University of South Florida held a 'Slut Walk' on Monday afternoon at the Tampa Bay campus. Slut Walks are political campaigns aimed at ending assaults on campus which happen because of the way a woman is often dressed. Men are also victims of sexual assaults, but many reports have shown that there is an increase in sexual assault on women attending college campuses in the past year or so.
While I attended FIU, there were many professors who had expressed that women attend the slut walks. I never attended one or took part in one, but I have seen them march around the campus with signs and posters about sexual assault.
These happen on college campuses everywhere in the United States, not just USF in Tampa or FIU in Miami.
Slut march
The Slut Walk that would be hosted at USF in Tampa was funded by the Safe HOME and Social Work Society groups. The march will start at Martin Luther King Plaza and end at the Marshall Student Center. From there, survivors of sexual assault or people speaking on their behalf will talk about their story of sexual assault or harassment on campus.
"Victim blaming is one of the most common forms of subordination," said Kate Shrun from Safe HOME to Tampa Bay Times, "If the sexual advance is unwarranted, it was rape or harassment."
Assault rules overturned
Later this year, Department of Education Secretary Besty DeVos overtuned rules brought fourth by President Obama around sexual assault allegations citing that it was against the accused in an unfair manner.
The new rules brought forth by Besty DeVos says that the university can make a decision based on the amount of evidence if and only if the amount of evidence is convincing enough for the university to move forward with a sexual assault charge.
Former President Obama's rules for sexual assault cited that universities can judge students based on the number of evidence that is compiled against the accused.
Best Devos' ruling indicates that the accused must be considered innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt by the amount of evidence similar to that of a criminal court case. Many advocates are now afraid that women or men who have been assaulted sexually might not come forward to report their incident due to the lack of protection that was provided under the Obama rulings for sexual assault.
Last year, the high profile case of Brock Turner who sexually assaulted an unconscious women at Stanford University was given six months in jail as a sentence for his crime, but only served three months and was released based on good behavior. Many assault advocates were outraged at the ruling and ordered the judge to be disbarred for his sentencing in the assault case.