Yes Means

Since middle school, I have participated in Model United Nations and Youth Legislature, representing a wide range of bills and countries. Through Model United Nations, I have represented Spain and Saudi Arabia in the General Assembly and Venezuela and Uruguay in the Security Council. During my participation in Youth Legislature in high school, I have presented bills in the chambers of the Tennessee House of Representatives on organ donation for death row inmates, a recycling initiative in public schools, and requiring ACT preparatory materials for public school upperclassmen.

The report passed and was adopted. At this point, sever cosponsors were adopted and the bill entered its second reading in the Senate. During the Senate’s third reading of the bill it passed with 32 yeas and 16 nays. From there the bill was returned back to the House with no amendments. After this the bill was signed by the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate. The signing happened on April 11, 2017. Thuw far we are six days in, thus following four more days of inaction on the part of the governor the bill will become a law. The governor may also choose to sign the bill before the 10-day span ends, or veto the bill sending it back into the legislative

On the topic of sexual assault on campuses, Catherine Lhamon, Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights and James Moore, Compliance Manager of the Clery Act discussed ways to further combat sexual assault on college campuses. Lhamon and Moore focused on the improvements made to the reporting of sexual assault, positive changes made to the judicial proceedings on campuses, and the improved punishment of perpetrators. The members of the committee hearing did not deny the importance of combating sexual assault. However, members did disagree on the methods to effectively decrease sexual assault and increase overall reporting of victims. Members disagreed the most on the enforcement mechanism, which was made more controversial by the differences in opinion on the accuracy of reporting, and the guidance authority of the Department of Education. This ballot will address the panel discussion on these

‘Sexual Violence is more than just a crime against individuals. It threatens our families; it threatens our communities. Ultimately, it threatens the entire country’ (qtd. in Burleigh pg. 2). In the article, “Confronting Campus Rape” written by Nina Burleigh; a writer, journalist, and professor at Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, describes what students are doing to force universities to take a stronger stand against campus sexual assault. Moreover Burleigh describes what the government is doing to make a difference on the issue. This includes laws that have created consequences for the assaulter and laws that protect the victim. According to Burleigh, a young woman called Laura Dunn was sexually assaulted on campus. Dunn was a student of UW. On April 4th, 2014, Dunn lost her virginity to two UW athletes. That night, Dunn was attending a party at the university. Dunn was enjoying the party and lost count of her alcohol intake. Dunn remembers being led out by two older teammates, who she knew. Dunn was very intoxicated, enough to stumble on her way back to what she thought would be another campus party, as one of the athletes helped her walk. The athletes led Dunn to one of their apartments where she found herself on a bed with both of them on top of her. Dunn was so intoxicated that she couldn’t help but to drift in and out of conscious leaving her unable to stop the two men. Dunn began to feel sick and was led to the bathroom by one of the athletes, where he penetrated her from behind while she was throwing up. That was a date Dunn would never forget. Dunn like many other women at the UW have been sexually abused by other students. Although Dun’s incident is shocking, it is not uncommon for women to be sexually assaulted on campus. A woman at the  university of Wisconsin is more prone to being sexually assaulted than any other woman in the country because of alcohol intoxication; this is a problem that must be resolved.

This is The Campus Sexual Assault Bill of Rights, instituted by George Bush in 1992. This set of regulations, in conjunction with Title 4, protects sexual assault victims both on and off campus. Despite such rules being in place, many colleges and universities have been reported to have violated these and other regulations. Misconduct in handling sexual assault cases on campus is always an issue, since On March 8, 2016, detailing student complaints against 4 universities in violation of title IV, the law defending from sexual discrimination in any federally funded organization. The four sexual assault survivors filed their complaints with the U.S Department of Education against American University, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Indiana

Sexual assault has been a rising problem in the United States for the last few years. With rising numbers of cases, and more people coming forward with their stories, it sometimes gets difficult to see where the truth really lies. Sexual assault, as defined by The United States Department of Justice is, “any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient”. This definition is closely followed by the statement that sexual assault is a felony, and those convicted of sexual assault, by law, must go to prison. However, the judicial system does not always work in a way that helps the victims, but more often than not, it serves to further their plight. The California “Yes Means Yes” law should remain

Conversion therapy, also known as reparative therapy, or Sexual Orientation Change Efforts (SOCE) has a troubled history within the United States and abroad. Conversion therapy is the use of a variety of means to attempt to change an individual’s sexual or gender orientation. Current practices include inducing vomiting or paralysis while showing a subject homoerotic images, having a subject snap a rubber band on their wrist whenever they have certain thoughts, or using tactics to create shame or aversion to same sex or transgender thoughts. Many established institutes claim that the therapy does or doesn't work and offer contradicting evidence for their position. The Movement Advancement Project, a group dedicated to providing research for the advancement of LGBT people, states in an infographic that nine states, plus the District of Columbia and a handful of municipalities have banned conversion therapy from being provided by licensed medical professionals to minors (“Kids” 1). Based on the established evidence and the overwhelming number of psychologists and sociologist that disavow conversion therapy, along with the multitude of horror stories from children who were persuaded, or forced, to participate by their parents, the federal government should ban conversion therapy for all minors.

The bill calling for defunding of Planned Parenthood was introduced by Freshman Senator Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, who ran an anti-abortion campaign last year.

Sexual assault has been a huge issue for many years on college campuses and universities nation wide. As society has evolved, thoughts on sexual assault have also evolved, becoming more focused on the details of victim treatment than ever before. The topic of sexual assault is debatable and sparks many opinions on weather sexual assault on college campuses is becoming more frequent, or if there is just heightened awareness. Sexual assault can happen to anybody no matter the gender, race, religion, or age. Recently there have been many studies conducted on sexual violence on college campuses and universities producing ample amounts of statistics. One may argue that sexual assault rates are the same, but there are simply more studies and attention on sexual assault in the past 20 years. Gender roles have played a huge part in sexual assault on college campuses. Women and men have different expectations when it comes to roles in the relationship, men are often expected to make the first move. One may ask what causes a perpetrator to sexually harass somebody and think it is acceptable. There are various reasons as to why perpetrators do what they do, and may vary from person to person. Although sexual violence is a large problem for many colleges and universities, there is a surprising shortage of federal laws/rules and regulations regarding sexual assault. Colleges are able to develop their own personal policies and procedures for how they will prevent and deal with sexual

An individual’s sexuality should not define who they are as a person. What is Conversion Therapy? Sexual Orientation Conversion Therapy has a range of treatments that are designed in hopes to turn a person’s sexual orientation to heterosexual. Conversion therapy is also used in attempts to convert a transgender person’s gender expression to match with the gender given at birth. It is currently banned for minors in 5 states (California, New York, New Jersey, Oregon, and Illinois) and the other 45 states have no law against it. Many teens in this current time period are coming out as either lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer. Homosexuality is often seen as a negative effect towards society.

Many researchers sympathetic to conversion therapy do not actually assess changes in sexual orientation or arousal patterns, but in behavior, which is not a true gauge of sexual orientation. Psychotherapeutic and religious conversion therapies, show no evidence indicating that such treatments are effective in their intended purpose and empirical data on the potentially harmful effects of such treatments is established instead. The debate over orientation versus choice of sexual behavior will no doubt continue. In its report, the American Psychological Association task force concludes that “these debates can only be resolved through an evidence-based appraisal of the potential benefits and harm of sexual orientation change efforts.” Thus far,

al., 2013, p. 253). With treatments such as “professional therapy and paraprofessional/religious ministry contexts”, Sanders and his colleagues report that thirty percent of those who participated in this form of therapy achieved “positive outcomes” (2013, p. 255). Although critics to changing one’s sexual orientation claim that there are many factors that limit the support of the research proving the success of this treatment option, Sanders states that there is data supporting successful conversions (2013, p. 255).

Many male toddlers aren’t taught that raping a person is not only immoral but also that they have to respect a woman’s choice. Researchers and sociologists believe that when men and women are more aware and educated of rape, there would be less instances of sexual assault in colleges and universities. There are many instances of rape going unreported simply due to young women who are involved do not perceive the incident as rape until they realize it later. Students perception revealed that many young people do not have accurate images of what sexual assault is. As of recently, Time Magazine posts that California’s new law requires colleges to give consent before sex. This bill was introduced by Senator Kevin de Leon during the early summer of 2015. This bill also gives additional protection to students and sexual assault victims, including on-campus advocates for victims, and also educational programs for incoming college freshman. There are many ways to bring awareness of sexual assault and rape culture. One way is to teach children the language of consent. Other ways to raise awareness is to allow teachers to exercise the education of consent. A rape victim once said “Not enough people understand what rape is, and, until they do … , not enough will be done to stop

, 1 in 5 women, and 1 in 16 men will face sexual assault during their time at a college? And from rainn.org women in school are 3x more likely to face it than women out of school( ). Hopefully that’s as frightening to you as it is to me. It is important that one day these statistics are lowered to 0. Today, I want to give everyone more insight on how sexual assault can be stopped by letting you know about the problems we face being in college when it comes to sexual assault and the laws and reasons that make it difficult for victims to report. After stating the problems, I will present you with solutions and the benefits your actions will have.

An all-too-common response to sexual harassment on campus is to somehow blame of the victim; proclaiming they “asked for it” in some subtle way. The “Blame the Victim” style of movement enforces that women should sit down, shut up, and cover up in order to not seemingly “invite” a perpetrator's attention. The “Yes Means Yes” law takes away the oppression of sexual assault victims, and begins to put the blame on the offender for their crimes, rather than a victim for their skin-tight dress and stilettos; it denounces the ignominy that coincides with existing as a sexual being, and instead, propels justice. Vice President Joe Biden4 elaborates upon the issue, stating that , “No matter what she’s wearing, no matter whether she’s in a bar, in a dormitory, in the back seat of a car, on a street, drunk or sober — no man has a right to go beyond the word no.”5 The “Yes Means Yes” law further explains the rigidity of dual consent, no matter what someone may imply, the only way to know is through permission. It also takes away the excuses of “not knowing” if a member is not complying, because they did not protest. Yale Law Student and feminist Alexandra Brodsky explains that, “We cling to a faith that respectability is protective, comforted by the myth that with longer skirts and fewer drinks we can differentiate ourselves from those vulnerable to rape.”6 In reality, no change in appearance or attitude can prevent rape, but the new law applicable in California schools can provide comfort to those who fear false allegations, and impaired motives. Nothing is longer open to interpretation, through any sort of excuse or