As a senior visual arts student at Columbia University Emily Sulkowicz has made national news for her senior thesis project. She has vowed to carry a dorm mattress with her until the university takes action to remove the man who raped her in her own bed as a sophomore. Emily’s story is far too common. It is one of rape, victim blaming and a lack of action against the perpetrator. While her project was not intended to be a protest, it speaks out against problematic rape policies on university campuses. Many have come out to both help Emily carry her mattress and to tell their own stories.
Rape is a violation of a person’s bodily autonomy that has been normalized and trivialized. In the United States alone, the are 237,868 cases of sexual assault and rape each year, yet 97% of rapists will never spend a day in jail. The culture we live in is a rape culture where girls are taught how not to get raped rather than teaching consent and not to rape. It was said best on twitter, “If you’re promoting changes to women’s behaviour to “prevent” rape, you’re really saying “make sure he rapes the other girl”. Still, products continue to be marketed to women to protect themselves such as “rape-preventive” nail polish and underwear and many college students don’t even know the basics of consent.
This tradition of blaming women for being assaulted or not being careful enough is a dangerous one which as lead to low numbers of reporting and rapists being seen as victims in the media. When upcoming football stars raped a girl at a party in Ohio in 2013, the media gave her rapists sympathy and mourned their loss of “bright futures” in football and not her violation, embarrassment, and assault. Never should someone’s football career be prioritized over someone’s right to say what happens to their body.
While this is an important domestic issue, it takes an entirely new light when looked at in war zones. Thought the Geneva Conventions clearly state that rape cannot be used as a tool of war, it is still common. Refugees are particularly vulnerable. In 2012, the UN recorded 1,700 rapes in camps for displaced people in Somalia. In these cases we can see many of the same trends of victim blaming that are present in the United States. The soldiers claim that because they paid the girls, some as young as 12 years old, it is not rape despite these girls clearly not being old enough or in a position to consent.
In Syria, the rape of women was used as a tool to control men. By torturing, beating and raping men’s wives and daughters in front of them. Women in Syria have been quoted that the rape was worse than the chemical weapons used against them. Regimes should not be allowed to torture its people while the international community stays out. Rape is a serious crime that is epidemic levels.
Our Rights We Will Maintain 