SURVEY: 68.5% Rye High Women Know Someone Who Has Been Sexually Assaulted; 25.7% Report Being Victims Themselves

An astounding 68.5% of Rye High School female students know someone who has been sexually assaulted, and 25.7% report that they have been victims themselves.

(PHOTO: In a survey of 109 female students at Rye High School, 25.7% report they have been sexually assaulted in the past.)

The survey of 109 female students was conducted by Ella Garnett and Alaire Kanes, editors at The Garnet Mine, published by the web journalism class at Rye High School.

In the piece called "The Culture of Sexual Assault" Garnett and Kanes said "The (survey) results, though upsetting, were not at all shocking. Every day we see stories on the news regarding sexual assault, and it’s easy to distance ourselves, as if it doesn’t affect us. That fact in itself is part of the problem because as our results showed, women everywhere are affected by a society that teaches them to “suck-it-up.”"

They continued "Only one question received more no responses than yes responses, and that was “Have you ever been sexually assaulted?(This includes anything from unwanted sexual touching to rape)” Thankfully a majority of survey participants said no, but 28 Rye High students answered yes, they had been sexually assaulted… We need a paradigm shift…. Movements like #MeToo and the publication of articles such as the New York Times investigation of Harvey Weinstein (which had been silenced for decades) are only the tip of the iceberg, the beginning of a change in culture. It’s time our community, our country, and the rest of the world follow suit.

Rea the survey results below and read the article.

What do you think? Post a comment below.