By John Brundred
For The Diamondback
As part of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, the University of Maryland’s CARE to Stop Violence team held an event Thursday evening in an attempt to break down misperceptions about sexual misconduct.
Moderator Rajan Parikh, a junior hearing and speech sciences and kinesiology major, introduced the four-person panel to the audience of about 35 students, faculty members and interested adults in the McKeldin Library special event room.
CARE outreach intern and panelist Jackie Oguntayo addressed where some of the misconceptions come from.
“A lot of people believe females are always the victims and men are always the perpetrators. Shows like Law & Order: SVU perpetuate this idea,” she said.
CARE, a University Health Center office, offers counseling for students and staff or faculty members who have experienced sexual or domestic violence. The group held the event, called “Breaking the Mold: A Panel Discussion Exploring Sexual Violence Through ‘-Isms,'” to educate the community, said Fatima Taylor, CARE director.
Josh Bronson, the Office of Civil Rights & Sexual Misconduct assistant director, agreed that some media help to perpetuate the misconceptions.
“There is such thing as the CSI effect — people aren’t convicted of crimes because of how sexual assault is portrayed in the show. People think victims are supposed to act a certain way, and victims are blamed,” Bronson said. “We live in a society with a rape culture, and until we get past this, things are never going to improve.”
This event was part of a larger effort to improve society, Parikh said. Much of sexual assault awareness consists of someone throwing statistics and preaching to a small group, and CARE wanted to engage the students in a discussion that defies the misconceptions, Parikh said.
This university has taken other steps to raise awareness and prevent sexual assault as well, Taylor said.
“In the past few years, the university has done a lot, primarily the online training, which every member of the UMD community has to take,” she said. “We are on the right track, but we have not fixed the problem yet.”
Bronson compared the panel discussion to putting a Band-Aid on an arterial wound.
“In order for real change to occur, we need to start having these discussions earlier — like in middle school — ideas like consent need to be taught earlier, because … a lot of rapists are committing these heinous crimes long before they reach college campuses and we need to prevent it,” Bronson said.
Parikh said the idea of sexual assault awareness has shifted, putting a greater focus on education instead of just promoting not doing it.
“Sexual assault education is not telling people to not commit sexual assault — only a very small percentage of people are committing these crimes,” he said. “Sexual assault education is about how to prevent sexual assault.”
Students agreed this new form of sexual assault awareness is more effective and relatable.
“It is amazing how much we do know not about this topic,” said Evie Monroe, a sophomore communication and women’s studies major. “As a community, we need to not treat rape like some mystical idea that will never impact our lives, instead of being a bystander to sexual assault with proper education, awareness and training, can prevent attacks.”
