Rape- How Can We Change

Rape– How Can We Change?

Although the country has seen crime rates plummet in recent years, rape continues to be a major concern in America. According to Annette Fuentes’ article, "Crime Rates Are Down... But What About Rape?" in Ms. magazine, "an estimated fifteen percent of women are raped or molested at some point in their lives" (22). While big cities such as Boston, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, and New York have seen the rates of violent crimes such as murder, robbery, and aggravated assault plummet, rape has not been so fortunate. In most of these cities, reported cases of rape have declined by only a few percentage points, whereas in some of these cities, reported cases of rape have actually increased. Rape is an epidemic that is slowly plaguing our entire nation, and unless some drastic action is taken immediately, this epidemic may never be cured. If we are truly interested in having our nation cleansed of this disease, we must begin by removing from our minds the notion that rape occurs only among the poor. When asked to comment on the brutality of rape, Roger Crafts, the Dean of "Student Affairs" at Brandeis University said: "I do not think that we have a significant problem here because we have a sophisticated and intelligent group of students" (Sweet 93). Dean Crafts went on to mention that "vandalism and physical harm are more likely to occur with lower educational levels" (93). Mr. Crafts’ feelings on the subject of rape concur with those of "middle class America." Most of us feel that rape occurs only in the lower socioeconomic classes of America and not amongst those with higher educational backgrounds. Contrary to most of our beliefs, rape exists in the upper and middle classes as well, but in most cases goes unreported due to a various number of reasons.

Fortunately, in recent years, the occurrences of violent rapes (those that are committed by unidentified men who forcibly attack women and then proceed to rape them) are slowly decreasing. Unfortunately, "date rapes," which were virtually unknown a generation ago, have now become commonplace. Unlike, violent rapes, a date rape is committed by someone who is known to the victim. In these types of situations, the rapist can sometimes be even the victim’s best friend. A "date rape" can leave emotional scars much deeper than those that are left from a violent rape because the prior is committed by someone whom the victim has an attachment to.