A Letter to the Editor of the Saint Anselm Crier

In the previous edition of the Crier, a Letter to the Editor was published arguing against one of my previous articles. I sincerely appreciate the dialogue – this is what education is all about. That being said, the letter takes my op-ed piece completely out of context and misunderstands the very heart of what I was trying to shed light on. I was not trying to link, in a causal relationship, the prevalence of hook-up culture, abortion, or sexual violence.

However, I did argue that these three issues all arise out of a larger cultural shift – the widespread emergence of sex outside of marriage, and its acceptance by mainstream society. Both the desire for abortion on demand and the popularity of sex outside of marriage are indicative of a society that does not respect sex as a meaningful and procreative act reserved only for married couples. This, in turn, leads to a higher rate of sexually-motivated crimes, as well as an increased amount of unwanted sexual advances.

The author says that both abortion and sexual assault have always been around, and mentions the Greeks and Genghis Khan, respectively, to back up her argument. However, the author overlooks the fact that neither the Greeks nor the Mongols ever lived in a Christianized society in which sex was supposed to be reserved for marriage. The author implies that abortion is somehow justified simply because the Greeks had primitive forms of contraception, but fails to realize that the ancient Greeks also had no problem with pedophilia, polygamy, or sexual slavery – we can hardly call them arbiters of sexual morality. America was founded by Puritans and other Christian denominations, which means we have quite a different moral foundation than Greek pagans and Central Asian warlords. My article was addressing the change in American culture, and these examples from outside of America are not pertinent.

Secondly, and more importantly, the author writes that we live in a campus rape culture. Nothing could be further from the truth; St. A’s, nor any other college, exists within a rape culture. Let me start out by saying that there are few crimes more heinous than ones involving sexual abuse or assault. It is unthinkable to blame the victims of these horrific crimes, and what I write is completely directed towards helping protect people in our society from these transgressions. With that being said, the truth matters.

According to everydayfeminism.com, rape culture is defined as “a setting in which rape is pervasive and normalized due to societal attitudes about gender and sexuality.”

Our culture does not support rapists, it does not look favorably upon sexual assault, and above all, we overwhelmingly believe victims, even if they do not have concrete evidence. This much is obvious from the recent #MeToo and #TimesUp movements. Yes, rapists exist. Yes, some segments of our society, like Hollywood, shield and make excuses for abusers. But that is clearly not the same as living in a culture of rape. To say we live in a rape culture means that we live in a community that willingly accepts rape, does not believe victims, and does nothing to prevent future incidents from happening. Rape is not normalized in our society.

But even if we don’t normalize rape, is it pervasive? No, not in the slightest.

Take a look at St. A’s, for example. According to last year’s statistics from Campus Safety, there were five instances of rape, one instance of domestic abuse, and one instance of stalking on campus. We are a student body of roughly two thousand individuals. That means that 0.35% of students on campus reported some form of sexual harassment or violence. While even one case is one too many, we cannot call this pervasive.

While I’m sure that these numbers do not represent every case – I know that some people may not feel comfortable coming forward – its disingenuous to say these cases amount to a campus rape culture.

The author of the letter cites an 11% on-campus sexual assault rate that comes from the 2015 Campus Climate Survey, a national survey aimed at the Ivy League and other elite colleges in the US. However, this number is not representative of actual statistics because the survey was voluntary and garnered only a 19% response rate. The surveyors themselves noted that there was evidence to suggest that respondents were more likely to be a victim than non-respondents. The survey also considers things like unwanted touching or attempted kissing as assault. While unpleasant and potentially disgusting, an unprompted and unwanted kiss is clearly not on the same level as actual rape. On the other hand, the University of Kentucky required all of its students to participate in an identical survey and found the rate of nonconsensual sexual contact to be about 5%, less than half the rate of the voluntary poll.

Culture is organic; we all play a role in its development and promulgation. With this in mind, what have I, Jacob Halterman, done to promote a campus rape culture? What has the administration or faculty done? Is Campus Police not investigating sexual crimes? Does any evidence exist that Saint Anselm College has been hijacked by rape apologists? Even if sexual assault and harassment still happen occasionally, the notion that we are simply complicit in the rape of our classmates is completely and objectively wrong.

I want people who have been raped to come forward and for us as a society to punish those who abuse others. The world would be a better place if all rapists were in prison and not in our dorms or walking on our streets where they can continue to harm members of our community. Colleges and government institutions have made it significantly easier to report sexual crimes and for victims to receive the help they deserve, but victims have to be willing to come forward and file charges against these perpetrators, so that the guilty can be removed from our society.

We should always crusade for justice, but let’s not blow the problem out of proportion unnecessarily. Let’s take real action against rapists – charge them with a crime and allow the judges and juries to do their jobs. I will be the first person to stand up for the rights of someone who has been victimized, but we can’t simply sit back and say we are solving the problem without real, substantive action. Claiming a culture of rape is a copout that doesn’t address any real issues and demeans the people who have been victims of mistreatment.

While we do not live in a rape culture, we do live in a culture of irresponsibility. Many people see no problem with getting incredibly drunk and having sex with random people. If that sort of attitude leads to a higher rate of rape, then we need to address that attitude. However, the first step in solving a problem is accurately describing the problem.

Returning to the themes of my original article, I believe the answers to many of our problems with sexual misconduct stem from our laissez-faire attitude towards sex. If we all agreed that sex was reserved for marriage alone, then there would be no blurred lines of consent, no hook-ups, no teen pregnancy, no need for the vast majority of abortions in the United States; a less sexual society means less demand for pornography, fewer problems with STDs and their related illnesses, and a decrease in sexual crimes, including rape and sex trafficking of minors.

This is an incredibly important discussion and whether you agree or disagree with me, I’d be more than happy to continue the conversation. Feel free to email me: [email protected]