Time to get serious about sex assault
Sexual assault. Who wants to talk about that? It doesn't affect you, so why care?
But wait. It does.
What if I told you 1 in 3 teens are affected by sexual/physical violence every year? Or that 1 in 2 women, AND 1 in 5 men, have been sexually violated in their lives?
Look around. Tell me it doesn't affect you now.
We have college students getting date raped, then expelled for breaking the honor code for having sex on campus. We have National Guard recruiters/band teachers sexually violating high school students, and politicians covering it up for years on end, only to have it revealed and the only punishment be a quiet retirement with benefits. Students shouldn't have to worry about getting raped or abused, but they do, and not much is happening to stop it.
So here's my theory: maybe if we stop blaming/punishing the victims, calling abused kids "socially troubled," and stop giving sports stars/recruiters free passes, then rape might stop being a joke and no might actually mean no again.
-- Raven Hamilton
Anchorage
Iditarod got it right with restart, wrong on Sass disqualification
The Iditarod Fairbanks restart seemed to go smoothly for all involved. The Iditarod Trail Committee should use the Fairbanks restart on a regular basis; perhaps alternating with the southern and northern route every three years and of course no snow years. Hopefully they will also revisit the musher communications restrictions. Probably, most Alaskans would agree that the disqualification for Brent Sass was too much.
-- Doug Bartko
Palmer
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