I’m currently a sophomore and am taking the ECD 222 Sexual Violence Prevention For Peer Educators course in hopes to become a part of The Movement. I’m writing in response to the “Education chief weighs in on sexual violence” article that was published on Monday. I would like to say that I agree and I’m happy to see that it was said, that the way to prevent sexual assault is by raising awareness. This is something that The Movement aims to do with workshops, displays like this, and events. We as peer educators aim to encourage everyone to be active bystanders and try to prevent situations like these. Also the point that rape does happen to males was a good one.

Through all these good points, there seemed to be some points/opinions that were made that gave the wrong impression. For instance while “the buddy system” is good, walking in groups is not going to prevent sexual assault. This is actually victim blaming when we say, “She shouldn’t have been walking at night alone.” And sexual assault does not just occur outside on dark streets by strangers. In 90 percent of rapes, the perpetrator is someone that the survivor knows and over 526 female students here at State could experience rape or attempted rape each school year.

Preventing assaults is not a personal decision. We can decrease these instances by changing our culture into one where oppression is not tolerated or allowed. I hope this informs others of other points of the issue.

LaSonya Harris

sophomore, biochemistry