Free Essay Sample on a Rape on Campus

Rape could be defined as an assault involving use of sex without clear consent of one party. It may also involve physical penetration by use of hands, fingers or objects without clear conscience of one party or to a minor, aged or weak individual who is incapable or unconscious to give consent.

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The incidences of rape in campuses have been on the rise with casualties citing alcohol and drug abuse as one of the leading causes. Issues with carelessness, indecisiveness and assertiveness within one partner may also convince the other party that you are willing to have sex with him or her. Often have people confused their partners decisions ending up raping them without knowing. The issue of consent is also difficult to interpret, In fact, law practitioners have always argued on (Thornhill & Palmer, 2000) just what is consent in the case of sexual intercourse; must the partner say it loud or should we judge it on the actions of the partner, what if the actions are confused for a yes instead of a no.

CNN recently revealed a new study conducted on a large undisclosed campus in New York about rape. The study shows that at least twenty percent of campus students both male and female had engaged in sexual intercourse without giving consent. This number indicates that in every five students within a campus at least one has been sexually assaulted either by being forced into it or through incapacitation due to alcohol or drug and substance abuse (Smith, 2014). This came as a shock to both the parents and media fraternity who both concurred that the crop of students entering universities and colleges were naive and gullible providing a rare opportunity for the unforgiving culprits.

Women have been persistently the greatest affected with this situation. The young ladies are particularly enticed with gifts and comrade parties within or outside campus premises before being drugged or intoxicated by alcohol. Within this state, the victim is rarely in control of her and will be led to a room or raped within the same area of intoxication.

Male students are particularly worse in this behavior. They are said to have found an easy way to circumvent the right formula for satisfying sexual demands. Instead of approaching the situation from a relationship view where genuine friendship develops into love and the two individuals wait until marriage when they should start having sex, young men now want to have it all too early. They do not wish to go through the hustle but will court a lady and lure them to their traps; rooms or social places such as clubs and pubs, the lady will be all enjoying until she loses her mind and then things will suddenly change with forceful demand for sex.

The rest would remain history as the woman would go silent on the issue and never report to nay authority. Worse of is that some will fill more loved by the people they sexually engaged with not knowing that it was a hit and run situation or a casual relationship with absolutely no strings attached. Society is rotting with pervasiveness being the order of the day, what was meant to be enjoyed in marriage is being done by the unintended and more so using force or lies or pure monkey tricks(Estrich,1987). The most vulnerable groups also include old women and sick individuals from the people tasked with protecting them.

A student in Columbia University is on records by loss Angels times for carrying her mattress for a week in protest after the university and relevant institutions failed to act on allegations that she was raped by a fellow student, the situation forced the local authority to put an investigative committee that later cleared the assailant of any wrongdoing. It is sad to note that findings were only based on media reports rather than the facts by written submissions.

The recent Boko Haram kidnappings also brought out how serious rape could be. Hundreds of girls and were kidnapped by the terrorist group Boko Haram in Nigeria and confined for weeks. It is sad that photos that were taken of the girls after a successful rescue mission showed the innocent young girls turned into a sad low esteemed lot with most of them being pregnant. This tragic situation was however not clearly depicted by the media; they instead opted to focus on the success of the rescue mission and forgetting the innocence that had been stolen from the young ladies. Questions have been raised about choice of focus in such a situation by the media houses, should we always report on success and neglect pertinent issues in a situation within the society?

Another paper the Guardian reported that French soldiers had raped women and children as young as nine years during their peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic. The media reports that followed after that did not concur with the initial one with some supporting the article while others were criticizing it why such information had leaked out to the public. The UN aid worker who had leaked the report Anders Kompass was consequently suspended and faces dismissal for breaching protocol. It is also surprising that French authorities didnt take the matter with the seriousness it required. They only promised to act yet the army men alleged to have committed the crime have never been brought to book. This is a sad situation where the one responsible for your security and protection becomes the course of harm.

The media must be used as a tool for social justice and not for malice or self-gain by a few individuals. Often we see or hear injustices committed such as rape through the media yet actions remain a past. Authorities regard the information as passing clouds and true to speak most of this pertinent issues coming from media sources are out of our minds within a month or two. Academic articles, on the other hand, are clearer with facts to support the cause. They give figures; show the extent of damage and recovery path as explained by Dr. Oedeng, a psychologist in Los Angeles. The critique of pertinent issues like rape in media is more of public relations rather than for action. They are used by the wealthy to get to as many people as possible to get to their enemies; the academic articles, on the other hand, are objective in nature with the sole purpose of enforcement, prevention and management strategies.

The other argument is that the media is so much restricted and controlled through affiliates such as media councils, consumer watch organizations among other. They must broadcast within sets of rules and frameworks taking in mind both this restriction has a direct negative influence on the quality of a story or event they are covering. Assume for instance a story is being carried out in a rape case involving a thirteen-year-old girl, her face, body or the affected parts of the body will be barred from the public viewers, her identity will also be closed. An academic writing will, however, has a clear description of the girl that even though one does not see her directly, he or she appreciates the image built in his mind (Comoli, 2015). Academic articles on this topic would, therefore, be taken more seriously than media information that passes on with the same speed they emerged.

All is however not lost for nonprint media, the fact that they expose injustices just like academic writings is a thing to appreciate. They give a keen brief of events through which a keen listener or viewer would follow up through print articles. The case of the Columbia student for instance looked like a nonissue on social and nonprint media. It is when she persisted on and the articles written following the incidence that indeed made people want to track the events. I am therefore of the opinion that both are important in covering the strange happenings in our society such as rape. Sex was a reserve of Gods creation to be done when both are in consensus; it is a joyful experience that both parties should be enjoying. Nobody should experience the act of forceful or sex without consent; the experience is so demoralizing that if it at all happens must be condemned with the strongest words possible(Cahill,2001). As for now we are all in shock and wondering who will bail out the self-created man-eat-man society, only time will tell.

References

Thornhill, R., & Palmer, C. T. (2000). A natural history of rape: Biological bases of sexual coercion. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.

Cahill, A. J. (2001). Rethinking rape. Ithaca [u.a.: Cornell Univ. Press.

Estrich, S. (1987). Real rape. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.

Comolli, V. (2015). Boko Haram: Nigeria's Islamist insurgency.

Smith, M. (2014). Boko Haram: Inside Nigeria's unholy war.