Introduction
Sexual assault is a serious crime that is often overlooked by the government and officials. It is difficult to tell the prevalence of the rape in the world as a lot of victims are afraid to talk about the issue. According to the systematic review by Fedina et al., most of the studies of rape among US colleges consider only white, heterosexual females (90).
Discussion
A compelling and enlightening documentary, The Hunting Ground, draws light on the pervasive problem of sexual assault on college campuses around the United States. The movie demonstrates that many colleges and institutions are more focused on maintaining their good names and lowering rape rates than they are on ensuring the wellbeing of their students. In this essay, the content of the movie The Hunting Ground will be discussed in the light of the problem of sexual assault and the issues of university reaction and public view of the rape.
The movie discusses the traumatic experiences of two college students, who after became anti-rape activists, Andrea Pino and Annie Clark. The End Rape group was founded by them in the University of North Carolina right after they experienced the severity of sexual assault (Dick). Moreover, the movie features interviews of victims of sexual assault of any kind, their parents, college administrators and workers, and police officers. In The Hunting Ground, some of the male victims were featured too, who discuss the issue of societal perception of male rape and the difficulty of publicly speaking about the assault they underwent.
Universities must work to foster a secure and encouraging atmosphere for sexual assault survivors in light of the documentary’s findings. The issues mentioned in the movie must be addressed right now by schools and universities. This entails making offenders responsible for their deeds, putting in place rules and regulations that give survivors’ welfare top priority, and offering survivors resources and support services. Moreover, safe environment to talk about the issues of rape should be encouraged as majority of the victims report cases after more than 6 months, which is late (Fedina et al. 89). Therefore, university should take measures to develop this kind of safe environment.
The culture around sexual assault on campuses needs to change, and colleges and institutions must do their part. This necessitates an open discussion about consent, respect, and limits as well as the development of initiatives and programs that uphold these principles. It is difficult to judge the Fresno State’s campus’s level of sexual assault prevalence as there are not much data on the issue. However, despite the statistics, the prevention methods and safe environment must be encouraged and organized on campus in order to avert the future assaults and reduce the current level of rape. The measures include conducting open talks about the issue, creating a similar End Rape groups and forcing student government to create a separate department that handles the cases of the issue.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the ignorance about sexual assault cases among the US colleges is a severe problem. The Hunting Ground documentary sheds light on the widespread issue of sexual assault on American college campuses. The film shows that many universities and institutions place more importance on upholding their reputations than they do on protecting the welfare of their students. By holding offenders accountable for their actions, establishing policies and procedures that put survivors’ wellbeing first, and providing survivors with resources and support services, universities may help create a safe and encouraging environment for sexual assault survivors. As was mentioned before, even though the statistics are vague, it is important to implement the needed anti-rape features in the Fresno State for the safety purposes.
Work Cited
The Hunting Ground. Directed by Kirby Dick, Produced by Amy Ziering, 2015.
Fedina, Lisa, Jennifer Lynne Holmes, and Bethany L. Backes. “Campus sexual assault: A systematic review of prevalence research from 2000 to 2015.” Trauma, violence, & abuse, vol. 19, no. 1, 2018, pp. 76–93. Web.