When will it stop? Time after time we see on the news allegations from another victim. A victim saying that a politician, CEO, supreme court justice or actor had sexually assaulted them.  

Once the #MeToo movement began, we saw an influx of women coming forward sharing their story about sexual assault. This has created a less stigmatized environment, but we still continue to fail assault victims. We fail to listen, we fail to prosecute and we fail to make these victims feel safe.

People, men in particular, are very fast to say “he didn’t assault you, he would never do that.” But time after time, case after case has shown yes he did assault her, yes he would do that. 

If we as a society are so bad at addressing sexual assault and listening to victims, how can we change that?

First off victims need to feel like their case will be handled efficiently. This means that the police, district attorneys, or workplaces conduct thorough investigations into all sexual assault allegations. 

In the past, countless amounts of victims’ stories were swept under the rug for no one to hear about because the person who sexually assaulted them was a person of power or authority. 

This happened at Fox News with Roger Ailes. For 20 years he had been sexually assaulting and harassing young women at Fox News. He was accused of assaulting 23 women, one of those women being Megyn Kelly. He threatened if any of them went public they would be fired and blacklisted from the news industry.

In 2016 Ailes was caught and fired from Fox News. Let’s be honest the only reason he was caught was because he is a celebrity. His actions had consequences. An average schmuck who goes and assaults a woman is not held to the same standard. That schmuck is less likely to be penalized for his actions because the news isn’t following his every action. 

Secondly, we need to hold each other accountable for our actions. We wish we could say “men need to stop sexually assaulting women,”  but in this day and age it is easier said than done. 

Human beings tend to not look out for each other. We tend to see life as a one way street, selfishness avenue. We are all focused on our own problems and we don’t see the problems around us. 

Women tend to be the most selfish of all. They need to look out for each other most in this world because no one else understands what it’s like to be a woman. Women gotta have each other’s back.  Whether you know the woman or not, pretend she’s your sister. Would you want your sister to be sexually assaulted? 

Woah men this isn’t just for the women. TELL YOUR BUDDIES TO STOP IT. Tell your buddies when they are displaying inappropriate behavior. If you see something say something. We know that it is not your fault if your friend sexually assaults a woman, but if you see something and don’t speak up against your friend, you could have saved that woman the traumatic experience of being sexually assaulted. 

 This can not continue to happen if we want to improve as a society. Through the #MeToo movement, women have been given the platform to tell their stories and get support from other women who are also sharing their stories.

We need to do better and be better.