COLLEGES, TAKE ACTION ON SEXUAL ASSAULT Trigger Warning: Sexual Assault
For as long as I can remember, my biggest fear has been being raped. I am aware that this is not something that people usually say when they are asked about their deepest, darkest fears but I cannot pretend that I am even remotely more afraid of anything else on this earth. I also will not lie and say that this fear has not impacted any other aspects of my life. I find myself avoiding eye contact with all men, including family and friends. Whenever I hear anyone shouting a name or making loud noises, I keep my head forward and pretend that I did not hear a word they said. I have changed how I walk, talk, dress and anything else that would give any man the idea that I want them.
I feel that I must stress that I have never been sexually assaulted. I have never been verbally harassed, nor have I ever been the butt of a crude joke. I feel that this is a crucial piece of information for you to hear because if a woman that has never experienced any form of sexual harassment is deadly afraid of being assaulted, imagine how someone that has been assaulted feels. Sexual assault victims will forever have that dreaded image in their minds. Most blame themselves and continuously think about what they could have done differently. These victims may never recover.
This is something that I have always been passionate about and my passion was intensified when I heard about the assault on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus. On August 24, a seventeen-year-old student on the University These changes are not new by any means. I started altering different things about myself when I was twelve years old, since of Nebraska-Lincoln campus was assaulted by a nineteen-yearold student from the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. According I knew that being raped would be worse than being killed. I can safely say that I would rather be brutally murdered than be to www.journalstar.com, there have been five demonstrations in raped and have to live with that memory for the rest of my life. the following seven nights after the attack, all student-organized and student-led. A majority of the demonstrations have been When I think about the possibility of being sexually assaulted, outside of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, also known as FIJI. Students have told www.1011now.com that “They will my chest gets tight. My hands start to sweat and I cannot stop thinking about it for hours, sometimes even days. During these continue to protest until FIJI is permanently shut down.” According to a statement from the university's chancellor, times, I get so anxious that I avoid contact with anyone, even Ronnie Green, “The fraternity is currently under probation for my family. Writing this article is even taking a toll on me, but I cannot sit and watch the blatant lack of action that universities previous violations of university policy.” If the student body take when a student is brave enough to come forward and share did not take a stand for this brave soul by organizing protests and showing their support for the victim, would the university that they have been sexually assaulted.
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September 27, 2021
Photo courtesy of womensrunning.co.uk
By: Sarah Vandermolen Assistant Editor
