Rape. It’s a rather uncomfortable word, isn’t it? Simply defined, rape is forced sexual intercourse, including vaginal, anal or oral penetration by a body part or an object. In some states, the term “rape” is used interchangeably with “sexual assault”– a phrase that softens it, makes it seem a little more bearable. No amount of wordplay, though, will change the fact that rape is a vile and violent act that is in no uncertain terms a felony.
Now if I had my druthers, rapists would be locked away for life with no chance of parole. Some of you may think it harsh, but to be perfectly frank, there is absolutely no excuse or justification for anyone to force sex upon another person. And I firmly believe that if rapists were kept locked up, this world would be a safer place.
Rape, you see, is a recidivist crime, and statistically, a rapist commits an average of seven assaults.
Most recent figures show that only 39 percent of rapes are reported, and of those, there is only a 16.3 percent chance that a rapist will end up in prison. Factoring in unreported rapes, only 6 percent of rapists will ever spend a single day in jail. Fifteen out of 16 rapists will walk free. The figure disgusts me almost as much as the crime does.
If you had asked me a year ago, I would have been shouting from the rooftops that a rape victim had an obligation to report the crime to ensure the rapist doesn’t assault anyone else. What I would have been doing was proclaiming my ignorance.
It’s easy to stand on a soapbox and prescribe a general solution when all you have are statistics without experience. I had never had any firsthand experience, and I didn’t know any better.
But now I do. Less than a year ago, my sister was raped, and I saw firsthand what she, and my entire family, went through. In the process, I learned that three other people I am close to are also rape survivors. And after experiencing what I have, I now realize it’s not as black and white as simply reporting it to the police.
Rape is a traumatic experience, and many victims experience Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, whose major symptoms range from re-experiencing the trauma to increased social withdrawal.
In addition, rape victims are three times more likely to suffer from depression, 13 times more likely to abuse alcohol, 26 times more likely to abuse drugs and four times more likely to contemplate suicide. So while I encourage every survivor to step forward and prosecute, I also realize that there are more pressing matters when it comes to surviving rape.
Every eight minutes, someone is raped. Most recent figures show more than 65,000 rapes per year, and of these, 90 percent of victims were female and 10 percent were male. These figures do not take into account all sex crimes, of which there are more than 200,000 per year (or 1 every 2.5 minutes). Approximately 70 percent of these victims were raped by someone they knew, and 40 percent were raped in their own home. Eighty-four percent of these rapes use physical force as the only weapon.
These statistics account for the primary victims of rape; they do not, however, take into account the secondary victims of rape. Family members, friends and significant others of the survivor are victims. They experience guilt, rage, fear, anxiety, helplessness, depression and denial, among other things, and often times are in need of crisis counseling themselves.
I most certainly was, and had I known that the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center offers counseling for both primary and secondary victims of the crime, I could have saved myself a good bit of self-destructive behavior.
This is why, perhaps, I so firmly believe in the need for comprehensive rape education not only to prevent rape, but to give everyone the tools they need for a rape crisis situation long before they find themselves in one.
And the very first thing you’ll learn in “Rape 101?” No means no. Even if you are in a committed relationship. Stop means no. Even if you’ve already started. And if you don’t have the mental capacity to say yes, that means no. If you are drinking, drugged, unconscious or in any other way do not have the legal capacity to consent, it doesn’t matter — if someone — anyone-has sex with you against your consent or when you are not in a state to legally consent, that is rape.
Forgive me for stating what should be the obvious, but given the lack of rape education at this university, I thought it prudent to start at the very beginning.
Rape affects each and every one of us. If you don’t believe me, start asking around, and I’m certain you’ll find that someone you know is a survivor or a victim of the crime. It’s our responsibility to do something about it, starting with educating the population to ensure this behavior no longer occurs. As far as I’m concerned, one rape is one rape too many.
To reach the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center Hotline, call: 1-617-492-RAPE
Olena Ripnick, a senior in the College of Communication, is a weekly columnist for The Daily Free Press. She can be reached at [email protected].