COLUMN: The reality of rape on campus

From Karen Pasternack's, "Effective Immediately," Fall '97 From Karen Pasternack's, "Effective Immediately," Fall '97 This woman who I'd known since I started college, sat before me, grasping her coffee cup tightly between her fingers. Her face pale and voice soft, she told me how her date's hands had wandered all over her, his large frame found its way on top of her, making her freeze in shock. She hoped he would stop, but he didn't respond to the "no"s that managed to escape her lips. I wanted to throw up. Even though it wasn't me, I could see the torment in her face. The scene played over and over in my mind like a clip from a movie. I pictured his face hovering above hers, forcing her to stay. My friend is not alone. Robin Warshaw's book I Never Called It Rape says one out of four women experience rape or attempted rape and 84 percent of rape victims know their attacker. As I began to consider my own experiences and those of other friends, I realized how many near rapes I've heard about on this campus. And more disturbingly, I became aware of how often people internalize these situations, blaming themselves, as if they should have known better. Sometimes, I wonder how many women on campus have become victims, unable to punish their violators. Not that Penn doesn't recognize the seriousness of the problem. We have Take Back the Night, an empowering night for victims of sexual assault. We have the Women's Center on Locust Walk. Students Together Against Acquaintance Rape (STAAR) acts as a prominent group on campus. And many Penn students are members of Women Organized Against Rape (WOAR), a national organization. And if you still don't believe we have a serious rape problem at Penn, try reading Anthropology Professor Peggy Sanday's book Fraternity Gang Rape, Sex Brotherhood and Privileges on Campus. So, why are so many perpetrators going unpunished? Perhaps because the most effective response immediately after a rape is the administering of a rape kit, which consists of collecting evidence from clothing, human hair, vaginal, anal and oral entrances. Sometimes more extensive debris is collected from saliva, nasal mucus and blood. And unfortunately, in a society where the victims word may not count for much, this documentation can be crucial for bringing the assailant to justice. Both Jefferson and Episcopal hospitals -- both in a considerable distance from campus -- administer these kind of rape kits. These hospitals also provide counseling for patients immediately after such a crisis. The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania offers neither rape counselors nor a rape kit. What woman wants to trek halfway across Philadelphia after the most traumatic experience of her life? The Relationship Violence Task Force, comprised of Penn faculty members and a couple students, has been actively pursuing this issue. But this is not something for which a few people can or should be responsible. Rather than leaving this action to a sampling of voices, the members of the University community need to take more aggressive steps to combat the rampage of rape on this campus. My revelation of HUP's lack of support for rape victims leaves me with many unanswered questions. With a University led by a woman and heading into the 21st century, are we still struggling to accept the legitimacy of date rape? Why are people willing to stereotype those involved as sluts or sleazeballs, or as careless, irresponsible people, than accept that their friends and classmates are involved in these scenarios? I used to believe naively that acquaintance rape was something that happened like on an episode of Beverly Hills 90210, involving two drunk people, a fraternity party, a football player and a scantily clad female. Not that stereotypical situations such as these are any less disturbing. Rape is always brutal. As I get older, and see more people I know become sexually active, I hear more about situations that make it seem like date rape is more and more a part of mainstream campus life. But while people pretend rape is not their problem, time is slipping away. As Penn students, we have a responsibility to ourselves and to our peers to make the upsetting reality of this crime known. In a society that turns up its televisions while people are shot outside their windows, we must challenge ourselves to feel the trauma of this experience, even if it seems far from our comprehension. We cannot afford to wait until the victim becomes a friend, a sister, a girlfriend. This summer I overheard a conversation between two young women, discussing Alex Kelly's sentence for raping a woman years ago. "Shame," one woman said to her friend. "Just terrible that his whole life was thrown away like that." His life, thrown. His life, gone just like that. But wasn't this the least justice could do for the woman hed victimized? After all, people like her and my friend are already serving their life sentence.