academics, but its elite sports status. 

     This special treatment can lead these athletes (who are virtually all male, in the case of football) to feel a sense of entitlement over their peers. Football is also a contact sport, and one could argue that players are encouraged to be combative and aggressive, as well as pressured by their coaches, peers, and families to succeed. It should come as no surprise that this behavior extends outside the field.

     I knew a few players who consistently expected to be allowed to bend the rules. They refused to even attempt homework on days when they had games, and demanded their teachers move test and homework dates or let them skip the work altogether. They were aware of the prestigious place they held in our high school, which was often valued more than academic success itself, and used it to their advantage.

     The Steubenville rape case is a prime example of the learned sense of entitlement of male athletes, as well as the sympathy they receive from others. The football players had no issue with being aggressors and taking what they wanted from an incapacitated girl. Respectable media outlets such as CNN lamented over the fact that Mays and Richmond had ruined their shot at an athletic career, instead of illustrating them as what they are: rapists. The victim was not only repeatedly assaulted, but was publicly humiliated and shamed instead of being defended. Why does the presence of alcohol make the victim blameworthy for the crime, but the athletic status of her attackers is an excuse?

     Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker writer and bestselling author, shocked Penn students when he gave a speech at our school suggesting football be eliminated completely. He claimed that the school puts students at risk for a dangerous condition known as CTE, which can lead to depression and suicidality from repeated traumatic brain injury, merely for the sake of entertainment and financial gain. Many, especially the football players, were offended by this notion. 

     Many Americans are obsessed with their sports, and are willing to put their children at risk for the sake of fame and money. Parents push their kids into athletics at a very young age in the hopes that they will be successful, but very few will go pro. Even if we are unwilling to give up our more dangerous sports, like football, we must not teach the young people who play them that their actions are without consequence. 

    Individualism has a cost; it leads us to glorify students like Trent Mays and Ma’lik Richmond for their physical control and simultaneously shun their victim for lacking it. While the boys received sympathy for being young athletic stars who simply did not know any better (“boys will be boys”), the similarly young girl was expected to be responsible. Underage drinking is illegal, but it does not excuse a violent crime. Of course, many athletes and men are good students and upstanding members of society. But teaching and reinforcing hyper-masculinity and blamelessness contributes to a victim-blaming rape culture that robs survivors of their dignity well after their attack.

Is Athlete Culture a breeding ground for rapes? by blogger Snehal Gajare

Wohoo! We won the match. He is a star, one of his kind, the best player in the town...............such are the thoughts crossing the minds of young freshmen fans. A few months later, Oh My God! This can’t be true. The sports icon of the college can’t be a rapist............shocked are the freshmen fans. Quite surprising but the fact is Athlete culture has been a breeding ground for rapes.

Obsession with sports has been a significant reason for the eruption of a sympathetic wave towards the sports icons allegedly involved in rapes. The reason being most of the fans and the spectators consider their sports icons as an epitome of masculinity which in turn leaves the athletes with a feeling of condescension towards others. This pursuit of entitlement drives the athletes to engage in activities fostering sexual assaults.  Most of us often forget masculinity has nothing to do with entitlement; indeed a true man is the one who respects women and men equally. Misogyny is also cited as one of the important reasons for the rise of rape culture.

The University/ High school is under a moral obligation to protect the victim and not to favour the sexual offenders.  It was quite evident in the Steubenville case that the main emphasis was laid on stigmatising the victim and not the rapists. The Maryville case was no different. Victim blaming and shielding the accused (star players of the high school) had been the agenda of the high school.

The sexual assaults trials involving star players often ask for compelling physical evidence with a presumption that the superstar is innocent. Is this some kind of a joke? The victim has a life too. She has lost her identity, her self confidence, self respect and is marooned in the nightmares of the ill-fated day. Life will never be the same for her and the trials are based on the presumptions of accused to be innocent?

When USA today research about 168 sexual assault cases involving 164 athletes, only 22 cases went on their respective trials and a mere 6 cases resulted in convictions of the accused. This in simple terms is a burial of justice and I strongly condemn such trials where a status of a person is more important than a human life.

Do colleges need to have an mandatory prevention program for athletes both men and women? By Benedictine University blogger Karly Sacco

In today's society it is hard to truly be one hundred percent yourself and admit all your flaws in public. Young adults fear the comments their peers, or even professors will make if they speak about a touchy subject. So it is not a surprise that in college men and women are not completely honest and open with the concept of preventing sexual assault.






Yet, sometimes when there is a subject as serious as this one, it should be mandatory for colleges to have prevention programs to inform young men and women about the severity of sexual assaults. A lot of the time if a specific person is not involved in the situation and they only hear about someone being violated through someone else, they feel like it is not much of their concern. That is the problem right there. If more students spoke the truth and were put into an environment where it is acceptable to openly talk about the issue of sexual assault that happens at college, the better chance of less victims.






This idea applies to everyone on a college campus, however if you target just the athletes specifically, that changes the focus of the assault actions.








When watching the news on television, it seems like there are always so many heartbreaking stories revolving around sexual assaults between a couch on an athletics team and the student that was on the team. These kind of stories need to stop. A couch is essentially a teacher, so relating their roles to a professor’s of a college class is not too far off. There are also plenty of similar stories involving student and teacher relations at colleges. The fact that if someone finds out about that relationship it turns into something much more if it gets to the news level. Yes, there is no doubt that there should be mandatory prevention programs for both male and female athletes but what should be discussed at these meetings truly depends on the situations that have effected a particular students. Sometimes a student won’t even care about preventing future acts of sexual assault. But no matter what, the topic of being able to open up and speak out on issues that are happening in your personal life should be one that all colleges focus on. Once a student is comfortable discussing personal issues, it could change their future.