Blog Post #4

 I read the article "Old Row perpetuates rape culture on camp" and have had a few realizations. First, I never really thought of how something that seems harmless is seen this way and how there is a problem with it. Old Row is an Instagram account that tons of college students follow and often laugh at. This article really put into perspective how sexualizing it can be towards women. The writer explains how these viral photos or videos are the only thing we actually see. Behind cameras is a world where girls get taken advantage of, and this account does not help. She also explains how we have grown up in a society that leads these girls to believe that it is there fault for what happens to them or that they deserve it. As awful as it is, this is the reality of the world we live in, especially as a college student. Another point that stood out to me is the "boys will be boys" that is perpetrated through this account. This is a toxic attitude that can normalize very terrible things. The second article I read was "What Teenage Boys Still Don't Know about Sexual Assault." The writer explains the very common way that young men and informed about rape. She states that boys have been "raised to believe that a rapist is a bad guy in the bushes with a gun." This stood out to me because I never really thought of it that way. Young men are really unaware that them, their friends, and others are capable of such an act and it is more common than one may think. It really has opened my eyes to the fact that no one is really teaching these things. Boys learn about sex through the internet and their peers and conversation about these topics in rarely mentioned to them in their households. This to me is a problem because they are not being informed well enough or even at all about the tough reality of rape and how frequent it occurs or what it even is. They do not understand that consent should be an ongoing and sober thing. These boys are also shocked by the aftermath of what a victim goes through. A fact that also caught my attention is that 94% of victims experience PTSD. A lot of people aren't capable of understanding the trauma of being rape. This is something that needs to be talked about and understood from a very young age.