Persuasive Essay On Sexual Harassment

The lives of women are changed, devastated, and ruined by sexual assault. They will most likely never be the same person they used to be. A survivor of sexual assault will often take safety measures to avoid another one of these encounters; for example, they may walk an extra mile to avoid a dark alley she saw a man lurking around the other day or spend money on things like pepper spray, a rape whistle, or self-defense classes—all in an attempt to defend themselves from something preventable. In fact, a 2014 survey shows that 45% of women in America felt that walking alone after sundown was dangerous, which means that it is safe to say that even women

Start blaming the system, not the victim. Sexual assault is a crime that is very common, yet the punishment perpetrators receive is not as harsh as it needs to be to reduce the occurrence of these crimes. Laws concerning sexual crimes have been edited over decades to be stricter however, sex offenders typically receive little or no punishment. Sexual Assault is defined as any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient (“Sexual Assault”). Victims of sexual assault are often blamed as the reason for the crime being committed while the blame is taken away from the offender. Harsher punishment must be enacted on sex offenders because the victims suffer conflict from the crime throughout their

Frustratingly, these days, some people still treat sexual assault as an “okay” thing, making comments such as “she was asking for it” and that she was “equally responsible” for the situation. This is exactly the sort of mindset that is contributing to the startling statistics today.

Sexual assault policy in the United States as it stands is clearly inadequate for protecting the physical wellbeing of men and women from sexual assault. Layering of policy serves a s a Band-Aid on a social wound much too large to be contained and the rise of sexual assault as a public problem reiterates the need for greater legislation and policy to protect everyone from becoming prey to the crime of sexual assault. While eyes focus on the (disproven) rise of violence in the United States, and turn to gun control, other violent crimes are forgotten. Sexual Assault has seen several cases of policy failure that actors have tried to salvage through the act of policy layering and have not significantly resolved the problem.

When such prevalent policies like the Clery Act and Title IX exist on college campuses and for college campuses, many people would believe that those policies are enough in regards to sexual assault and rape on campuses. However, there are far more policy recommendations that could be put in place. Females and males alike, through education, can become aware of what Title IX and the Clery Act are. Awareness about current policies can lead to more people reaching out and coming forward about any incidents they have faced during their time in college. Many colleges do happen to send students and give students access to these policies but they are often ignored. Know the policies implemented and know who is the coordinator of these policies. Far too often, people like to believe that sexual assault and rape incidents rarely occur but that is not the case. Title IX and the Clery Act policies are there for a reason.

One problem is thirty-four out of fifty states have statutes of limitations on sexual assault, ranging anywhere from three to thirty years (Holter). Statutes of limitations give a victim a certain time to report the attack or press charges against their defender. Some states have the clock starting from the date of the assault, while for other states the clock starts when the crime is initially reported. An attack from many years ago can be solved with the DNA found from the suspect, but the suspect cannot be charged because the crime happened outside of the statute of limitations. A recent topic in the media is Bill Cosby being accused of rape by fifty-two women, one of the victims, Jenny Wendt, had only two weeks to press charges against Cosby because of the statutes of limitations in Indiana (Smith).

As students graduate from high school they begin the journey of getting ready for the University they want to go to and get excited for the best time of their lives. As anybody on campus the last thing they want to be worrying about is whether they will be sexually assaulted or not. It is becoming clear that University's around the United States needs to broadcast what sexual assault is and why it isn't okay. In most cases, many campuses do not have an effective way to stop sexual assaults. Nobody wants to be a victim in a sexual assault case. Assuming nobody wants to be the attacker in a sexual assault case results to sexual assaults on campus must stop. University's must take the proper precautions to help stop campus assault. In the article, "Male students are victims of sexual assault, too" the author writes:

As the website “DoSomething.org” states, “1 in 5 women will be sexually assaulted while at college.” Of these sexual assault victims, “4 out of 5 rape victims subsequently suffer from chronic physical or psychological conditions.” (“11 Facts”). These victims “are 13 times more likely to attempt suicide than are people who have not been victims of a crime” (“11 Facts”). The troubles that face sexual assault victims and the families of those victims pose a huge threat not only to the government regarding costs and reactions of the people of the United States, but an even larger threat to past, present, and future victims of sexual assault. Any further protection for these victims from the government would certainly help the victims, the families of the victims, and the people of

In the first place, the topic of rape and the attacks some suspects achieve become an uncomfortable yet hurtful subject for not only the victims but the human beings that it could very well happen to. Women in general are very vulnerable human beings, and when something insane happens in their life it may take a long period of time to speak up about the incident and when they are not given the attention they deserve when they finally speak up about the traumatizing story it

On the contrary, the university and the police department turned their backs on her. They refused to run a DNA test on the football star immediately doing nothing for ten months. Next came victim blaming, where statements were made saying she was a liar and how unfortunate it was for him to go through this turmoil that can affect his career. Ultimately, the case got dismissed and the football star made no apologies and answered no questions, only making a statement saying any sex that happened was consensual. There lies the problem with the college institutions, they allowed this man to get away with this crime simply because he was an asset to the university. This act makes us wonder what resources are put in place to protect young women from situations like this, and how many more instances has to occur for the system to change.

On college campuses across the nation, more sexual assaults have begun to surface, but only a few of these assaults get attention. Sexual assaults can be a very touchy subject meaning that a lot of people, friends and even college counselors or therapists advise the victims not to speak up about the incident. I believe that most of the time administration tries to protect the attacker rather than look out for the victim. Because of this, very few cases are actually investigated properly. Men typically use alcohol or drugs to coerce women into having sex, and some will simply just use force or threats against their victim. While men perform most acts of sexual assault, women are typically the ones who are blamed for whatever happens to them. This blame is generally put onto the women because of the way they dress or act, while the men face little to no repercussions for their actions. Sexual assaults on college campuses have become a huge epidemic across the nation, which is why preventative measures need to be taken to reduce the chances of sexual assault on our college campuses.

I choose this topic because sexual assault is one of the most offensive crimes committed in our society. Not only is it a threat to the community, but it has a physically and psychologically effect on the victim in many ways. For the last couple of decades, sexual assault, rape, and child molestation has become the focal point of public concerns today. According to a 1993 National Crime Victimization Survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice, about 500,000 rapes or sexual assaults occur each year (Statistics, March 2010). The Department of Justice states that, “rape crimes have risen nearly three times as fast as the total crime rate”, although other studies have shown statistics that are in

One might often ask what importance is there to fight against rape. Statistics have shown that the pillage of a person’s personal space have been steadily increasing since before the 1950s. Every two minutes, there is at least one American being sexually assaulted. (www.rainn.org ‘Sexual Assault Statistics”) these are just two of the millions of statistics that have been taking away many people’s privacy, natural rights, and their trust in others. Instead , due to rape culture women are commonly taught that ‘boys will be boys” or [concerning being bothered or harassed by the opposite sex] “ that just means they like you!” rape culture not only teaches women that its normal to be sexually assaulted , but it teaches them not to bother to correct the rapists, just to take it. In news, press reporters mourn the athletic career of two highschoolers’ who raped and nearly killed a 15 year old girl rather than mourning the victim. The only way to stop these situations from ever happening again is to stop

Sexual harassment affects different people in different ways; many people every day are victims of this issue. Out of all these people, someone around may be going through this problem. What will society do to help prevent this problem? Sexual harassment can affect anyone. No matter what gender, race or age. “Every year thousands of cases involving this issue occur and only one out of five victims of this issue file a claim” (Vagianos). This is crazy! People may think that people would want to stand up for themselves, but they do not; they simply stay quiet and let the situation pass them by.

What if you were terrified to go to your school every day? 160,000 students miss school each day because they get bullied and are scared of what will happen (“Bullying Statistics”). Bullying has been a major problem in schools for far too long. Students should not be scared to go to a place that is supposed to be safe and where they can express themselves. Students that bully never get the punishment they deserve, which causes them to continue to act. When you go to school, you should know that if you are getting treated in a horrific way, the people who were treating you that way will get punished. Students who bully should be suspended from school.