Just answer me this?

Here I go with todays issue. I write knowing no one is reading but do I care? Well yes of course I do. But I trudge on. So today in the Blogs I follow one caught my eye. Fiministe reported about a rapist on the UCONN campus. In this story they say that the guy raped an alumna who decided to report it to the campus athorities instead of the local police. The young man confessed to the crime and his punishment by the school was "deferred suspension".

Now I don't want to appear as though I think his punishment was fair because I don't. However, why would she not go to the police. The article alluded to the fact that people will go this route to save from going through the stress of the legal system. Having been raped myself I don't understand. It does upset me that this guy has his slap on the wrist and is free to go and rape again, and you know he will. But I am just as upset with the victim for not telling the correct authorities. I am upset with the school because they not only knew this happened but that they did not report it.

Back when I was raped I did not tell, anyone. I really regret that now. I didn't tell for several reasons one of which I was scared of what it would do to me and my family. Now I look back on that time and kick myself. Of course when this happened to me it was a different time. Most women then did not report those type of crimes because they usually were blamed. But are not things different now? Have we as a sociey not moved on? Can we move on if we are still not dealing with this type of crime in the open? Isn't this just another secret that we are being asked to keep?

Comments

  1. AnonymousMarch 10, 2010 at 9:00 AM

    When I hear that 1 in 5 college women are raped it's hard to understand. It was most likely that way when I was in college and I just did not know. I do remember a friend CJ telling me that of all her college friends I was the only one that had not been raped or molested.

    My news comes from the radio, I am a NPR person.
    The link below is some of what I have been hearing on college rape. I could not find the one I heard on a education campaign for colleges campuses. It was a great program they had started with posters and everything. It's model like the don't drink and drink campaign. It ask friends to help friends and don't just be a bystander help.
    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124272157

    NPR covered the why and how of this program and even how they will measure if it's working. Then they interview students and let them tell there stories. One man told a story on how they stop a man who had put a pill in a woman's drink, but then they did not know what to do and it turned into a fight. Now they know how to report it. scw

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