Letter to the Editor:
By Daily Bruin Staff
April 13, 2010 9:00 p.m.
Acquaintance rape needs attention
The focus on recent sexual assaults is necessary for campus safety; however, I feel that this recent awareness has highlighted stranger rape while bringing limited attention to acquaintance rape, which is more pervasive. According to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, approximately two-thirds of rapes are committed by someone known to the victim.
I was surprised to see that the article “Attempted sexual assault on the Hill” (April 1) only briefly mentioned that on March 12, a date rape occurred between acquaintances. Why did this perpetrator of acquaintance rape not have his/her face on the front page of the Daily Bruin, as Thaddeus Staniforth did on April 8?
While stranger rape is being addressed, acquaintance rape should be reported in the same manner. Acquaintance rapists might be more apprehensive of committing crimes if, like stranger rapists, their faces would end up on the paper the next morning for their friends, employers and professors to see.
Julia Selfridge
Third-year, Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics
