Stand up, stop silence

There's another shirt for next year's Clothesline Project, unfortunately. \nJust days after students, faculty, administrators, and community members marched through campus in support of women's rights, another woman reported she had her's stripped.\nThe IU Police Department reported an alleged sexual assault early Tuesday morning on North Jordan Avenue by a 20-year-old male student on a 20-year-old female student.\nThe woman is brave for reporting the incident.\nMore than 90 percent of college women raped do not tell police, said Amy Maidi, crisis intervention services coordinator for Middle Way House. For every rape reported, there are nine that fall silent. \nMiddle Way House has responded to 11 calls this October. Ninety-nine other calls were never placed; 99 voices silent and scared.\nWhen hundreds of people marched through campus to "Take Back the Night" 10 days ago, they said with one powerful voice that it's OK to speak out. It's OK to fight back.\nToday, we say the same. Rape is an epidemic that stretches to every home in America. But unlike cancer, the talk is taboo, and the incidents reported are often contested. This case is.\nBut the brave girl, shattered by fear, did the best thing. She called the police; she went to the hospital.\nIt's one way women can fight back. By having an evidentuary exam performed, women capture the option of seeking retribution through the justice system. The exam, Maidi said, usually takes between four and six hours and involves having samples of the victim's pubic hair removed and tested. The evidence is sealed and given to police. It's another chord of a disharmonious melody, but it's one of the only ways the attackers can be held accountable. \nSixty to 80 percent of women raped know their attackers, Maidi said. Nothing is easy about rape, but when a woman is violated in the most vile way by a friend, roommate or neighbor, it's sometimes easier to bury the issue in the recesses of the mind than engage the issue and confront the attacker. The person must be confronted. \nThe Clothesline Project lets people bare witness to the devastation that comes with rape. It is hard to look at. The messages of suffering and sorrow are even harder to read. Indeed it is a powerful tool, but it is only operating at 10 percent.\n