2 College Students Charged in Sexual Attack on Florida Beach

I’ve talked and written at length about DV and sexual violence – I’m fortunate to have a guest post at wrighterly.com later this week (part of Stephanie Wright’s excellent 52 Mondays series) where I’ll be writing about sexual violence on college campuses.  Within that post I’ll deal specifically with the “It’s On Us” campaign.

For those unfamiliar with “It’s On Us”, the campaign encourages bystander intervention – students stepping into bad situations to help potential victims.  From the “It’s On Us” website:

“The campaign reflects the belief that sexual assault isn’t just an issue involving a crime committed by a perpetrator against a victim, but one in which the rest of us also have a role to play. We are committed to creating an environment - be it a dorm room, a party, a bar or club, or the greater college campus - where sexual assault is unacceptable and survivors are supported. This effort will support student-led efforts already underway across the country, and will focus particularly on motivating college men to get involved……. By getting men involved, we can change this way of thinking (violence against women) and create new social norms..”

So imagine my horror this morning when I came across this article in the NY Times while drinking my coffee:

2 College Students Charged in Sexual Attack on Florida Beach 

Obviously those students on the beach in Panama City, Florida are not only clueless about “It’s On Us”, but lack the moral fiber to do what’s right in a situation that is clearly wrong.  "This is happening in broad daylight with hundreds of people seeing and hearing what is happening, and they are more concerned about spilling their beer than somebody being raped," Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen said.

We need to do more than getting men involved.

We need to teach boys to respect all women. 

We need to teach men not to rape. 

And apparently we need to teach other men to put down their beers and get involved when they see something wrong happening.

More more info on "It's On Us", check out their PSA:
"It's On Us" PSA