campus sexual assault

College Men Finding Not Raping Really Quite Burdensome

Photo: George Doyle/Getty Images

As the debate surrounding how to address campus sexual assault swirls, there’s one key side of the issue we’ve yet to acknowledge: just how onerous not raping someone can be for some men.

If you think worrying about how you look, talk, act, dress, move, and breathe is exhausting, consider the burden placed upon men across the country to not commit a sexual assault. Women may be forced to live every day knowing that there is a nearly one in five chance they could be assaulted, and that if it does happen, the minutiae of their personal lives will be tirelessly dissected for clues to prove they deserved it. But men at some of our nation’s finest universities — historically known for being saddled with the burden of solving the sexual assault problem entirely by themselves — are frankly getting sick of having to take responsibility for their own actions:

Some men feel that too much responsibility for preventing sexual assault has been put on their shoulders, said Chris Herries, a senior at Stanford University. While everyone condemns sexual assault, there seems to be an assumption among female students that they shouldn’t have to protect themselves by avoiding drunkenness and other risky behaviors, he said.

Sorry, did I say women? I meant bikes. What is UP with all the bikes getting stolen on campus?

“Do I deserve to have my bike stolen if I leave it unlocked on the quad?” Herries, 22, said. “We have to encourage people not to take on undue risk.”

Ladies, just remember to use your U-lock to secure your vagina to the vagina rack in the quad and we won’t have to give men any more unfair responsibility.

College Men Find Not Raping Quite Burdensome