By Lauren Owings

opinion@statenews.com

Being a student at MSU comes with a lot of stipulations. You have the responsibility of making connections with professors, acing exams, and creating a plan for the future. As a female student, you have additional worries — including getting home. If you are a woman on campus, you have likely heard words of caution from friends and family members such as, “Don’t walk alone at night.”

As a freshman, I heard these words. The problem was I had a class that ended after dark, followed by a nearly 30-minute walk to my dorm. I walked home terrified every minute that I would be attacked. I wondered if my concerns were unprecedented, or if I really had reason to worry.

A news headline from March of this year reads, “Midnight Attack Against Woman on Michigan State University Campus.”

The 19-year-old student was assaulted by two unknown men as she walked to Yakeley Hall. Another recent story tells of two young women who were right outside their homes when they were grabbed and dragged to a secluded area by their attacker. But it’s not only anonymous attackers that women have to worry about — at least 80 percent of sexual assaults are committed by an acquaintance of the victim.

So, in addition to being told not to walk home alone at night, the female students at MSU are also told not to accept a drink from anyone, even someone they might consider a friend.

Women are often asked what they were wearing at the time of the attack, as if their personal clothing choices could have been the cause. Even the recent creation of a nail polish that detects date rape drugs suggests women are responsible for avoiding assaults. Four male students at North Carolina State University created the nail polish, and though their intentions were good, the product is now very controversial.

Statistics from Sarah Lawrence College show that one in four college women will be the victim of sexual assault during her academic career. That rate has remained the same since studies were conducted in the 1980s. The question is, why has nothing changed?

The rate of sexual assault against women will not waver until society stops placing the responsibility of prevention on women.

What if, instead of telling women what they can and cannot do, society begins to instruct males? Young men going to college should be told to respect women. They should be told that just as their body belongs to them, a woman’s body belongs to her. Young men should also learn that women and men should be treated equally.

The weight of the rules placed on women is too much to bear and leaves them feeling guilty and ashamed in the wake of an assault. In reality, the attacker holds all the blame. But incidents of sexual assault and their harsh effects will not decrease until society realizes women are not at fault.