Jillian Fabiano
Blog Post
11/8/16
Yes Means Yes
In a New York Times article,‘Yes’ Is
Better Than ‘No’ posted in 2014, Gloria Steinem and Michael Kimmel discuss
the problems revolving around sexual consent on college campuses. Currently, in
all states, there is a “No means No” policy. This means that if someone
actually says that they do not want to have sex, yet the other person still has
sex with them, that is rape. This policy leaves a lot of grey area around what
consent actually is. This allows silence to be considered consent, which is not
the case at all. California, during the publication of this article, was in the
process of establishing a “Yes means Yes” policy. This means that in order to
have sex, both parties need to say “yes” they want to have sex. I completely
agree with this policy and it is crazy to think that California would be the
first and only state to put this policy into action. Canada has had this policy
in place for years. The US and its citizens pride themselves on being advanced,
yet we are really behind on social issues.
Some
anti-feminists disagree with this movement. They believe that it is “too PC” and that “PC is getting out of control”. I think
that it is ridiculous to say that it is too much to ask for both parties to
physically say “yes” to sex. When people are having sex, there should not be a
question of whether or not there is consent. Steinem and Kimmel go on to
discuss that “yes” is actually a turn-on, and that it makes people more excited
to have sex when they know that the other party wants them or desires them in a
sexual way.
I
believe that sexual consent is a major problem on college campuses that needs
to be addressed in a serious manner and timely-fashion. It is extremely
important to have strict consent laws and rules on campus to prevent rape from
occurring. In my short time at Syracuse, I have already heard of instances on
campus and it is very off-putting. Every girl on campus should be able to feel
safe and at ease, but that is simply not the case. Especially at a large party
school, where greek life is huge, it is a case for disaster. It is horrible to think
that boys know that they can get away with raping girls. Laws should be in
place to scare them into not raping girls, and we should be teaching them that
is not okay. They know that it is not okay, yet it is still a problem on
campus. Even when it happens, girls are often afraid to speak out, because they
fear the school will not believe them, and even if the school does, they may
not take any action.
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