Recent studies have shown that college women are more likely to be raped or sexually assaulted within the first six weeks of school. Kim Bushore-Maki, coordinator of outreach programs at ETSU’s counseling center, said this is because women aren’t used to being in this type of environment or the environment’s pitfalls and are thus more vulnerable to sexual predators.
“The other piece of it is just not knowing what the dangers are, which goes back to the new environment,” said Bushore-Maki.
When asked what women could do to prevent their chances of being raped, Bushore-Maki said she believes the better question to be, “Why do men rape?”
“Women don’t do anything to deserve or warrant sexual assault,” she said. “I think that as long as we put the own ness on them to prevent it, we’re ignoring the larger issue, which is why do men, rape, beat or whatever the case may be.”
“Most women don’t go into downtown at two o’clock in the morning, yelling really loud, ‘I’m by myself,'” Bushore-Maki said. “The person who is more likely to attack them is the man who sits next to them in class, their boyfriend or the guy they just met at a party or the bar.”
In 80 percent of all rape cases, the victim knows her attacker.
Although no rapes were officially reported on the ETSU campus last year,
Bushore-Maki said she knows rapes occurred.
“Part of the problem is that there’s a lot of shame associated with admitting that someone raped you, and the outcome isn’t usually positive for the woman,” said Bushore-Maki.
She also said that in the cases where there is enough evidence, the woman’s character usually goes on trial, rather than the fact that a crime was committed.
“One thing that we’re trying to do is encourage women to do anonymousreporting,” said Bushore-Maki. “There are a lot of services they could take advantage of to help them recover from that traumatic event.”
If a woman is raped, Bushore-Maki said the first thing she should do is get help immediately and go to a safe environment. The victim should seek medical treatment as soon as possible, then seek counseling from a trained professional.
Bushore-Maki highly stressed that Campus Advocates Against Sexual Violence (CAASV) will serve as advocates and support people for the woman throughout the process.
“I want the message to be that women don’t have to go through this alone,” she said.
On Sept. 24 at noon, the counseling center will host a program titled “Legal Options for Women.” This event will be held in the Martha Street Culp Auditorium on the lower level of the D.P. Culp University Center.
In November, the counseling center will host Rape Aggression Defense (RAD) classes. This series of self-defense classes are for women only and will be offered Nov. 3, 10 and 17 from 5 to 9 p.m. The classes will be free to all female ETSU students, but ETSU faculty and staff and Johnson City community members will be charged $25.
For further information or questions, contact Bushore-Maki at the counseling center at 439-4841.

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