Increasing Rape Awareness on College Campuses

            When I was a student on campus it seemed like the topic of rape was something that was rarely addressed.  Awareness events such as “Take Back the Night” and “The Vagina Monologues” were available to partake and participate in.  It seemed that formal addressing of rape culture happened at these events and sometimes were touch on in elective classes.  

In my own social circles the girls on my dorm floor promised to never leave a party without the girls we came with.  It certainly was not formal but it was our way of looking out for one another.  Are plan worked and we felt like we could trust each other.

Campuses across the nation may be looking at programs to educate all incoming freshmen on rape prevention.  While I do not think this is a bad idea, I feel as though students tend to become more engaged when they are approached by their peers.  I feel as if more student groups, fraternities, and sororities, on campus were to share the facts about rape on college campuses it may normalize the conversation.  This approach may reach more students than another mandatory lecture on what to avoid on campus.

 

Sometimes people including administrative heads want to turn a blind eye on what is actually happening on campus.  Even the average student may have a hard time talking about rape in a casual conversation.  An informed student may become one less rape survivor.  If the facts are available through peer to peer interaction you turn the topic into something that is no longer taboo.  Rape culture is not something that should be addressed a couple times a year, it should be something that we are talking and raising awareness about on college campuses and in society.