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Comments
The study conducted by Kanin in 1994 used a small sample size and contained other problematic limitations, such as police mandating polygraphs for rape victims. This not only proves premature suspicion, considering other victims of violent crimes were not required to take polygraphs, but it also shows that the police officers were subjective rather than objective when assessing the rape cases. Kanin acknowledged these pitfalls of his research and warned against generalizing his data to the country as a whole. A more recent report released by the Department of Justice in 2001 states that the rate of false reporting in cases of rape is the same as that of any other violent crime--around 2%. If you disagree with this statistic, then you should direct your criticism at the Department of Justice. Regardless of discrepancies regarding false reporting and under-reporting, rape is still a problem in today's society. Whether you do or do not decide to join the efforts to end sexual violence (which I sincerely hope that you do), please just consider this--one case of rape is one case too many. Consider if one of your relatives or close friends was raped. What would you hope was being done to help him/her? How would you feel if the media and others questioned his/her honesty when you knew how much pain that individual was going through?
The Department of Justice estimates that over a five-year stay, a college woman’s risk of experiencing a completed or attempted sexual assault is between 1/5 and 1/4. DOJ 2000
The 20-25% is not just a marketing tool...
And as Crosby said, only 5% of sexual assaults are reported to law enforcement. So, 95% are unreported, and more often than not, individuals may not identify their experience as rape, or have a reason to not report.
Reporting is strictly up to the individual.
Sexual assault is a lot more common than this comment forum seems to believe.
Also, only 2% of rapes are falsely reported, which is no different than any other violent crime. People don't often lie about sexual assault. If you actually think about it, there are more reasons to not lie about it. Reporting rape is a traumatizing event, one that is relived throughout the legal system process, and involves evidence collections, which is invasive.
I think more education on the campus community is necessary, given these comments.
And lipgloss has nothing to do with anything...
Speaking about the product in question, this is absolutely ridiculous.
1) As Nimeh says, “If you were going to be that vigilant, there are probably other risk-reduction techniques that you could use.” Maybe don't drink something a stranger hands to you or leave your drink unattended!? So a population that would take such precautions really would have no need for this product, would they?
2) How much risk does this product actually reduce when there are far more than 2 "date rape" drugs, say like any prescription that exacerbates the effects of alcohol??
3) I don't get where the lip gloss has anything to do with the message of avoiding rape. Saying that lipgloss “[is] one of those things girls don’t go out without" does not clear up the message either and comes across as ignorant and offensive. So all women want to look good, so they must carry lip gloss, and in turn will remember that they bought their drug kit with the lip gloss?? What???
And wtf does "look gorgeous but stay in control" imply? I believe that this implies a tone of responsibility on the part of women who are date raped. I absolutely believe in personal awareness and personal responsibility in one's safety but saying something along the lines of 'YOU could be raped if YOU are not in control' is absurd and spreads an incorrect message that a VICTIM is somehow responsible for such an assault. Maybe the individuals drugging drinks and raping should STAY IN CONTROL.
So according to your logic, if I walk down the street in the Cass corridor of Detroit with $100 bills hanging out of my pocket, I'm not at all responsible if I get mugged. Do you really think that?
Ok, sure. Got it...
Yeah, I actually do really think that. No assault (sexual or otherwise) is ever the fault of the victim.
It is never the survivor's fault that they were sexually assaulted. You could do everything in your power to protect yourself, but ultimately, it is the fault of the perpetrator that they assaulted someone.
If you are going to state rape statistics, do your research. If you Google "rape statistics ann arbor" you will actually find that in 2006 there were 32 rapes REPORTED in Ann Arbor, that's slightly below the national average. It is unlikely that the number of reported rapes has dropped to just 4 or 5 since then. It should also be considered that many rapes go unreported. Secondly, it is a well known fact that 1 in 4 college students has survived rape or attempted rape. http://www.oneinfourusa.org/
You must be a complete nut job if you think that date rape is a "very rare event!" Both men and women need to take precautions to protect themselves from predators and not be afraid to report incidents when they happen!
I never said that people should not take cautions against rape, however, your overly-emotional rant coupled with citing a propaganda website for "facts" does nothing to bolster your credibility.
First off, the bogus stat of "one in four" has been thoroughly debunked - see http://llr.lls.edu/volumes/v33-issue3/greer.pdf for the analysis on that score. Note that this is a legitimate analysis published in a Law Review journal, not a propaganda rant like the One In Four website you reference. Second, just because 32 rapes were reported doesn't mean that those were actual rapes. The best estimates show that about 40% of all reported rapes are false (For example: Kanin, E., Archives of Sexual Behavior Feb 1994 v23 n1 p81(12); McDowell,C., USAF, 1985), thus, reported numbers are meaningless. Therefore, I believe that the good evidence shows that it's likely that at the very least, non-reports are canceled out by false reports. And considering that so-called "date rape" is a subset of the category "rape," I maintain that while date rape is a serious crime when it occurs, it's very rare crime relative to others.
Now, if you consider someone who relies on facts instead of emotional propaganda as a "nutjob," then I wear the mantle proudly. And if so, then I think that if you're looking for a true nutjob you might start with looking into a mirror.
If there were 32 rapes reported in Ann Arbor, and lets say they all came from students, which is unlikely, and there are a total of 12,612 female undergrads here at the university, then the percentage of college women who reported a rape would be .0025. It seems your statistic about 25% of college women having dealt with a rape is way off.
Only 5% of sexual assaults are reported. Thus, the 25% statistic incorporates the 95% of sexual assault that go unreported.
I suppose that some people might want to use this, but I agree that it sounds mostly like a marketing gimmick for the lip gloss rather than an aid in preventing "date rape." However, I think that a better way to avoid such things is to keep trusted friends nearby when out at the bar or parties where these sorts of things might happen.
That said, rape in general, and date rape in particular, are very rare events, so this seems like much ado about nothing, or at least much ado about very little. I think there were something along the lines of 4 or 5 rapes reported last year, so in a town the size of Ann Arbor (~115,000) that's a rate of about 0.004% or 4 per 100,000.
The only way to "avoid" rape is to not commit it.
And, as has been said elsewhere in the comments, only 5% of sexual assaults are actually reported which begs the question of whether it's really all that "rare," yes?
If I'm anticipating date rape enough to plan to wear that lipgloss, maybe I should just skip that particular event.
I still don't get where the lip gloss comes in - the testing kit is completely separate from the lip gloss. Seems like a complete marketing ploy. I don't get it.
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