In
a recent Wall Street Journal article, columnist James Taranto derided sexual
assault on campuses, opining that blame is disproportionally put on the
perpetrators rather than on the victims. Taranto compares sexual assault to
drunk driving, and pens, “If two drunk drivers are in a collision, one doesn't
determine fault on the basis of demographic details such as each driver's sex.”
He asserts that victims of sexual harassment and assault are partially worthy
of blame, stating that, “When two drunken college students "collide,"
the male one is almost always presumed to be at fault.” This is more than an
empty sentiment—it’s a cruel one. Its implications are that men cannot be
sexually assaulted, and that people should be faulted for being taken advantage
of. There is a word for that: victim blaming. My point is this: sexual assault
is not a result of alcohol or people being unaware of their surroundings, but
the perpetrators themselves. No amount of alcohol is enough to vindicate such a
horrendous crime. It does not matter if you wear fluffy crinolines of tight
shorts: nobody deserves sexual harassment. And if anyone tries to parse that
out, then then are very off beam.
And
yet I cannot believe we are still debating this. It is 2014, and I had hoped
that by now, things would have changed. It is disappointing that our society
hasn’t progressed much. For one thing, there are trivial but irritating
problems, like the fact that people still have not stopped wearing crocs in
public. For another, there are so many real, serious problems with our
society’s lens. And a big part of that is coming from people like Todd Akin and
Rush Limbaugh making offensive and ignorant remarks. It is hurtful
victim-blaming like in Taranto’s column that makes it hard to contend rape
culture in America. I don’t know why so many people to subscribe to the notion
that it is the victim’s fault depending on the clothes they were wearing, where
they were, whom they were with, and even the time of the day. But these types
of judgments are flawed and only amplify and beget more sociological problems. I
think realizing this is one major step to a brighter future of our world. In
the end, I think of Gandhi, or what I could recall of his notion “We must be
the change we wish to see.”
By Lindsey S.
