Speaking Out on the Issue of "Rape"

The rape that occurred in the city of Richmond is a wake up call to society as a whole. The fact that there were at least 20 bystanders watching and laughing while this 15-year-old girl was getting assaulted at her homecoming dance is pitiful.
It is a call to the Richmond Unified School District as well as to all school districts that rape is not just a problem that happens on college campuses. It happens to high school students and to students who are still in middle schools and even elementary schools. I have no doubt in my mind that these children had the worst sexual education a school could give. The best way to make students aware of sex, rape, and other issues is not to keep silent. The best ways to address these issues is to speak about it.

All too often issues like rape are kept secret while children are struggling to understand and trying to grapple with the thoughts or experiences that they are going through. I blame these rapes on the adults in our society.
I began to understand how crucial sex education is after watching the documentary, No! It was a documentary by Aisha Simmons who was a rape and incest survivor. The documentary confronted rape in the black community and the stigma that was associated with victims of rape crimes. The statistics stated that one in three women would be sexually assaulted in her lifetime. The documentary also brought to light that people of the same race as the victim commit rapes and the victims are usually silent.

Rape survivors and activists were the main people who were interviewed in the documentary so they were able to offer a framework behind why rape happens. One of the women said that rape is a “community based issue.” The fact is that children that commit acts of rape know very little about sex. And most of these children and minors have misconstrued assumptions about a female’s right to say no.

“Why are we silent about one of the most barbaric, intensely painful, ultimately destructive acts that any community can endure?” Asked Johnetta B. Cole, Ph.D, and former president at the Bennett College for Women in North Carolina.
According to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN) 44% of rapes happen to minors.
The fact that most rapes go unreported does not mean that the victim’s suffering do not exist. The psychological effects of rape are real and they need to be addressed because victims of rape are three times more likely to suffer from depression and are 13 times more likely to abuse alcohol.

What we need is visible support in our communities. Rape awareness needs to be advocated more in sexual education classes and sexual education needs to be addressed in the home. While rape and sex may be very uncomfortable things to talk about they need to be addressed or we are going to have a generation of youngsters who know nothing about sex or rape and despite their ignorance they are still going to be pressured by obscene images on the television screen.