This summer, it was hard to escape the omnipresence of Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines”, a pop tune with controversial lyrics and an even more controversial music video. While admittedly catchy, the suggestive song raises questions about what consent really means, in turn providing a valuable opportunity to have critical discussions about sexual violence and community responsibility to create a culture of respect.
The issue is of particular concern on college campuses, where one in five female students is a victim of an attempted or completed sexual assault—commonly by someone known to the survivor. With September as National Campus Safety Awareness Month (NCSAM), university campuses should be a major focus of sexual violence education and prevention.
The first six weeks of the fall semester are often referred to as the “red zone”, a time when colleges and universities typically see an increase in sexual assault and other crime. With this in mind, August and September should mark the start of a year-long conversation about campus safety and the role students can play in changing the culture in their community.
Bystander intervention emphasizes this community responsibility and empowers peers to step in when they see attitudes or behaviors that could lead to sexual assault. Intervention doesn’t always mean a physical confrontation; a distraction or even the simple question, “Are you okay?” can make all the difference. Being a good bystander can also mean challenging rape culture by questioning pervasive attitudes like those heard in “Blurred Lines”.
Students should know there are on- and off-campus resources available to survivors of sexual assault, as well as federal laws that guide institutions’ responses to sexual violence. Victims have rights under both Title IX and the Jeanne Clery Act. Recent amendments to the Clery Act included within the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (known as the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act, or Campus SaVE) strengthened and expanded many of these rights to victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking.
As part of our Safe Campus, Strong Voices campaign (a partnership with Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment, with guidance from a number of other incredible organizations), the Clery Center provides a toolkit for institutions to use as they implement programming during the month of September. This year’s “Day of Action” is centered around the PACT5 project in which five universities created student-produced documentaries about sexual assault.
We are excited and honored to be part of these important efforts to help students, parents, faculty, and professionals at institutions nationwide engage in meaningful dialogue about the impact of sexual violence and other crimes on campus communities.
Whether addressing the media’s hyper-sexualization of women or a classmate’s demeaning remark, it’s our hope that these conversations empower college communities to take a step back and consider, “What can we do to change a culture of sexual violence?”
