What's new?

Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente wrote a piece called 'Rape on Campus -- is it an epidemic?'  She argues it's not.  Of course it's not because it is nothing new.  Rape on university campuses has been going on forever. 

But Wente and I disagree about why it's not an "epidemic" -- she because she argues the stats are wrong, I because I believe they are under-reported.  She cites statistics which claim "no fewer than one in five women will be the victim of rape or attempted rape by graduation".  That would mean that at UBC, 5,400 women out of 27,000 would be victims in four years on campus.

Sounds about right to me, but she disagrees, thinks the stats are wrong.  Having been the victim of sexual assault myself on campus, I agree with the stats.  Would I have reported it?  Never.  I was also the victim of sexual assault by my orthodontist when I was 12.  Would I have told anyone?  Never.  Heck, my mother was sitting in the waiting room while it was happening! 

The point is sexual assault is routinely not reported.    

"Never get into a car with a strange man," my mother drilled and drilled into me as a child.  What she didn't tell me was what the doctor and date would do to me.  The doctor?  Still practicing in Ottawa.  The date?  The last time I saw him was at a parent/teacher meeting at Rockcliffe Park Public School.  He was the president of the parents' association.  "That's the guy who raped me," I said to B.  Over we went to chat.  "Remember me?" I said.  "Remember that weekend at your parents' cottage?"  He smiled and actually thought we'd had a great time, until I dropped the rape-bomb.  Couldn't get away from me fast enough.  A pillar of the community had been outed. 

In my life I have decided one can either rise above sexual assault or drown in it.  I have chosen to rise above.