The Homecoming Weekend rape is a low point in our university community. First and foremost, I wish to state that I stand with the survivor, and I hope that you receive justice and find healing.
Each time a sexual assault happens there is a relatively small group of students who stand and carry the torch for victim’s rights. We say consent is not possible while intoxicated to combat the ignorant and uninformed idea of “drunken consent.” We argue that clothing or sexual history do not make a person impervious to rape. However, even this assertion is challenged on the street and in online forums.
Before this weekend, I would have said that Ohio University’s rape culture was spiraling out of control. Now, I contend that all of its inhibitions have been stripped away. Available evidence suggests a man assaulted a woman during one of Court Street’s busiest hours. I was not on Court Street when the assault occurred. I do not know the fine details of the case. However, if the immediate reaction is to blame an incapacitated individual for her own alleged assault, rape culture exists.
Not only did intervention take far too much time, but bystanders recorded the incident. If the number of views a video garners outweighs protecting the health and safety of another human being, then we are indeed in peril. The symbolic weight of an unchecked, public assault reflects widespread ignorance around issues of sexual assault. When I marched in the F--kRapeCulture rally on Friday, we chanted “Off of the sidewalks, into the streets!” Apparently, not even the sidewalks are safe anymore.
As a community, we must realize that this does not impact only the people involved in the assault. Further, this incident indicates that women and other gender/sexual minorities face a real risk of violence. People consistently claim that we are a family; this is no way to treat family. If a significant portion of this community is in danger of assault on and off the street, the term family is being used to erase the dangers some people face. What recourse is there for the current state of things? In my classrooms, on the Internet, and on our streets, victim-blaming and denial of this problem abound.
This is a call to all members of this community to say that enough is enough. Students, faculty, staff and community members must stand and say, “No. We are Ohio University and we do not condone sexual violence.” The power of the rape culture stems from its ability to flaunt and propagate itself. Silence only furthers the problem.
Ryan Vollrath is a senior studying history and psychology.
