Natalie CookMrs.
FinbergEnglish 815 December 2017Title In Australia, just one of the world’s thousands of countries, 70 women die each year by violence at the hands of a former or current partner. One in three women over the age of 15 have experienced physical violence. One in five have experienced sexual violence, and one in four have been emotionally abused by a partner. (Coulson) Australia has a small population compared to other countries and the statistics are still enormous. Imagine what they would be in Brazil, in China, or in the U.S. The world is facing an impregnable force that women are starting to defeat, after all these years on this travailing path. Preventing the abhorrent issue of rape would create a vindicating place in our world, and slowly we will work towards the security and respect women deserve.
Why now? It is a question many people, mostly men, are asking. They are confused and frustrated that women are finally being heard. The truth is, that women have been speaking out for years upon years.
They have been yelling at the top of their lungs and only now is the public hearing them. It started with burning women at the stake because they were “witches”, and it has escalated to “accidentally” killing women who were victims of sexual assault. The worst part is that women are being blamed. It is their fault because the clothes they were wearing were too revealing, they shouldn’t tempt the men like that. But if you ask half of the victims what they were wearing it will have been an outfit that covers most of their body.
Women have been forced to wear more clothes and be very weary and cautious on a night out just so they don’t get attacked on the street. Men treat women like they’re just an object that they have control over, they have no regard or respect for them. They also try to rebut our cries with the fact that “men get raped too”, while that may be true, women have been degraded, sexually abused, and assaulted for a long long time, men haven’t; women have never been respected as a whole. Another reason why women are “just now” starting to speak up is that more of them are, and as a group, anything is stronger. But people underestimate how hard it is to speak up. The victim is embarrassed and horrified that it happened to her, she is scared and doesn’t know what will happen if she does say something. Luckily that is starting to change.
Cyntoia Brown is a 29 year old woman who has spent thirteen years in prison. When she was just sixteen years of age, she shot her rapist. In court she was tried as an adult and was sentenced to life in prison without parole until the age of 69. Without knowing the backstory a person can see where she was coming from but can also understand why she was put in prison. Yet, the truth opens their eyes to this poor girl’s life and they can’t understand why someone would punish her to this extent. Cyntoia grew up in an abusive family and she was constantly surrounded by drugs.
She ran away at sixteen and of most by a man who sold her into prostitution. They drugged her, raped her, and sold her to different men. She , like 29-year-old object. One night a 43-year-old man bought her and took her to his house for sexual intercourse, she found a gun and shot him, in self-defense.
The second amendment in the Constitution states that a person may use a weapon to defend themselves when they feel someone is threatening their lives with no consequences. Yet the court did nothing. Her case came up again and now the public is fighting for her. Famous people like Rihanna and Kim Kardashian West are just two of the thousands of people who have stood up to justify Cyntoia Brown with the #freecyntoiabrown. Attorneys and lawyers have been working with Brown trying to get back into court to free this wronged teenage girl American citizen. It’s not like she is a bad person anyways, she has gotten her GED and associate arts degree from Lipscomb University and is close to getting her bachelors degree. As a country, let’s free Cyntoia Brown and all of the other girls that have been wronged by the court, by the nation. (CNN.
com)There is a website called Thinkprogress.org that supposedly has a list of ways women can prevent rape. People would think most others who came upon the website would assume it was a joke, but sadly it is the mental state of most of our country. The introduction states, “Increased attention to the issue of sexual assault, both here in the U.S. and abroad, has lead to larger conversations on how to prevent rape. But often, those conversations have a misplaced focus.
Instead of coming up with ways to encourage a culture of consent and respect, and crack down on the assailants who violate those boundaries, most of the advice for preventing sexual assault involves coming up with things for women to do to mitigate their risk of being attacked.” It continues on saying, “Here are just a few things that responsible women should keep in mind, if they don’t want to be a victim of sexual assault:” At this point, someone, most likely a woman, would be curious and maybe a bit frustrated. So as they keep reading the list states that women should get married because it lessens the chance of an attacker.
It doesn’t. The second thing is that women should take a self-defense class so we can defend ourselves. The list is okay so far. It goes on to say that women should drink less alcohol, wear more clothes, that they shouldn’t take public transportation; which, by the way, is a basic human right. A woman will be mad at this point, but the next suggestion on the list will definitely blow the lid off of their head. It states that women should “make it seem less fun to be a victim”. There is no aspect of rape that is fun. The last three things on the list are to buy special underwear, to get a GPS tracking app, and to carry a gun; because as we have seen women totally won’t be jailed for life if they use the weapon for self-defense.
Women shouldn’t have to protect themselves or avoid things like public transportation because of what the men are doing. It is unacceptable, America is a free country, but women are still prisoners of their fear of being attacked and stripped of their moral. (Carter)There are good ways to prevent rape, for instance, men just need to grow up. But take care and keep an eye out for yourself as well as others, respect your body and yourself, drink responsibly and know your limits; alcohol decreases comprehension and inhibition, and increases aggression. Step in safely or speak up if a friend or another person is saying or doing harmful things, and most importantly don’t blame the survivor. (Rape Prevention Tips) Trinity College created that list because they are aware of what happens on campus. Rape is especially bad on college campuses and the colleges aren’t doing anything about it.
They don’t punish the boys because they are “needed in their sport, they’re the MVP”. By not punishing the assailants it is making it ok because they can get out of it. Schools and parents need to teach boys that it is not a goal to “nail” a woman, they don’t get rewarded and they should definitely not get any “street cred”. By punishing the older boys and teaching the younger boys to respect women our societies will be less hostile places and our men will grow up to be gentlemen.For boys under the age of 5 parents should teach their child to speak with kindness and respect, to say please and thank you.
If parents show respect they can teach respect, they will show respect to other adults, children, and women especially. Teach boys that it is never ok to hit or threaten to hit girls, to listen to women and respect their opinions, and to never call a woman or a girl names. Also, show boys how to be helpful when help is needed. For boys ages 5-12 make sure to monitor their media, the shows they watch and video games they play can show violence and sex and increase their disrespect. Parents need to talk to their boys. When you see an act of disrespect ask them how they think the victim feels, how they would feel; it helps develop awareness and social conscience. And make sure to prepare a defense against porn. Eleven years old is the average age boys are introduced to pornography; the porn is filled with “violent, hardcore, disgusting content that teaches boys that women exist to be violently and sexually disrespected.
” Around ages 8-9 pre-arm them; tell them what it is and that people might want to show it to them but it is definitely not funny or real and it is not the way to treat women. For boys ages 12-18 teach them intimacy; teach them how to have a healthy relationship with respect and love. Teach them to understand it’s more than just sex, teach them context and commitment. No means no; teach them that it is not ok to touch, kiss, and definitely not be intimate with a woman without her consent. Set boundaries on porn, teach them why they cannot watch it. One hundred percent of boys by the age of 15 have seen violent pornography. Call them out on sexism, when you hear them say or do something sexist let them know that it is not ok or acceptable.
(Coulson) Women are finally being heard; the silence breakers in Hollywood and the #Me, Too. Yes, in ways women aren’t equal, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be treated equally. They have fought in this war for years on end, they have won the ability to wear pants, the right to vote, the ability to fight on the front line, almost complete equal pay… This is their last battle towards their rights and freedom, most importantly respect; the world better be ready, the war is coming to an end.
