On August 6 of 2016, the bill “Survivors’ Bill of Rights Act of 2016” was introduced. This bill proposes that a sexual assault victim should be allowed to have a sexual assault evidence kit without charge, and that all of the contents inside of sexual assault evidence kit will be secured. The sexual assault evidence kit would contain, “a DNA profile match, a toxicology report other information collected as part of a medical forensic examination.” The bill also proposes that the victim should also be informed about the sexual assault evidence kit, so that it ensures that everything is being done to help the victim and in catching the perpetrator. The bill also wants the sexual assault victim to have the ability to have a sexual assault advocate to help them through what they had experienced, and the ability to victim compensation and restitution. The bill was passed through the Judiciary Committee with a unanimous vote, and was signed by President Obama just four days after it was presented. This is extremely important, because it is a big step for sexual assault victims and the fact that the bill was passed unanimously through the Judiciary Committee shows that we are moving to a country where we are more helpful towards sexual assault victims.
When going out, women often face the fear of date rape drugs. As a child growing up, women are always told to be careful what they drink, and to never leave your drink or food unattended. If you do by accident leave your drink or food unattended, don’t touch it, just order a new one. When you leave your drink unattended, you might be at risk of having your drink drugged. The purpose of the drugging drinks, is so that the predator can take a woman when she is weak, and isn’t aware of her surroundings, so that she can be taken advantage of. Now women don’t have to continue living in fear, of something happening to their drinks. There is a new nail polish that detects if there are drugs in your drink, by changing color. This nail polish was invented by college students Tyler Confrey-Maloney, Stephen Gray, Ankesh Madan and Tasso Von Windheim; from North Carolina State University. The main goal of the nail polish is to help women protect themselves from the different threats they face everyday. This idea got some backlash from social media, because people were angry that instead of society teaching predators, not to take advantage of women, it provides women with different functions on how to protect themselves. Although I do agree, with some of the people from social media, I believe that since we have not completely taught people how to not take advantage of people, we need to use different tools to protect ourselves and others, so that we can protect ourselves.
-Stella
In one of the craziest election periods ever, a lot of different information came out about both candidates during their campaigns. But one that really stuck was all of the allegations that were coming out about Donald Trump. A total of 15 women accused Donald Trump of sexual assault or sexual harassment, and now that Trump was inaugurated, it is shocking to think that our nation chose someone with so many accusations to become the future leader and face of the United States of America. The people that voted for him were able to look over all of the rape allegations that were brought against him, and only focus on what they agreed with him. It doesn’t really make sense to me how someone could just overlook 15 rape allegations, on top of all the different things he has said about immigrants and about women. Almost all of the allegations are women who were either part of Miss USA or Apprentice, and he walked in on them in the dressing room changing and then didn’t leave, or they were just near him and he just decided to grab them inappropriately. Regardless, someone who can’t control themselves around other women should be in control of this country.
-Stella
There is a clear difference in the two sources above, the first video shows a woman walking around NYC minding her own business and showing all of the harassment that she receives. While the second video shows a different woman walking around NYC but instead of just ignoring the cat calls, she decides to respond to them. Throughout the first video, the discomfort that a woman feels while walking in the streets is perfectly captured. The way the different men interact with her and cat call her is absolute disgusting and just knowing that cat calling begins to happen at a very young age makes it even worse. I think what the video also captures is the fact that throughout her entire walk, she does not initiate the conversation, or any type of interaction, rather the people she is walking past feel the need to talk to her, or say something about her body. The second video has the same idea, a woman walking around alone in NYC, but instead of her ignoring the comments she responds with witty back talk. It is interesting to see the way the body language of the person changes once she responds back. What I also like about the video is that they do show a woman trying to hit on her, showing that although a bit rare they still happen. One incident in the second video that really stuck with me, is that she is walking and another guy starts to walk beside her for about 10 minutes without saying something, so after about 10-11 minutes she tells him that she likes what he’s doing, and that its important to exercise to keep off the weight. The man then gets offended by the comment and starts to get angry that she said that. I completely understand why he got mad that she made a comment about his weight. At the same time there is also the fact that he followed her around for about 10 minutes, and there is a certain point when it just becomes scary and in a situation like that, someone will probably say whatever they can so that you will leave them alone.
-Stella
The article above talks about another person given a lighter punishment for raping a woman. David Becker is an 18 year-old high school senior, who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting two unconscious woman in a bed at a party. Originally, the prosecutors thought that David Becker should receive a two-year sentence, and had to be registered as a sex offender , but when the case was presented to the judge, the judge ignored the prosecutor’s recommendations. The judge decided to allow David Becker to do his probation in Ohio where he was hoping to attend college, and he would have to stay away from the two girls, and register as a sex offender. This is a much lighter punishment that he was originally going to get, and when his lawyer, Thomas Rooke, was asked to speak about the matter he said “The goal of this sentence was not to impede this individual from graduating high school and to go onto the next step of his life, which is a college experience.” Seeing this comment was really upsetting, not only was the punishment much lighter than what it should have, his lawyer didn’t see a problem with him continuing his life normally. Invading someone’s privacy and violating someone’s right should not be something that is taken lightly. If someone violated another person’s body, they should be fairly convicted. Regardless of whether they were an intelligent human being and by throwing them into jail it will ruin their future, they still committed a crime.
-Stella
In the world we live in, when someone mentions sexual harassment or sexual assault, the victim is usually blamed. Different comments such as “Well, if she was wearing that she was asking for it” or “She was asking for it dresses like that.” The victim is almost always blamed for what happened to them, and the perpetrator roams free and blameless. A student in Arcadia University was tired of hearing the victim being blamed, so she took it upon herself to take a picture of what the victim was wearing and suggested that maybe the fault wasn’t of the victim but of the perpetrator. In our society we tend to let sexual assaulter and harassers pass, with comments like “They couldn’t help themselves” which is completely unacceptable. How can someone justify that it’s the victim’s fault, when all the victim was doing was wearing what they want, on their own body. Furthermore, this article shows that regardless of what a person is wearing they can still be sexually assaulted because a sick person thought that it was acceptable to violate someone’s body because they felt like it. We need to battle this belief and make sure that the next generation knows right from wrong, and that violating someone’s temple, their one and only body, is not okay. Instead of telling people to cover up, we need to tell people to respect everyone around them. Anyone should be able to comfortably go around in whatever they are wearing, and not be fearful of their life. We need to work to achieve a society where we don’t blame those who were wearing what they wanted, but we instead blame those that took advantage of another person.
-Stella
Excuses Can't Hide Bruises 