15 ways you can begin to stop rape today:

1) Recognize that no one asks for or deserves to be raped.
2) Don’t blame survivors for the violence perpetrated against them.
3) Know that silence does not equal consent.
4) Take responsibility for your own sexuality: don’t let it be defined by your partner, the media or anyone else.
5) Don’t drink and/or do drugs beyond your ability to control your body or your environment.
6) Don’t use alcohol or drugs to get someone to have sex with you.
7) Become an ally to the women in your life—do not participate in sexist behavior by objectifying or stereotyping women.
8) Take a self-defense class.
9) Teach your children, friends, parents, and peers about the myths and realities about sexual assault.
10) Find out what your local k-12 school board’s policy is on anti-rape and violence prevention education and get involved! If it is not proactive, change it!
11) Lobby your local, state and federal legislators for funding for anti-sexual assault programs.
12) Let teachers know you want to have rape prevention programs in your classes.
13) Donate your time as a volunteer to your local rape crisis organization.
14) Donate money to your local rape crisis organization.
15) If you have been a survivor or sexual assault—either by a stranger, an acquaintance, or an intimate—know that there is help out there. Call the YWCA Sexual Assault Program at (269) 245-9412 for free, confidential counseling services in Kalamazoo, or call the national hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE for the center nearest you.

Sexual Assault is an act of violence and no matter how we try to protect our friends, we cannot guarantee safety. But we can try to do a few things to change the environments in which we live. There are steps we can take to try to prevent sexual assault and make our campus safer.

Better Communication is a Must

Sexual assault is a violet act, not a sexual act. There is no way to promise that clear communication will prevent rape from happening, but it might prevent some situations from progressing to a point where the violence occurs.

We must avoid assumptions. We need to stop guessing what our partner feels and start asking what our partner feels. If we want to say no to certain sexual activity, we should feel comfortable saying no. Either way, we shouldn't make out partners guess what we are thinking. Be clear. Be assertive. Know what you want to say, say it, and mean it.

Another reason assumptions can be dangerous, is sometimes our partner consents to some sexual activities, but not to others. We need to understand that consent for kissing or touching does not mean consent for intercourse.

Too Much Alcohol and Sex can be a Dangerous Mix

A 1994 study found that 90% of campus rapes involve alcohol. There are a number of reasons why alcohol abuse and sexual assault might be linked. First of all, alcohol lowers inhibitions. After drinking, men and women often feel more sexually aroused. Second, trying to communicate and make decisions when you are drunk is impossible. The Kalamazoo College Improper Sexual conduct policy states that anyone "impaired by alcohol" is not able to give consent. Also, alcohol affects men and women differently. Women are more sensitive to alcohol. The average female has more body fat and this body fat contains little water. Water is needed to dilute the alcohol and if there is little of it, the alcohol takes longer to dilute. Women have less of the metabolizing enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase that helps the body get alcohol out of its system. More of what women drink enters the bloodstream as pure alcohol. Additionally, fluctuating hormone levels in women means that the effects of alcohol set in faster when estrogen levels are higher. Birth control pills and other medications containing estrogen will cause the effects of alcohol to set in faster.

Taking Care of Our Friends

Women are most often the survivors of sexual assault. When we hear someone bragging about taking advantage of a woman, confront that person. Explain to that person violence is nothing to be proud of.

If we are in a more immediate situation, at a party or gathering and we hear about a couple of men who have taken a woman upstairs, we have a tough choice. Should we be safe and get a friend and barge in and make sure everything is alright? Yes. If everything is OK, we embarrass ourselves and them for about 10 seconds. If everything is not okay, we might save everyone involved a lot of pain and suffering.

(Information taken from Bacchus and Gamma pamphlet, "Healing the Harm, Sexual Assault on Campus," 2001).