<p>"One in five college women will be raped, or experience an attempted rape, before graduation. Less than 5 percent will report these crimes to officials on or off campus, and, when they do, there's a good chance the system will let them down.</p>
<p>A handful of former students who spoke out and reported rapes at their schools told CNN they didn't feel protected by their universites. They were initially interviewed as part of an investigative series by the Center for Public Integrity, a Washington-based nonprofit that says it seeks to make institutions more transparent and accountable.</p>
<p>The women welcomed the chance to share their experiences and offer advice to students today.</p>
<p>"I was too young, still in too much shock and too emotionally gone to make decisions on my own," said a woman who, as a freshman, reported a rape in 2001. "I needed an adult I trusted. The school did not provide such a person."....</p>
<p>The shocking statistics of rape and attempted rape on campus came to light in a study conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice nine years ago. But the recently released series published by the Washington center shows that while federal law requires schools to act on sexual assault allegations and look out for the rights of victims, many higher-education institutions aren't making the grade." Rape</a> victims offer advice to today's college women - CNN.com</p>
<p>I read something similar like this in the local paper a few weeks ago. The paper interviewed a young woman who was raped while attending Bucknell. Although Bucknell arranged her to meet her alleged attacker so that they can sort matters out by themselves, nothing was done to press charges. The school even warned her not to do so, because it could jeopardize her relationship with the university. This said attacker later graduated with a clean record.</p>
<p>It is disheartening to know that some universities obstruct justice just to merely protect their reputation. Where is the stigma in ensuring that justice is carried out when needed?</p>
<p>This randomly reminded me of a man who was recently freed from prison after being accused of raping a woman, which he never did. The woman said he raped her after getting an argument with the man, and claimed rape because she wanted attention from her friends who wasn’t taking her complaint about the man serious.</p>
<p>He served three years. She only came clean because of confessing to one of those church dudes and he convinced her to go to the cops. Now she’s refusing to testify about it unless she gets immunity.</p>
<p>…or something like that. I bet I messed up all the details. </p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong Platt, I also believe that there should be very strong evidence against the accused. I think that sometimes women regret having sex and feel violated, and press charges. </p>
<p>But if all signs point to “yes, he did it” then I really see no point in letting the rapist continue to be a menace to society.</p>
<p>@Catlover it makes me wanna be the guy with the needle at the prison.</p>
<p>Odds are that someone you know will be raped while you are in college. If someone tells you that they’ve been raped, please don’t do what the friends/roommates of two rape victims I know did.</p>
<p>One was literally dragged off the street when she was sitting in front of her dorm freshma year in her southern college. She was raped at knifepoint by a stranger who threatened to kill her. She was a virgin. She went back to her dorm, told her roommates who looked at her and then changed the subject.</p>
<p>Another friend was raped two years ago when she was intoxicated. When she told her friends, they either said nothing or blamed her.</p>
<p>My friends never believed me, for some reason, and in the end made me doubt even myself. So I never told anybody else, and now it’s too late. It kind of kills me that he has a wife and kids now, and they live a block away from my house. He’s always right there. He’s going to be a lawyer in a few years, eventually he wants to be a judge and it’ll probably happen. I don’t know what I find more nauseating, that he is going to be a figure of justice, in part because I left his record clean, or that my friends took it upon themselves to judge what really happened. We really aren’t friends anymore now. </p>
<p>I will live to regret saying this on this forum. You guys are some of the least sympathetic people I’ve ever encountered. But, for your friends’ sake, I wanted to personally make you understand how important it is to be supportive of your friends, no matter what you think happened. It was two years since one incident in October, and it will be two years since the second on Friday. Thank goodness I have my boyfriend now, he gets it at least, but he gets so upset about it I don’t really even have him to talk to unless it’s strictly necessary. I have nobody else. And it’s the sort of thing that really makes you feel incurably alone to begin with without your friends making it worse. My friends had an opportunity to show me that it gets better than this, and they chose not to take it. There’s really no excuse for doing that to a friend.</p>
<p>@Twisted I’m so sorry. I wish, for you, that somebody could make a time machine so you could go back and right what’s wrong. Unfortunately, it appears that we’re quite a ways away from ever having that. Do you believe that what comes around goes around? If so he’ll get his one day.</p>
<p>I have no choice but to believe what goes around comes around, I wouldn’t be able to handle it otherwise. I have come back to my faith since everything and that makes it a bit easier. It’s a long process, there’s not much to be done at this point but ride it out. </p>
<p>Another really important thing I want to emphasize is not being an idiot while you’re in college. I had to have a frank talk with my roommate at the beginning of the year about not allowing strange men to spend the night, and after being followed home from the club one night she still walks home alone in the dark all the time. We have a service that will give you a free ride home at night, and I would always be willing to walk with her, but she doesn’t think anything is really going to happen and she just goes with it. Do not do that. Don’t be an idiot. You are never as safe as you think you are, you have to be constantly vigilant. That doesn’t mean paranoid, but you do have to use common sense and protect yourself. If there is ever a time in your life to drop the I-am-young-and-invincible attitude, it is right now. There are people in this world that want to hurt you. The one that I encountered created a completely false persona to lure me in and brainwashed me for months so that he could trap me, having done nothing but see me walk by in the mall. I was so deeply engrossed in the scam that I didn’t even realize what happened to me until months later. I was preyed upon like an animal, at 18 years old, by another person my age. Another college student. There ARE evil people out there, even some people you may think are your friends, even some people that may be right in front of you. Do not put yourselves in danger. I may be a big loser because I don’t let my roommate bring strange men into our room at night, but that is a very small price to pay for safety. You have to keep yourselves alive, now that you are out in the world like adults you have nobody to protect you but yourselves. </p>
<p>And, just in case I have not been clear, that goes for men, too. While it may be less likely that someone is going to rape you, that does not mean you are free to get drunk and wander the streets without any risk. Just because you’re big strong manly men doesn’t mean that you are immune to danger. Be smarter than that.</p>
<p>wow, I had no idea rape statistics were so high…I would’ve guessed maybe 1 in 10 women, not 1 in 3
that is just crazy and nauseating…I know sexual assualt wasn’t discussed as openly in the older generation, but they ignored her? some friends</p>
<p>@Twisted - that is just sick…he’s married with a child and lives near you? he’s going to be a lawyer? I don’t think i’d be able to live like that…how do you even stand it? </p>
<p>you are right about having to be constantly careful. I live in manhattan off-campus in a cheaper part of town…I walk alone at night a lot. not the smartest thing to do, but I don’t have much choice (live with my boyfriend though) but when I live in a dorm next semester i’ll probably start using the campus bus or service that gives you a free ride.</p>
there are people who lie about rape – someone even linked to an article - but you think all women who are raped are drunk or dress like whores? newflash: even in countries where women literally drape themselves head to toe showing nothing but their eyes, they’re still raped. you don’t have to dress like a slut or be drunk and acting stupid to be assaulted.
“if they didn’t want to get raped”…yeah, because they wanted to get raped, it was part of their fun plans for the weekend. it doesn’t surprise me the rate is so high with twisted thinking like this still going on. I wonder how you would feel if your sister, mom, or a female friend was raped? Or as you would put it, “playing the victim”…i guess you would brush it off by insisting they were asking for it
that’s bs…people in college are constantly drinking and hooking up. so when my boyfriend and I have sex after drinking, we’re raping each other? :rolleyes: Yeah, by that definition, most of us are products of rape…</p>
<p>Ignore the ■■■■■ kids. Even though I’m about to be a hypocrite.</p>
<p>Dupes, if someone leaves the door to their house unlocked do they deserve to be burglarized? Please tell me you don’t think so.</p>
<p>And there’s a simple solution to your problem pal: don’t get drunk, and if you do, make sure your buddies don’t let you start having sex with every fox who hits on you. Is it really worth the MAJOR potential headaches that can come along with it? I’ve never had sex with someone because I was drunk, I’ve never had sex with someone who’s drunk. I probably could have if I wanted to, but I didn’t because I have integrity. I also have a girlfriend, and frankly sex with someone you love is much more fulfilling than sex with someone you’ve known for a half hour.</p>
<p>The only countries where “she was asking for it by the way she dressed” is a legitimate legal standing are places like Saudi Arabia and Iran. Think about that for a bit.</p>
<p>edit: @Alix, if you have sex with a person who’s intoxicated, they can legally charge you for rape in many states.</p>
<p>dupes, u sound just like my abusive dad…pathetic morons. p.s. i predict you’ll get a verbal beat-down throughout this thread. looking forward to it.</p>
<p>thanks for sharing this, northstarmom & thanks to you for sharing your story, twistedxkiss. i’ll be going off to college next year &, while i can’t explain how excited i am, i’ve been really nervous, lately, too. having to take care of myself for the first time ever is a really scary thought! but i will definitely have some sort of a talk with my roomie/friends. & u are definitely NOT a loser, tkiss. i can only hope my roommate next year will be looking out for me the way u obviously are for others but this whole thing really does make me want to be protective over my friends/family, starting today. it’s a scary world, out there D:</p>
but this whole thing really does make me want to be protective over my friends/family, starting today. it’s a scary world, out there D:</p>