My 2 Cents

      In class this week we talked about a lot of different topics. Things from rape, to other forms of violence between men and women. I know people that have been victims of sexual assault and been apart of intimate partner violence. I think those were two of the biggest issues that were touched on this week. Both which I have some things I would like to preach about.
          First thing is sexual assault. From the amount of people who reported they have been raped, it is obvious the issue is out of control and really out of the justice system's hands. Keeping in mind there are just as many, to probably 3 times as many people who have been raped and just haven't said anything about it. Some of the people I knew didn't tell anyone but their closest friends and half the time it was years after it happened. Seeing how frequent sexual assault happens I feel the only way to solve the problem is for people to take it into their own hands. Laws aren't going to be good enough. We all have to do our part, do anything through out the day we can do. Whether that's getting people to speak up, spread the awareness, promoting self defense classes for people, or any little thing you can think of. It's one of those issues people have to actively to forth effort in order to stop it.
        Another thing that stuck in my head this week was intimate partner violence. That's another issue only the people themselves can change because that type of violence can be triggered by almost anything. Just depends on the person and what it takes to make them snap. One thing for sure is that if anybody knows what makes you snap, it's probably the person your most intimate with. One reason why is that the person it seems a lot of people take their aggression on, is their boyfriend or girlfriend. I remember days when I used to live with my girlfriend and there were times things got out of hand. I never hit her but she has came close to meeting the floor. I just knew drama with a female wasn't worth me messing my record up.  But intimate partner violence is something I feel has to be addressed at the beginning of a relationship. You can't go into a relationship with the mindset that there will never come a time that you want to knock out your partner. If the issue if addressed at the beginning and there is an agreement made that the both of you will never commit violent acts against each other, then things might be a chance. If you make the agreement then you have to come up with what actions will be taken if the agreement is broken. Whether that means you stay in a relationship or whether you end it. That's just a solution I thought of but I know the issue is bigger than that and more complicated. But I know for sure it can only be stopped if the issue is addressed before people become intimate with each other.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjfZaswsbPs