Activism and College Women

I think I just loss all faith in humanity. No, seriously.

I am a member of V-DAY, a group started by Eve Ensler on college campuses across the nation to bring awareness to the issues of domestic violence and sexual assault. To say that I am a dedicated and passionate young feminist is to describe me accurately.  However, lately I have been seriously disturbed by all the recent violence produced by the Mexican drug cartels.  This morning in my Latin American/Gender class my professor showed a picture of 6 heads laying on a floor with no bodies. These people had been beheaded recently by the drug cartels. This ruthless violence is getting to me, to say the least.  So, when I got home tonight I turned the google safe search off and went to work to see if I could figure out what was really going on.  I consulted the campus research sources, Google Scholar, Google for regular people, Youtube, and all the major newspapers. One thing led to another and I ended up researching the psychological effects of rape. 

I accidentally ended up on a gangrape website (I refuse to post the link because it was so gruesome i bawled for hours). I cried and cried.  This website had videos of hundreds of young girls being raped, and not sicko porn raped, up for purchase, in a multitude of categories.  There were fiery asians, virgins, gay violence, latinas (the list goes on in an equally brutal and offensive manner.) Being on a college campus I have the power to reach other young girls. 1 in 5 college women will experience rape, and 85% of women know their attacker.  Most women that are raped know their attacker an average of 1 year. Only 16% of college rapes get reported, and 30% of these women contemplate suicide. These numbers are unacceptable to me, especially after what I was just forced to witness.

i want to reach out to other women, younger or older. I want to be the Eve Ensler of my generation.  I was in the Vagina Monologues and it was one of my proudest moments.  I am asking for the help of fellow feminists in how I can reach out to other young women on a college campus.  i WILL reach out, as of right now I am just frustrated and need some ideas on how to do it. 

Help me fellow and creative feminists!

Disclaimer: This post was written by a Feministing Community user and does not necessarily reflect the views of any Feministing columnist, editor, or executive director.

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