Drinking and rape culture at IU

Little 500 is a week for drunken revelry and carefree celebration. We celebrate the end of spring semester, we celebrate one of IU’s oldest and greatest traditions and we celebrate each other.

It’s exactly a time like Lil 5, when we tend to be careless with our drinking and our decision-making, that we need a reminder to be careful. We especially need to be careful with each other’s bodies.

Hooking up is a general side effect, maybe even a desired side effect, of Little 500 week’s drinking and partying. We know at least some of our friends are excited to get it in this weekend.

However, with great partying comes great responsibility. Our culture is a culture of rape.

Before you denounce the feminist overtones of such a statement, consider the consequences of totally denying the existence of rape culture. You risk endangering yourself, your friends and your sexual partners.

The popular SlutWalk movement has arisen out of a need to combat victim blaming, in which women who dress “provocatively” are assumed to be asking for it. Women often know and continue relationships with their sexual assailant.

Out of 42 reported sex offenses in the past three years that data was available at IU (2008, 2009 and 2010), 41 were “forcible” and only one was “non-forcible.”

This might reflect a broad belief that violence is the only qualifier for rape, which, by definition, is any non-consensual sexual activity.

This isn’t an accusation of generalized maliciousness on the part of men or women who sexually assault their partners. An American Pscyhological Association survey of campus rape culture found most rapes seemed to be due to miscommunication between genders.

This miscommunication results from assumptions about sexuality and refusal to practice proper methods of valid consent. What is “consent”?

Consent is an enthusiastic affirmation between two (or more) people that both people want to engage in physical/sexual activity. Consent is not the absence of “no” (whether this “no” is verbal or physical).

Consent is not being so drunk that one person or both people are unable to really assess whether they want anything physical or sexual, so things “just happen.”

Being drunk is no excuse not to get consent. If anything, it is a reason to be more careful. If you have sex without consent, it is, by definition, rape.

Whenever you want to engage in sexual activities with someone, you ask the person what is OK, and you proceed or don’t proceed based on the answer. So, what else can you do to fight rape culture?

You should intervene when you see a potentially harmful situation. According to a 2011 survey, 77 percent of IU students think that if someone had stepped up and intervened when they witnessed inappropriate sexual behavior (including, but not limited to, sexual assault and rape), a negative outcome or situation could have been avoided.

If you see friends bringing a drunk people into their rooms, stop them. Ask what the situation is, make them keep the door open and continuously check on them.

Do whatever you need to do to ensure that everything is OK. It’s better to be awkward in a situation than to risk the occurrence of rape or sexual assault. If you hear a potentially violent exchange happening in your hallway, knock on the door to make sure everything’s OK, which will momentarily stop the fight.

Little 500 has been called the world’s greatest college weekend. We can’t wait to celebrate in style with new and old friends. Especially when so many of us will be drinking, remember it’s everyone’s responsibility to fight rape and sexual assault.