Rape is a horrible thing to experience. Once it happens to you, you don’t want to tell anyone, because you are afraid. Or you think people will think less of you after you tell them. While these attacks are not the fault of the victim, you can take some precautionary measures to keep yourself safe. I always take caution when hanging out with friends that never get drunk in the club or in the party, even they are my close male friends; because we don’t know what gonna happen when we are drunk.

I used to think that the percentage of getting raped will decrease if they protect themselves by doing certain things. However, after taking courses of women studies, I now recognize how awkward it was to think this way. Women have their own ways of living and acting. Women should not change the way they dress up, if that is her ways of getting beautiful. Women should not avoid smiling at men, if that is the way she treats people. If I put myself in women’s shoes, caring so much about how to not get abused by others and deforming my life will be such a pain. We really need to start thinking about this issue in a serious way, not putting aside by simply using the word “gender differences” or “men dominance”.

My initial thoughts on this video as a women I find kind of insulting. The fact that I have to give up my rights, my independents, and my identity as a women is appalling. I think common sense and knowing your surroundings is the only way to really prevent an attack. I did take a few good things from this video such as: staying in well lit areas upon walking at night,and making sure you have a buddy upon attending large social events. But saying that there’s really no way to prevent such an event from happening. As a college student, rape is a defiant nightmare that someone thinks that will never happen to them, but in reality it can be lurking around the corner.

This video cracked me up. It is so true. How ridiculously careful do us women have to be in order to go out and have a good time? Men don’t have to think about these things when they go out. I remember when I was younger, and living in San Francisco, my husband was extremely worried about me leaving the house at night to go out to a club or to see some music. It was really frustrating and disappointing. At first, I did not have the awareness I should have about how dangerous it was for me to go alone to certain parts of the city. I just wanted to have a fun night out–is that so wrong? Should I sit in the house and knit for the rest of my life for fear that I will be attacked if I try to go out and have any fun? After I while, I could see his point, and became more aware of the dangers of being a woman alone in the city at night. A good friend of mine was mugged–shoved violently to the ground and robbed in LA, even though she was not alone, but with a friend. Although she was not raped or beaten, she was severely affected psychologically after that for quite some time. She was afraid for her safety in ways and in places that she never felt threatened at all before.

It is really sad to think of how many precautions women must take, when they should be able to feel safe doing normal things. We should be able to walk alone, dress however we want to, and drink and dance the night away without fear of being attacked.

Even in the smaller town of Santa Cruz where we live in now, my husband worries about me going from the door of an establishment to the parking lot alone, and vice versa. This kind of anxiety, while at times it feels overbearing to me, is a commentary on the true risk every woman must take, just by being born into this world as a woman. Unless we decide to live in a box under lock and key, we are prone to this risk, due to the violent nature of many men, and their all too prevalent penchant for taking advantage of us.

I have very mixed views on this video. First of all, following these tips may help you avoid getting raped, although wearing a jumpsuit for example is ridiculous. I do understand that they are trying to say not to wear clothes that expose your body, but wearing clothes that are a little showy, does not mean you are getting raped. I definitely agree that women need to be aware of their surroundings and be cautious when out alone. This does not mean that following all the tips demonstrated in this video can keep you from being a victim of rape one hundred percent. The humor in this video also bothered me in some ways. Rape is not something to be joked about. This video made it seem like it is the woman’s fault for being a victim of rape when in reality many innocent women are often victims. I believe that knowing everyone you are out with and staying with a trusted group of people, while being safe but also having fun, is a a good way to go out. Women can enjoy alcohol as long as they do it responsibly and try bringing a friend to the bathroom when needed.

I hate how rapists try and justified themselves, saying how they want it or her body is asking for it, so they did a favor for everyone aka mankind. I have heard from somewhere or I might have read this but I’m not sure where but it says that females with ponytails tends to get rape easily or that rapists are attracted to those who has a ponytail. But I’m not sure how accurate that is.

This video provoked couple of eye-rolls and it managed to be funny and irritating all at once. Though it was a satirical piece I don’t think some of the comments she mentioned from certain sources were unfounded. Regardless if you were a man or a woman, why wouldn’t you avoid going out by yourself late at night to protect yourself from not only rape but other unsavory consequences like getting mugged? Or when at a party, why not keep an eye on your drink? I would try to avoid that regardless of getting raped or not. Of course, these things will not guarantee your safety but they are pretty legitimate countermeasures nonetheless. In my opinion, Buono set out to make these college web pointers look so foolish that Buono’s argument ended up looking pretty foolish in itself. I found it to be sort of 50/50( some of the cited suggestions were stupid and some weren’t) and I feel like how Buono represented these college sites was misinterpreted as How not to be raped but instead on What you can do to avoid or prevent it since some of the points as I said, were legitimate. If it’s a college site wouldn’t they have a basis for giving a couple of reasons for women to avoid being victimized. Maybe their campus had a few incidents, and of course men should be held accountable but they would want to prevent it. . Though I don’t agree with how the information was presented There was a really good message that I got out of this anyways, that many people need to understand which is regardless of how a woman is dressed, or what environment or situation she finds herself in does not warrant her getting raped. Rape is not and cannot be justified under any circumstances.

I am not sure how I feel about this video. In some ways it is giving good advice, like not accepting drinks from strangers, not walking alone in places you would be more vulnerable to attack, and especially telling the people you are with where you are going (like to the bathroom). But in other ways this video seems to be making rape a joke. I am a victim of rape and sexual abuse as a child and too often I hear people making light of rape. People often use “rape” in such casual ways like it is no big deal. There should be more informational videos trying to get the message across that rape is not a joke. And it is not the victims fault, it is the rapists’. I think that there be more messages about self-control and not about how victims of assault were dressed too provocatively.