By now, everyone attending college throughout the country has heard the statistic that 1 in 4 college women will be raped during their four years at school.

According to a study of college women done by the National Institute of Justice, “over the course of a college caree]the percentage of completed or attempted rape victimization among women in higher educational institutions might climb between one-fifth and one-quarter.”

Yet most students, especially female, don’t understand how large a problem sexual victimization really is. If it does happen to them, they are reluctant to report their attack, choosing to ignore the attack and failing to properly cope with it. Where is this reluctance coming from and why, as a society, aren’t we actively opposing this harmful silence?

Most victims know their attacker; in fact according to the same college women study, 9 times out of 10 a friend, significant other or acquaintance attacks the unsuspecting victim.

This victim is reluctant to report his or her attacker. The victim is either in love with the attacker or feels guilty, as if he or she brought on the attack. Many victims are reluctant to report an attack because they are afraid of what society will think of them, often thinking society will blame them for the attack.

Alcohol is involved in most attacks, according to a College and Alcohol study done by Harvard University. Almost 72 percent of the people who reported being attacked in the study said that it was while they were intoxicated. The study also found that students attending schools with higher rates of binge drinking had a 1.5 fold increased chance of being attacked while intoxicated compared to students at schools with lower binge drinking rates. In these cases the victim often feels guilty for the attack, thinking that his or her actions led to she or he being attacked. None of these feelings are correct. A victim should never feel guilty.

So why does our society attempt to place the blame on the victim in most rape cases? “Why did you drink that much?” “Why were you wearing those promiscuous clothes, asking for an attack.” These and other similar questions are often asked of a victim after an attack. It is disgraceful that we live in a society that attempts to blame innocent victims instead of prosecuting and blaming the true perpetrators.

Excuses are often made for why the attack took place, often resulting in placing some blame on the innocent victim.

When society encourages victims to not report their attacks through intimidation and blame, it also perpetuates the violence, because if someone attacks and receives no punishment for it, he or she will most likely go on to attack again until he or she is caught.

Victimization is not chosen, nor do someone’s actions make him or her more or less likely to become a victim. Until it becomes acceptable in society to treat victims as victims this abuse and blame will continue to occur and rapes will continue to take place without being reported, allowing the perpetrator to continue his or her exploitation of others.

Society must take care not to blame the victim for a crime they had no part in. To do so would leave scars that will last long after the incident is dealt with legally. Society must realize who is truly at fault.

Columnist: Angela Sparrow - 02/08/07