How Do I Get This Person to Safety?

When you find someone in a situation where they are incoherent, intoxicated, alone - the only question any individual should ask themselves is "How do I get this person to safety?"

Under no circumstance is this EVER an invitation to take advantage of someone. Under no circumstance is this EVER an excuse for rape.

1 in 4 females will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime. If you live in a sorority of 60 girls, that is 15 of your best friends. If you have a mom, sister, and an aunt, that is one of you.

The frequency of sexual assault is hard to grasp and can be horrifying to those who do not know these statistics. If you are thinking to yourself that those statistics cannot possibly be true - you have proven my point that we have great strides to make as a society in creating awareness about these issues.

The victim blaming that accompanies rape, is equally as horrifying. We MUST cease to ask "how drunk were you?", "what were you wearing", "why'd you get lost from your friends?"

Please understand, asking these questions of a survivor of rape is extremely traumatizing and a danger to our society. The above questions completely lack accountability for the individual who sexually assaulted the victim. The individual who looked at the victim, saw they were drunk, unable to say "no", defend themselves, or comprehend what is happening and thought "I could have sex with this person and they probably won't care or remember." THAT is the person who needs to be held accountable. THAT is the person we need to question.

WE PERPETUATE sexual assault and rape when we collectively agree that if a girl is dressed a certain way, drunk enough, or "irresponsible" enough, the rapist is not to be held accountable. This mentality hast to change.

Whether we are aware of it or not, we all know and care about someone who has been a victim of rape. This is an unfortunate reality, but we can change it. Start today by sharing a resource from RAINN in your own network.