If, like me, you’re the father of a girl, then you know the #1 job in your life is protecting her at any cost. Which is what makes the study I just read about the attitudes of college age men towards women so incredibly disturbing.
According to a survey conducted in December for the scholarly journal “Violence and Gender,” fully 31.7 percent of collegiate males said they would?act on “intentions to force a woman to sexual intercourse” if they knew they could get away with the act. Many also said they don’t consider forcing a woman to have sex to be sexual assault. Instead, the study finds that many men may even perceive sexual assault?to be “an achievement” and that a woman saying “no” to sex could be seen as “a token resistance consistent with stereotypical gender norms.”
Okay, time out! Token resistance when a woman clearly says no?! An achievement to take advantage of someone who is weaker than you are?! Did we just transport through H.G. Wells’ time machine back to the Middle Ages? Have we devolved back to cave man time? What are young men thinking? Better question:
“Are they thinking at all, or are they just allowing themselves to be led around by their crotches?”
Yes, I fully understand that my opinions on this topic are biased. Karina, my 8-year-old daughter is, to me, the sweetest, prettiest, smartest, most wonderful girl on the planet. This is not open to debate. I hope and pray she will continue to do well in school and one day attend the college or university of her choosing. But will I have to send her to that institute of higher learning with a bodyguard and a trained attack dog?
The study concludes by recommending young men undergo some form of educational program in college in an attempt to “clarify the different behaviors that constitute sexual assault.”
It’s time we reexamine our attitudes about women in this society. Women were not put on this Earth to serve and please men in anyway we choose. Women are just as valuable as men. And when a woman says “no,” that is exactly what she means. No does not mean maybe and it sure as hell doesn’t mean yes! I’m not sure what young men are learning in college these days, but from looking at this study it seems painfully clear they are in dire need of being educated to the difference between right and wrong. No is not just a word. It is a stop sign that all men should clearly be able to read and accept at face value.
