The Vanderbilt University rape trial has recently roused a great deal of attention.
The trial involved two ?former football players, ?Brandon Vandenburg and Cory Batey, who raped an unconscious girl in a dorm ?June 23, 2013.
It happened in the span of 30 minutes but changed ?someone’s life forever.
After 19 long months, the trial finally took place.
A three-hour deliberation was all it took for the jury to find both defendants guilty of sexual assault.
Although I am grateful for the justice the verdict will bring, what shocked me the most about this case was the defense argument that Vanderbilt culture ?influenced Batey and ?ultimately led to the assault.
I guess that could be ?considered marginally ?convincing.
After all, there was ?alcohol involved — something that is not uncommon on college ?campuses.
Batey had been in trouble twice with ethics at the school before the assault and was sactioned for smoking ?marijuana.
Furthermore, there is a stigma about college culture stronger than any stench of booze, drugs and dope.
The substance abuse and the sexual promiscuity on college campuses influence people to act in ways they ?otherwise would not.
Yet, I think this cultural ?argument is problematic.
Supposing we buy this defense argument, we would be making any individual’s actions and wrongdoings ?excusable due to the ?influence of an entire ?society.
It would express the ?notion that people who rape are not really responsible for it, but victims themselves in the turmoil of rape culture.
It’s the culture that is to blame.
Sure, on an abstract level, this could be the case.
However, it makes little sense when we put ourselves in the shoes of the victim.
The girl had obviously been subject to non-consensual physical penetration.
Such a thing could not have been achieved without the help of a person.
And yet, if we were to say the person who committed the act was not wholly ?responsible, then it would make little sense.
The problem here is ?evident: culture does not rape people.
People rape people.
We cannot blame culture for the misconduct of an ?individual.
Thus, I think when talking about sexual abuse on college campuses, it is wrong to ?accredit certain actions to some kind of campus culture.
For one, it gives off the wrong idea about college life in general and facilitates a negative social stigma.
College is a time of ?intellectual engagement and personal growth.
Yet, the negative ?connotations given to the phrases “campus culture” and “college life” give off the idea that everyone just wants to get drunk, get high and have sex.
Not only is this degrading to us as college students, but it also becomes an excuse for misconduct.
And while the former problem might be somehow dismissed, the Vanderbilt rape case has shown the latter is definitely not.
nywu@indiana.edu
