Lean In Further: Victim blaming still prominent on Ohio University campus

Last Tuesday a woman was raped on campus. Where exactly on campus? We aren’t sure because the Ohio University Police Department stated in its press release it happened on “main green,” which isn’t actually a place.

Last Tuesday a woman was raped on campus. Where exactly on campus? We aren’t sure because the Ohio University Police Department stated in its press release it happened on “main green,” which isn’t actually a place.

This assault is incredibly saddening and unfortunate. All the details of the assault are not known, but we do know she got away by spraying her attacker and his friends with pepper spray. I applaud this woman for managing to escape and also reporting her assault.

However, Ohio University has a history of victim blaming. Last year after Homecoming, I couldn’t escape the comments people kept making about how women should carry pepper spray, knives and guns. In a class I was in, one fellow journalism student said if a woman was drunk, she deserved to be raped. He then went on to discuss Affirmative Action and how white men are the new minorities while his fellow white bros applauded him. And this is one of the top journalism programs in the country.

Every female on this campus has been raised to be afraid. From birth through college, we are told not to walk alone — to wear longer skirts and to not drink. Women in the early 1900s used sharpened hair pins to protect themselves against men assaulting them. Anti-rape underwear, tampons with spears at the end and nail polish that could detect date-rape drugs in drinks have all been created in the hopes of stopping rape. Why is it easier to make these ridiculous items than it is to teach men how to not rape?

For women who aren’t deemed “traditionally beautiful,” the rules of self-defense don’t apply. Anyone who isn’t straight, white, thin, able-bodied and cisgender doesn’t seem to have as much autonomy. Marissa Alexander, a black woman, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for firing a warning shot at her abusive husband. She is not protected under Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law, yet George Zimmerman, a white male, can shoot a young black teen in cold blood and be found innocent.

We women have been protecting ourselves for centuries and yet rape and assaults continue to occur. It’s time we stop sending warnings out that not only blame victims, but make no sense. One of OUPD’s “safety reminders” was to stay on well-traveled paths, yet it seems likely that the survivor was walking around a well-traveled area at the time she was attacked. The laws that keep these victim blaming “safety reminders” need to be removed. Until then, here are some of my own safety reminders:

PERSONAL SAFETY REMINDERS

• Don’t rape.
• If you are unable to stop yourself from raping people, don’t go outside.
• If possible, walk with others so they can prevent you from raping.
• If you see someone alone and/or drunk, leave them alone.
• Stay on well-traveled paths so that others will see you and stop you if you try to rape someone.
• Carry pepper spray. If you think you’re going to rape someone, spray yourself in the face.
• Don’t put drugs in people’s drinks.
• If you’re thinking about raping someone, report yourself to police by calling 911.