I’ve bitten my tongue for too long on this subject and seeing yet another item last week in The Post has finally driven me to write this letter. I’m tired of hearing about this “rape culture” Ohio University supposedly is home to. It is demeaning to us as students and to our university as a whole to nonchalantly put such an extreme label on our campus culture. “Rape culture” has become a buzzword on campus ever since the notorious Court Street incident last semester. While the inexcusable event shed light on some important issues that I admit need dealt with, it’s important to note that nobody was convicted of rape by the court. “In a detailed statement, Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn said the grand jury determined no probable cause for charges against the man,” (Athens News). After this incident is when the “rape culture” onslaught began in the media. Letters to the editor, editorial posts and tweets, among other channels, began to rally around this buzzword.
I’m going to come out and say it, Ohio University isn’t home to rape culture, or at least I haven’t been convinced from what I’ve read and seen in my four years that it is. “Rape culture is defined by Marshall University’s Women’s Center as ‘an environment in which rape is prevalent and in which sexual violence against women is normalized and excused in the media and popular culture,” (Athens News). When people read columns in The Post claiming that rape culture is a major issue on campus I think they deserve some actual evidence supporting this claim, because I’m not buying people making claims that “rape is prevalent” on campus without any statistical evidence to back it up. There have been eight total cases of rape reported since March 2, 2010 on the Ohio University Police Department’s site. Only one of those eight has been closed by arrest. Different sources on the Web often claim that one in four girls are raped before graduating college. Only one case of rape has been closed due to arrest in four years, and I don’t need to do the math to understand that is an extremely low number for a college campus. I understand that there may be cases that go unreported, which I agree is a major issue, but one case of rape closed by arrest since 2010? That substantiates prevalence of rape at our college?
I want to close by saying that I am indeed a feminist. I am a firm believer in equality and will always stand by the golden rule of treating others the way you would like to be treated. I believe sexual misconduct is unacceptable and organizations should strive to educate students on how to avoid these types of situations. I believe that a lot of the efforts taken by groups such as F--k Rape Culture mean well and help our college and society. I would never suggest to stop efforts on educating our students and community on sexual assault or the implications of it. Just please drop the “rape culture” label because it’s an ugly label that our campus doesn’t deserve. At the very least, back up the use of this term with some evidence and convince me that our campus is as dangerous as these letters make it out to be.
Seth Miller is a senior studying management information systems.
