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Matthew Holm

Ms. Wilson

English II Honors

December 6, 2019

Sexual Violence Essay Rough Draft

Sexual violence is a problem because it is a problem that teens shouldn’t have to be

victims of. Sexual assault/ sexual violence, in general, has always been a major issue but never

have been addressed and properly gotten rid of. Teens today are facing many growing issues that

can make their lives more difficult. One of these issues is widely known as sexual harassment/

sexual violence. The significance of sexual​ ​violence​ is that is can be linked to long-term

consequences for both the individual being targeted and their surroundings. ​People who are

mainly affected by this are women, younger boys, and homosexuals (and other people part of the

LGBTQ+ community). It is important that this issue is immediately addressed because any

non-consensual sexual activity can result in negative long term mental and emotional effects on

the victim of the situation. If nothing is done about this growing issue, sexual predators will

continue to assault younger people who they view as easy targets, which is not acceptable.

Teens shouldn’t have to face sexual violence, especially being a young age. Issues that

can become a result of sexual violence are symptoms of depression, anxiety, paranoia, high

blood pressure, and lack of sleep. ​“Experiencing sexual harassment and/or assault not only has

implications for your quality of life, social functioning, and job performance, but also for your

mental and physical health.” -Prof Rebecca Thurston, the first author of the study from the
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University of Pittsburgh​. ​Interviews from 2,750 teens from Florida between the ages of 13 and

21 explained their experiences of sexual harassment and assault. ​According to a study done by

the CDC in 2016, the number of sexual violence reports increases by 5% annually. ​“In order to

escape accountability for his crimes, the perpetrator does everything in his power to promote

forgetting everything about the event”- ​Judith Lewis Herman, ​Trauma and Recovery: The

Aftermath of Violence - From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror​. ​“No amount of me trying to

explain myself was doing any good. I didn't even know what was going on inside of me, so how

could I have explained it to them?”― ​Sierra D. Waters, ​Debbie​, a survivor of sexual assault.

This shows that sexual violence and the aftermath can be very traumatizing for the victim.

One solution to sexual violence would be to seek help from an outside source, this source

could be a loved one, a pier, or a professional who specializes in those situations (typically a

counselor or a hotline/ network where you could talk to somebody about it and get advice. Ex:

RAINN). Another solution would be to (if you can) surround yourself with people in an

environment that promotes safety and security, which could prevent the aggression from taking

place at all. Another solution would be to practice self-defense in case if you fund yourself in a

situation like this. One way you could also prevent yourself and others from having this happen

is to them would be to educate people on the importance of practicing sexual consent. Giving

consent means to give permission/ to mutually agree on something happening. Practicing consent
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is important when it comes to sexual activity because if the “victim” in this case is not giving

consent, or is unable to give or not give consent, the “predator” in this case, should ​not​ proceed.

Sexual assault/ sexual violence, in general, has always been a major issue that teens

should not have to be dealing with at such an early age, but never have been addressed and

properly gotten rid of. But, there are many sources of help and education that you, as the victim,

can seek if needed. I think the best way to kickstart a movement to end sexual violence is to

educate everyone on the importance of safe, consensual sex. The impact that I hope for my

solution to having is a complete end to all sexual violence. I think it is the best solution to end

sexual violence because it would hopefully unite people together to stand against sexual

misconduct. The people who would be positively affected by this are victims of sexual assault.

People who would end up being affected negatively by this would be the predators who assaulted

the victims. If this solution were to be carried out, the outcome would hopefully be a complete

end to sexual violence to teens, along with everyone else who is a target.
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