Sexual Assault

Topic: Sexual Assault

Part D

I believe a proposed solution to the problem with sexual assault is to make punishments harsher for men who rape women, and also for women who make false accusations. Women who make false accusations are just as bad as men who actually partake in these actions because when too many false accusations are made it is sometimes hard to differentiate between which ones are real and which ones are made up. It also becomes a burden to some women to come forward because they’re afraid that they will not be believed if they do try to confront their attacker. I believe regular citizens should advocate for governmental figures to change policies to make the time served for sexual assault longer, and to also make it a felony for women or men to lie about sexual assaults that happen to them. I believe if laws become stricter regarding falsely accusing people of sexual assault it would negate many false stories that arise. The “me too” movement has become a big thing in the media and I think that is great and I believe all of those who support that specific movement should also support and advocate for change for longer sentences for perpetrators who sexually assault individuals.

I believe if a big enough organization or group of individuals came together and they found statistics and data to show the amount of people who are sexually assaulted every year and the amount of false claims that are reported every year then it would make more people want to get involved and change would become inevitable. 1 out of every 5 women and 1 out of every 71 men are raped at some point in their life (https://www.nsvrc.org/statistics). Those numbers are huge and it’s disturbing to know that many women who we see, work with, and go to school with everyday have been victims of sexual assault. Only about 10% of rapes reported are false and 63% of sexual assaults are never reported to police. (https://www.nsvrc.org/sites/default/files/publications_nsvrc_factsheet_media-packet_statistics-about-sexual-violence_0.pdf).

If our society voted more women into office I believe it would be easier for change to happen. I don’t think that men are careless when it comes to sexual assault, but I believe it is not very important on their agenda. I believe women empathize more with issues faced by women and they will make it more of a priority to address the severity of sexual assault. If more women were voted into office with the agenda to lower the numbers of sexual assault cases every year real change could present itself. If more policies were enacted that could make punishments more harsh for perpetrators of sexual assault and people who lie about sexual assault I think the numbers would lower drastically. I also think that if a policy could be put in place to protect the identities of sexual assault victims with more discretion and not make them testify in court as often or face their attackers more people may come forward regarding their issues.

Obstacles:

Public policy – actually needs to be voted on by the people

Legal system – idk how it would work to actually make it so people didn’t have to testify to convict someone – I know many people don’t want to come forward b/c they don’t believe in our justice system and don’t want to be embarrassed in the public eye

Public opinion – Many people may not see an issue with sexual assault or may believe the proposed changes won’t help anything so they may not be willing to help

Funding – Many activist groups don’t have the funds to really get the attention of governmental entities so they may not be able to truly make a difference trying to get new policies and laws created to help victims of sexual assault.