Sexual Assault In America Essay

Words: 1326
Pages: 6

Every 68 seconds an American is sexually assaulted, and 91% of those victims are female. Sexual assault is when a sexual action takes place without consent or permission. It affects millions of people as an average of 463,634 people are assaulted each year in America alone. Women around the world experience the same fear. No matter where they are or what time of day it is, the idea of being assaulted is always in the back of their minds. Sexual assault often goes unreported as women are not believed to be, as society tends to blame victims and pin the assault as the woman's fault. Sexual assault is a huge problem and has been for hundreds if not thousands of years, though it only became a federal crime in 1994 when Senator Joe Biden wrote the Violence Against Women Act. Assault greatly …show more content…
Men need to be held accountable for their actions, education needs to be put in place so that men are more aware of their actions in the future, as well as being a victim if they come forward.

Men need to be held accountable for their actions. When growing up, the common excuse women hear for men's actions is ‘boys will be boys’. This, people argue, is because “boys are biologically wired to be violent, rough and tumble—and that they should be excused from any consequences for that behavior.” (Clemens) This promotes boys not to have respect for women. They are subconsciously taught that women don't deserve respect, or that boys have the most power because they can get away with what they want. After all, they are boys. “Phrases like ‘she was asking for it’ or ‘boys will be boys’ attempt to blur the lines around sexual consent, placing blame on victims, and excusing perpetrators from the crimes they have committed.” (Take action) Growing up with that kind of excuse follows men into adulthood subconsciously blurring their idea of consent. This needs to change a lot. The phrase ‘boys will be boys’ needs to be retired as it is not a valid