I’m going to cut to it on this one: men are raping women. Just saying that it’s wrong doesn’t do this topic justice. It’s inhuman. It’s cruel. It’s quite possibly the worst thing that one human being can do to another. Yet, it’s happening everywhere. According to the U.S. Justice Department, one in five women are raped during a five-year college career.  

Not Anymore 
This is unacceptable. The statistics are mind-blowing and depressing. The fact that this still goes on on college campuses, too, is disheartening to say the least. Aren’t the young men committing these atrocious crimes supposed to be educated? Why is that two out of three college males interviewed reported that they would rape a woman if they thought they could get away with it? What sort of moral compass is guiding decisions like this? 

It needs to stop. I implore everyone to do just a little bit more to raise awareness. Talk to your children. Talk with your friends. Make it absolutely clear that rape is never okay. There isn’t a gray area when it comes to consent, and any sort of assumption like that is immensely disrespectful to every human being on the planet. 

I Hate That This Needs to Be Said… Again   
It seems like this issue ebbs and flows. I’ll hear quite a bit about it; I’ll talk with friends; and then I’ll feel satisfied for a while, as if things were actually getting better. Like being woken up with ice water, it hits me again. It’s still happening. Men are still raping women. When I look at the statistics, I wonder about students I’ve taught. They’re all grown up, some of them. How have they been affected by this ugliness? How does tomorrow look for them?  

You can make a difference. Whether you’re posting on the discussion board for an online course or bringing it up with friends and family, a little more awareness goes a long way. This is a plague upon our society, and it’s time to kill it.