LETTER: Fliers reflect reality of assault victims

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by Ravi Sohal

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To the editor:

In last week's Thresher , Jason Ciarochi and Michael Gomez wrote a letter to the editor ("Sexual assault fliers offensive, single out males as perpetrators") about the fliers for Sexual Assault Awareness Week.

They felt the fliers presented an image of men as perpetrators and ignored men's role as victims of sexual assault.

As a male member of Students Organized Against Rape, I disagree.

The reason that the fliers stressed women's role in sexual assault is that women have a much higher incidence rate of assault.

One in four women will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime. One in 12 men will be.

In addition, SOAR's activities on campus focus on acquaintance rape, the most prevalent form of sexual assault. The vast majority of victims of acquaintance rape are women.

The writers take offense at a flier that advises women that: "Drugs and alcohol may cloud your judgment and make it harder for you to get out of an unsafe situation."

They state that "the obvious implication here is that a male will put the woman in such a situation."

However, this was not the intent of the message.

The fact is that 80 percent of college acquaintance rapes involve the use of alcohol and/or drugs.

The advice was not intended to slander men but advise women of a precaution that may greatly reduce the risk of a dangerous situation.

An important distinction needs to be made between the statements "most rapists are men" and "most men are rapists."

The former is a statistical fact. The latter is absurd. In advising women of the dangers of sexual assault, we are not automatically accusing all men of being rapists.

The writers call for the organizers of Sexual Assault Awareness Week to stop "lecturing men" and to organize a discussion between men and women about the issues surrounding sexual assault. In fact, we did this. Twice.

On Wednesday during Sexual Assault Awareness Week, we held a panel discussion entitled "Men and Sexual Assault: How Sexual Assault Affects Everyone."

On Thursday, we discussed the distinction between consensual sex and sexual assault. Either of these events would have confirmed that SOAR activities include both sexes.

Men have always had an active role in SOAR. SOAR was founded seven years ago by a group of male students. The fliers that Ciarochi and Gomez objected to were designed by men.

We agree that sexual assault is not just a women's issue. Sexual assault is an issue that affects everyone. Not just the victims of both genders, but their friends, families and communities as well.

With all the incidents that have occurred this past year, it is particularly important now to recognize the issue. I applaud Ciarochi and Gomez's interest in the issue, and I hope it will continue in the future.

Ravi Sohal

President

Students Organized Against Rape

SRC '98

This item appeared in the Opinion section of the March 29, 1996 issue.

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