Domestic Violence Research Paper

It is a common statistic, you have probably heard it at least once in your life: one out of every five women will be sexually assaulted by time they receive their master’s degree. In a recent statistic, it was stated that “1 in 12 male college students surveyed report engaging in acts that meet the legal definition of rape or attempted rape, but 84 percent of them report that what they did was ‘definitely not rape’” (Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment). Another serious issue with young people is domestic violence, in fact, “approximately one in five female students in the ninth through twelfth grades reports being physically or sexually abused by a dating partner” (Danis), and that behavior will lead into their college years. Sexual assault and domestic violence are both ugly topics that no one wants to discuss, but if we do not talk about it, it will never go away. The only way we can ever hope to solve this issue, is if we address this problem straight on to make our community safer for all. One people think of sexual assault, they automatically think of rape which, thankfully, is not accurate; in this statistic, sexual assault stands for any type of sexual assault or harassment, such as groping and forced kissing, but that does not mean that these other behaviors should be ignored because they are not as violent as rape. While sexual violence is considered a crime, our society often ignores the behaviors that lead up to these crimes. These behaviors are normalized in our society and brushed of as these men “just being boys.” One example of this happening is how “in most states it is illegal to initiate sexual activity with someone who is asleep, as that person is unable to give consent to the activity. However, many fairy tales tell of a prince kissing a princess who is asleep as a result of a wicked spell. The kiss is the only thing that can break the spell, and it is seen as loving and romantic” (Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment). While we cannot abolish sexual assault, we can defiantly bring awareness to it and, …show more content…
At the workshop, we could have a class taught by a self-defense instructor to teach small groups of people throughout the day basic self-defense moves to help them fight against attackers. Another thing we could do is set up a seminar with an ASU representative to explain all the services that ASU offers to victims and other on-campus resources available to the students. But this workshop would not only help the students on ASU, we would sell silicone bracelets in purple and teal, the colors of sexual assault and domestic violence awareness, and donate all of the proceeds to a local domestic abuse shelter. And finally, we could start a photo campaign, where each person who participates takes a photo of themselves with a sign saying “I say no more because,” and then form a partnership with a local store/restaurant to get whoever participates a discount. The budget for this workshop is estimated around $2,655; this would consist on $50 for flyers, $594 for silicone bracelets, around $50 for a self-defense instructor, $160 for photo campaign supplies, and $1,800 to provide lunch for all who participate in the event. To involve next year’s freshmen with this workshop, we could set up a booth at orientation and give them a shortened version of the