2007 Jennifer petit May 2008
Beckett Brennan December 7th 2012 Erika
kinsman December 2011
Camilla Willingham I imagined that none
of you know any of the aforementioned
names but these are the names of a few
of the many women whose rapists have
still not received a punishment
equivalent to the crime they have
committed and all of these crimes have
taken place in America yes America
remember that brock turner case that
sparked national outrage for his near
six-month sentence why is it that only a
few rape cases are actually publicized
and spoken about in a country where rape
is so prevalent I am NOT a rape victim
myself however it is very challenging
for me to have hope in a nation where
rape is barely mentioned for me too
shameful that I come from and pledge
loyalty to a country where atrocities
such as rape often go ignored on a daily
basis beyond these borders however lies
a different side a more positive side
America is a force to be reckoned with
we are the global leaders and many
facets of the world including space film
and Technology our television industry
is admired all around the world
whenever I visit India I’m always
surprised by a did a remake of an
American TV show The Suite Life of Zack
and Cody
becomes The Suite Life of Karn and Kabir
good luck charlie becomes good luck
Nicky more so than our television shows
our cinema industry is highly acclaimed
Bollywood one of the largest film
producing industries in the whole entire
world tries to emulate Hollywood
by introducing more hollywood-style
action and fighting scenes bollywood is
also trying Abreu to produce more
meaningful cinema with more resonant and
powerful storylines instead of the
typical rom-com with dancing and music
another way america is a global leader
is through our lifestyle from a wealth
standpoint america is one of the richest
countries in the world although we may
have income disparities on the inside we
are still in a much better off economic
condition than many other countries for
example according to the united states
news
the average united states income is
$55,000 which is considerably high
compared to the 6,000 yearly income of
bolivia and nigeria our housing size is
notably large as well even compared to
countries just as developed and capable
for instance
the united kingdom has an average
housing size of 818 square feet compared
to ours at 2,500 square feet
as you can see america is an extremely
developed society and has crossed
several milestones however there’s still
one area that america struggles in
gender equality it’s not very often that
we see a rape crime make national
headlines or appear on the front pages
of newspapers because rapes simply
aren’t reported the United States
Department of Justice recently released
statistics stating that only 30 percent
of sexual assault cases are reported to
authorities what about the rest of the
seventy percent they deserve justice too
but why aren’t they reporting it an
article written in 2014 by Eliza gray
reveals why police rarely hear about
campus rapes she mentions how studies
show that many rape victims are afraid
of the negative reputation they may gain
if their names are associated with rape
they fear that they will lose their
friends and willingly choose to remain
silent
great also interestingly reveals that
many rape victims choose not to say
anything and start blaming themselves
for it ultimately resulting in them
losing their self-confidence and a sea
another reason why police do not hear
about rape cases are because most
colleges actually often discourage it
they fear that involvement with police
will lead to the defamation of the
campus
a recent study conducted reveals that
41% of public campuses have not
conducted a single sexual assault
investigation in the past five years
this indirectly states than the past
five years there has been no sexual
assault on these campuses which I find
really hard to believe because
predominantly the most rape cases in
America take place on college campuses
punishment to rapist is also a rare
occurrence
according to rain rai nn an anti sexual
abuse organization 994 out of 1,000
rapists or perpetrators will walk free
out of every 1000 rapes 310 are reported
to police
57 will lead to an arrest 11 are
referred to prosecutors 7 will receive a
felony conviction and 6 will lead to an
incarceration basically the vast
majority of rapists will walk free and
not even be registered sex offenders due
to the 690 of them that don’t get
reported these are devastating numbers
and really take away from the pride and
prestige of America the United States is
in the only country that suffers in the
case of sexual crimes Boko Haram a
notorious terrorist group located in
Nigeria actually hold rape camps that
are nearly impossible to escape about
three years ago 276 girls were kidnapped
by Boko Haram and as a result of it the
hashtag bringbackourgirls movement a
social media hashtag was created the
dominant reason for the abduction of
these girls was for the purpose of
babies these innocent young girls were
forced into birthing the children of
their captors Amma is a child soldier
kidnapped by Boko Haram reveals how the
older men of the group actually taught
him how to rape he mentions how he was
techniques of how to subdue a woman when
she was resisting and struggling since
then many more girls have been kidnapped
and this horrible cycle of rape and
sexual abuse still continues another
country where rape is common and
prevalent is India
the infamous Delhi gang rape sparked
international controversy but sadly the
Delhi gang group is a daily occurrence
in India acid attack is also commonly
associated rape over there every 15
minutes a woman is raped and every two
minutes a woman is a victim of a crime
these are terrorizing numbers the
biggest problem that India faces is that
the number of rapes is actually
increasing per year instead of
decreasing you would think that with
globalization and the increased feminist
movements that India would have reformed
just a little but instead it’s gotten
worse in 2014 there was an average of
reported 37,000 rape cases however
considering that most of India’s rape
cases aren’t even reported to
authorities this number should probably
be twice or thrice as much punishment
rapists has been uncommon in India but
there have been slight reforms and 2013
the Indian government passed the anti
rape bill recognizing that the age for
sexual consent was 18 years and anyone
under the age of 18 was sexually touched
or sexually their own common set then
that would be counted as an offence this
bill also states that police must report
all cases brought up to them the one
part of this bill that brings up mixed
reviews is that it does not account for
marital rape as an offence isn’t that
shocking as devastating and
disheartening as these numbers are
America is even worse every 107 seconds
someone is sexually assaulted and there
are about two hundred and ninety three
thousand cases of rape per year this is
shocking to me because I would have
expected the rankings of America and
India to be completely opposite and I
have a feeling that this would be
shocking to many of
you as well because of the way America
portrays themself to the rest of the
world we point fingers at other
countries for their ill treatment
towards women but at the same time we
have thousands of rapists that treat
women equally as bad just because we are
like this now doesn’t mean we can’t
change we set global trends we have the
power to change the ways of the world
it’s all in our hands why don’t we take
advantage of this power to better the
world instead of showing off how wealthy
and potent we are according to the
United States news America is the most
powerful nation in the whole world which
means that we are politically
economically and militarily the most
powerful and influential nation why
don’t we take advantage of this power to
not only benefit us but benefit others
by personifying resolves as a perfect
example for other countries to emulate
as they already try and do in order to
build ourselves up to the perfect
example we need to be the country with
the least gender inequality so we can
spread these values and way of life to
the rest of the world well how are we
going to do that let’s start with our
government we claim to be one of the
most women empowering and women’s
supportive countries in the world yet
country such as Tajikistan Afghanistan
Pakistan and Uganda have a higher
percentage of women in their government
than us India has even had their own
female prime minister yet here we are
with forty five consecutive presidencies
of just men there are more women than
men in the United States the only 17
percent of our Congress is female it’s
not that women aren’t smart enough or
don’t have good ideas it’s just how our
society works some women’s ideas aren’t
even considered for the sole purpose
that they are women we need to encourage
the participation of women in our
government because every decision made
in our country directly affects them if
there aren’t enough women in the
government to protest a decision made on
birth control or reproductive rights
that a wrong decision could be made and
women will just have to deal with
another injustice by using the United
States government
as an example we can soon diffuse these
same principles to all other industries
of the United States many companies will
look at the success of the United States
government with the addition of women
and realize that both genders are needed
for the success of a company by starting
at the United States government we will
slowly work our way down to jobs at a
local level and help even out the number
of men and women in the workforce
ultimately leading to higher efficiency
the structure for government is a big
change but a small change we can make is
by enforcing gender equality and our
normal households by defying gender
norms for instance
Dodd’s cooking and taking care of the
kids dad’s making school lunches and
doing household chores mom’s holding a
job these gender roles that we have
enforced upon ourselves have turned us
into such a strict society that doing
anything outside of the norm is shunned
and looked down upon even if it is ok
many women in Southeast Asia and
developing parts of Africa are forced to
do manual labour while their husbands go
off to the city and work for better pay
in America if we encouraged a woman and
man’s role to be interchangeable
maybe these women in Southeast Asia and
developing parts of Africa can also go
up this city and work and receive better
pay like I said in the beginning rape is
an issue that often goes unheard of in
the United States these social stigmas
we have around speaking up and attaining
justice need to be demolished women
should not fear speaking the truth about
their experiences we need to encourage
our women to speak up about any sexual
abuse or harassment that has happened
towards them so we can set an example
for countries like India where rape
isn’t punished in order to bring about a
change in societies like India where
rapes don’t even get reported we need to
encourage our women to speak up about
any sexual atrocity that happens towards
them
most women sit quietly and that’s why
countries such as India receive the
perception that if America all developed
and all don’t punish rapists and why
should we if that’s the same path we’re
headed on
we can take the Brock Turner taste for
instance he only received a six-month
prison sentence yes he is a registered
sex offender but only a six-month prison
sentence for such a heinous crime is
unacceptable in my opinion what type of
image are Reaper training to other
countries that it is okay for men to
rape women and they will barely get
punished in order to bring about a
change I encourage all women who have
been sexually abused to speak up and
keep fighting until justice is given it
might seem like a tedious process with
tons of court hearings dramatized news
articles and lots of disapproval but if
every story and every detail isn’t heard
we will be stuck in the same cycle of
injustice forever
gender equality is possible we’ve seen
to come together and work to make it
come true globalization has helped us
achieve many things let’s use it to
bring about a permanent change into our
societies we constantly blame and
criticize other countries for their
malicious ways towards women or the lack
of women empowerment but at the same
time we aren’t perfect we are far from
perfect now I know that perfection isn’t
achievable but let’s make America the
closest country to perfect there is so
we can set an example for other
countries to follow America is the
change we need to help eradicate gender and equality