i am loving my social deviance class.
today during class we spent an hour and 15 minutes talking about guns and rape. both are interesting topics that people don't really discuss that often. i will tell you, rape victims have a lot to conquer. i learned today that only half of rapes are even reported to the police and 15% of those are ruled unfounded for various reasons (victim delays reporting, previous relationship with the offender, victim too embarrassed/afraid/traumatized/young to cooperate with the police, etc) and then the investigation stops. it is so sad. by the time the victim rounds up enough courage to report it the police and recount every detail of the traumatizing event, they are questioned about the validity of their claims every step of the way. i can't even imagine. and to top it all off, rape victims are sometimes blamed for it all. crazy!
we ended the class with discussing what could be done to decrease rape occurrences. i suggested learning self defense. learning self defense would help women to fight off an attacker and it would also help women present themselves with confidence to avoid looking vulnerable. we also talked about ways to decrease the stigma placed on rape victims, they are not to blame. by reducing the stigma, maybe more victims would report the crime and get the help and support they need in overcoming such a tragedy.
for some reason, i love discussing topics that others tend to shy away from, maybe that is the sociologist in me. other serious topics on the docket are domestic violence, white collar crimes, substance abuse, suicide, mental disorders, and sexual deviance (which includes a number of topics).
i am excited to learn. should be a good semester.
Monday, February 8, 2010
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I am with you Katie... I tend to like the topics that aren't talked about too often. I enjoyed studying about them when I was in college too. As a nurse I have dealt with a few of them and they are so sad but kind of intriguing. While Dave was a prosecutor in Utah he dealt with rape victims all the time and what you said is true, it's sad, but they rarely get the justice they deserve. Your major sounds SO interesting! It's awesome when you have classes you ENJOY!! :)
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