No consent education=Rape
Currently we are failing to have our youth learn about consent in a proper objective fashion. The lack of knowledge about sexual relationships and consent leads to misunderstandings of what is acceptable, stigma surrounding sex and increasing chance of sexual violence. Having our youth exposed to sex education and surrounding topics will leave our youth to make smarter choices, understand what consent is and will decrease stigma.
The understanding of, consent is often not taught or known until too late. A young girl named Becca, a young college student was at a graduation party with some friends and family. During the night she had fun, danced a lot and enjoyed alcoholic beverages. She met a guy, Jacob around her age, while dancing, they went outside to get some air and to be able to talk without yelling over the music. Becca and Jacob talked outside for a while, but because it was winter the couple decided to continue talking inside the house away from the party. Jacob kissed Becca, both Jacob and Becca had had too many drinks, the kissing lead to further sexual relations. Although Becca kept telling Jacob to stop, she wanted to leave and she didn’t want to have sex Jacob forced himself inside of her. Consent is when all parties agree to sexual contact for each and every time. If there isn’t consent from, any individual that would be considered a form of sexual violence. Other circumstances for consent to be valid is consent is given without “pressure, manipulation or under influence of drugs and alcohol,” other groups which aren’t allowed to consent are people unconscious and protected minors. In Becca’s situation, consent wasn’t given in two forms, verbal and also because she was under the influence of alcohol. Also there can be consent given to certain sexual contact and not other forms of sexual contact. Consent is needed for all types of sexual contact in every situation and at all times. Consent can also be retracted one can change their minds at any time. Another common misunderstanding is what one is wearing, where the person is and past behavior does not give consent, consent is a clearly communicated acceptance to sexual interaction. According to plannedparenthood.org, “rape, sexual assault and sexual abuse are forms of violence in which there is sexual contact without consent, including penetration, oral sex and general touching.
Sexual violence in America does not only affect victims, but it also affects people who have seen it or have had people around them be a victim to sexual violence. According to our rainn.org every 98 seconds in American you sexually assaulted. In the United States on average, there is 321,500 victims 2012 years old or older victims of rape and sexual each year. It is also found the majority of sexual assault victims are under the age of 30 there is an higher risk of rape and sexual assault from the age of 12 to 34. When it comes to women and girls experiencing sexual violence there is a one out of every six American women will be A victim of rape or a victim of attempted rape. Not only are women affected by sexual violence, but one out of every 10 rape victims are men. It is also found that as a male college student aging 18 to 24, males are five times more to be victims of sexual violence than a non student of the same age range.
Another act of sexual violence is spousal rape, many times it is misunderstood or dismissed because of the marriage aspect, but in every and any case consent needs to be given. According to healthresearchfunding.org, a study done on Marie’s women in Boston found 10% of those women were victims of spousal rape. Another result from studies was found that 30% of adult rapes were committed by husbands, common-law partners or boyfriend. A shocking result of these studies, 69% of women who are raped by their spouse are raped more than one time. This common belief that a marriage makes a couple one unit and that the woman is now the man’s can give the overall thought that convent isn’t needed or is already given by a spouse. With knowledge of consent in and out of relationships this misunderstanding and downplaying of spousal rape and need of consent will lead to clarification and decrease amount of sexual violence overall.
When it comes to sexual violence anyone, anywhere and at any age can be a victim. Many should also keep in mind there is “no specific way rape, sexual assault and sexual abuse is done.” During October of 2017 the #Metoo movement became a viral international movement to acknowledge sexual assault and harassment. This hashtag was used all over many different media sites, the movement was started to help survivors see they weren’t alone. Alyssa Milano, an actress, tweeted in October “give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem,” she was telling her followers tweeting and sharing stories using #Metoo would give the world around us to face how huge sexual violence is. Sexual violence isn’t just an American problem, but a worldwide problem. This movement wasn’t just to give awareness of the problem, but to also give awareness of what consent is and “you can say no to anyone.” This movement wants laws to be changed, they want new policies when it comes to workplace harassment.
This movement also had an extension by Stop Sexual Assaults in Schools because of the recent removal of Title IX which had sexual conduct guidelines. According to Wikipedia.com “Title IX, as a federal law enforced in the United States of America, is considered a portion of the United States Education Amendments of 1972,” Title IX covers many types of education institutional guidelines which prevent discrimination based on sex, it also covers the prohibited sexual harassment of students. Educational institutions need to follow these guidelines, but some schools have issues with following these guidelines. Many times when sexual violence occurs in schools it has been found, it is under reported by the victims and schools. According to the U.S. department of justice NSOPW states, “in 2006 alone, 300,000 college women were raped” and from those women 12% of those rapes were actually reported. Stigma surrounding sexual assault can be a leading cause I know why there is under reporting of sexual violence in any case. Public stigma of victims of sexual violence is often misunderstood and see negatively towards the victim, this leads to many victims to feel afraid of coming out and reporting the issue. This stigma also leaves victims afraid to not be believed because of a common issue of women reporting false sexual assaults. Also because of the lack of education on sexual violence and consent there is possible confusion on the situation of sexual violence leading to under reporting of the actual amount of sexual violence occurring in and outside of educational institutions.
The lack of knowledge surrounding consent, stigma of sexual violence and sexual violence in many forms is leading our youth to make negative uninformed choices. Consent is a topic which needs to be aware of children in grade school in order to have clear communication and boundaries for future sexual encounters. Movements like #Metoo and organizations like Stop Sexual Assault in Schools are educating youth and raising awareness to issues in our society. Education about sexual violence and consent can decrease the problem we currently have around the world.
“Victims of Sexual Violence: Statistics.” Rainn, www.rainn.org/statistics/victims-sexual-violence.
“21 Amazing Spousal Rape Statistics.” HRFnd, 23 Oct. 2014, healthresearchfunding.org/21-spousal-rape-statistics/.
“Me Too Movement.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Feb. 2018, en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Me_Too_movement.
Nsopw. “United States Department of Justice National Sex Offender Public Website.” Facts and Statistics, www.nsopw.gov/en-US/Education/FactsStatistics?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1.
“Reporting of Sexual Violence Incidents.” National Institute of Justice, www.nij.gov/topics/crime/rape-sexual-violence/pages/rape-notification.aspx.
Sexual Consent, www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/sex-and-relationships/sexual-consent.
“Sexual Harrasment Guidelines .” U.S. Department of Education , www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/sexhar00.html.
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