{"id":11335,"date":"2014-11-22T23:52:19","date_gmt":"2014-11-23T04:52:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/?p=11335"},"modified":"2014-11-22T23:53:22","modified_gmt":"2014-11-23T04:53:22","slug":"youcentral-rape-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2014\/11\/22\/youcentral-rape-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"YouCentral: “Rape Culture”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Susan Dalton has something to say in today’s YouCentral article. This was originally published in the Danville Register & Bee as a “Letter to the Editor”, but we are running the unedited version.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Civil Rights Movement brought racial inequalities into the open and once seen could not be unseen. We were educated on the realities of our prejudices and while inequalities still exist there have been huge strides in the right direction.<\/p>\n

There is another injustice that is emerging into the mainstream and I couldn’t believe that I had been a part of it. \u201cRape Culture.”\u00a0 There it is, I said it.<\/p>\n

If you don’t think this is a topic that should be discussed in polite society, then you are a part of it. if you feel uncomfortable saying \u201crape\u201d or if you have ever said \u201cshe shouldn\u2018t have been wearing those shorts,” you are a part of it.\u00a0 It may be due to how we were influenced growing up but just like racial intolerance, it\u2018s something we have to change.<\/p>\n

I have become an advocate to end Rape Culture because in the past year I have been touched by a jaw-dropping, cannot-believe-this-is-happening-in-such-an-enlightened-society, punish-the-victim situation that still has me shaking my head in disbelief.\u00a0 There was a time when I actually caught myself thinking, \u201cIt’s such a shame because his life could be ruined.” What? How could that thought possibly have entered my head? It really sneaks up on you because society trivializes and normalizes rape. Instead of saying \u201cboys will be boys” perhaps we should be teaching our boys that sexual\u00a0 assault isn\u2018t OK.<\/p>\n

The only saving grace is that sexual assault would never be treated as insignificant by our educational systems, right? Wrong! There is a pervasive problem in the American educational system. Just go online and do a little research: I promise you will be amazed.<\/p>\n

l have seen first hand where a young girl, who had polygraph evidence of a forcible\u00a0 sexual assault at school, was punished while her attacker was placed back into school. While polygraph results may not be legally admissible, it is certainly compelling proof that this child was not a willing participant. This was in our fair city, people! You can’t believe it? Neither could I. How could this happen? Good question. Did the school system ever give an explanation to the parents of this victim? Nope. Were they asked to provide an explanation? Yes. If you think this is an isolated incident then educate yourself. Don’t be a part of a culture that condones this behavior. Why am I finally taking a stand? Take two. Yes, unbelievable isn\u2018t it?
\nWhat can we do? I don’t know… maybe make consent training a part of sex education. Let’s at least start a conversation. The first step is to see the problem so that it can never be unseen again.<\/p>\n

Susan Dalton
\nDanville, VA<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

YouCentral articles are solely the opinion of the author.<\/p>\n

\"sclogo\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Susan Dalton has something to say in today’s YouCentral article. This was originally published in the Danville Register & Bee as a “Letter to the Editor”, but we are running the unedited version.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[105],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-youcentral","odd"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pwqFk-2WP","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9222,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2014\/07\/06\/introducing-youcentral\/","url_meta":{"origin":11335,"position":0},"title":"Introducing YouCentral!","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"July 6, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"On a beautiful Sunday like today, we decided to sit back and reflect on what our readers have done to make SouthsideCentral the go-to place for what you just couldn't find in the regional media. YOU folks have increased our readership by over 70% and it's time to give YOU\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "FeaturesCentral"","block_context":{"text":"FeaturesCentral","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/featurescentral\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"sclogo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/sclogo.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13601,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2015\/08\/07\/youcentral-virginia-organizings-flag-removal-statement\/","url_meta":{"origin":11335,"position":1},"title":"YouCentral: Virginia Organizing’s Flag Removal Statement","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"August 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Here at SouthsideCentral, we invite all people and organizations to send us opinion pieces and statements. We will publish them unedited on a space-available basis. YouCentral articles are solely the opinion of the writer or organization. They do not necessarily represent the views of SouthsideCentral nor of our advertisers. We\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "YouCentral"","block_context":{"text":"YouCentral","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/youcentral\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"sclogo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/sclogo.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14144,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2015\/10\/01\/youcentral-gary-miller-talks-about-pollution-spills\/","url_meta":{"origin":11335,"position":2},"title":"YouCentral: Gary Miller talks about pollution spills.","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"October 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Here at SouthsideCentral, we invite all people and organizations to send us opinion pieces and statements. We will publish them unedited on a space-available basis. YouCentral articles are solely the opinion of the writer or organization. They do not necessarily represent the views of SouthsideCentral nor of our advertisers. We\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "YouCentral"","block_context":{"text":"YouCentral","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/youcentral\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/PrGtf1W.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":25063,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2016\/05\/07\/youcentral-neal-morris-on-danville-crime\/","url_meta":{"origin":11335,"position":3},"title":"YouCentral: Neal Morris on Danville Crime","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"May 7, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"SouthsideCentral is always glad to publish letters to the community from our readers. In today's YouCentral, Neal Morris talks about the recent uptick in Danville crime. Again, this is from Neal Morris. May 6, 2016 Southside Central: At the outset I would like to express my utmost respect and appreciation\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "YouCentral"","block_context":{"text":"YouCentral","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/youcentral\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/stEFtdR.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17266,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2016\/03\/06\/youcentral-lauren-jones-her-gold-award-project\/","url_meta":{"origin":11335,"position":4},"title":"YouCentral: Lauren Jones & Her Gold Award Project","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"March 6, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"SouthsideCentral loves to print letters from our readers. Today, Lauren Jones talks about her Gold Award project and the upcoming Southside Audible Egg Hunt. Again, this is from Lauren Jones. Hello, My name is Lauren Jones. I am a senior cadet with Girl Scout Troop 152. I am currently working\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "YouCentral"","block_context":{"text":"YouCentral","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/youcentral\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/CSWwinL.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/CSWwinL.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/CSWwinL.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13607,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2015\/08\/08\/youcentral-buddy-rawleys-confederate-flag-speech\/","url_meta":{"origin":11335,"position":5},"title":"YouCentral: Buddy Rawley\u2019s Confederate Flag Speech","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"August 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"SouthsideCentral is pleased to publish opinion pieces from all elected officials as well as from our readers. Use the \"Contact Us!\" link at the top of every SouthsideCentral page to send your submissions in. In this YouCentral article, we're publishing Buddy Rawley's speech from Danville City Council's Thursday night meeting.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Danville"","block_context":{"text":"Danville","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/locations\/danville\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/pnciQqF.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11335"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11337,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11335\/revisions\/11337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}