Tagged:

sexual assault

May 15th 2010

Standing Up to Idiots: Responses and Reflections

- Anya Alvarez

Ever since I came out with my story about Mr. Idiot thinking he had the right to take off his condom and pull out my NuvaRing without consulting me, I have received numerous responses, all expressing varying degrees of disgust and disbelief that this kind of stuff does actually happen. The most interesting thing, however, is who I have been receiving responses from. A number of men have written me apologizing for their gender, asking me if I’m okay, and if there is anything they can do for me.

A few examples of responses I have gotten from men:

December 7th 2009

Sexual Assault on Campus: Can There Be Justice Without Transparency?

- Laura Sessions Stepp

Of all the college women I’ve interviewed who said they’ve been sexually assaulted on campus – and there have been a good number of them – not one ever reported the attack to campus authorities.

Their reasons have varied. Maybe they kinda' knew the guy and didn’t want to make him or his friends mad. Or they were drunk and couldn’t remember enough details to prosecute. Or they thought they should’ve known better than to put themselves in a potentially dangerous situation.

Or, and this was their biggest concern, they feared that if they did talk, nothing of substance would be done.