When the Nightmare Becomes Reality: Rape in Today's Society
Jeremy Holm
Issue date: 9/23/05 Section: News
The evening starts out like most any others. Your dress to kill in your newest outfit and then head out with your girlfriends to a club to have a night on the town. After a few hours of dancing in the crowded, muggy room, you and your new dance partner head to a table to sit down. He runs off to buy some drinks and returns a few minutes later. With a coy smile, he slides over a glass and you hurriedly down it to quench your thirst.
The next thing you know, you wake up in a strange place, alone, your clothes disheveled. Worst of all...you can't remember what happened. One thing is clear, though.
You were just raped.
Sadly enough, this is a story many women can relate to.
Michelle Broadrick, age 20, from San Francisco, California, cried as she related her experience with rape. Broadrick is a former Calvin Klein model, semi-pro softball player, and a sophomore at the University of Southern California preparing for a career in the medical field.
"I want to be a nurse so that I can help people," Broadrick said.
Fortunately for her, four of her friends were there that night to assist her. They stood in the attacker's way and stopped him. Broadrick awoke to the concerned and tear-streaked faces of her companions.
"It scares me to death," Broadrick said. "I never thought it would happen to me, that some guy would do that. I was just out there for a fun night. Going to get out of the stressful situations of life, just be there to have fun, be with my friends."
Thanks to those friends, she was one of the lucky ones.
According to the 2003 National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice, every two and a half minutes somewhere in America a woman is raped.
According to the 1998 survey from Prevalence, Incidence and Consequences of Violence Against Women Survey, one out of every six American women have been the victims of an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime (14.8 percent completed raped; 2.8 percent attempted rape).
The next thing you know, you wake up in a strange place, alone, your clothes disheveled. Worst of all...you can't remember what happened. One thing is clear, though.
You were just raped.
Sadly enough, this is a story many women can relate to.
Michelle Broadrick, age 20, from San Francisco, California, cried as she related her experience with rape. Broadrick is a former Calvin Klein model, semi-pro softball player, and a sophomore at the University of Southern California preparing for a career in the medical field.
"I want to be a nurse so that I can help people," Broadrick said.
Fortunately for her, four of her friends were there that night to assist her. They stood in the attacker's way and stopped him. Broadrick awoke to the concerned and tear-streaked faces of her companions.
"It scares me to death," Broadrick said. "I never thought it would happen to me, that some guy would do that. I was just out there for a fun night. Going to get out of the stressful situations of life, just be there to have fun, be with my friends."
Thanks to those friends, she was one of the lucky ones.
According to the 2003 National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice, every two and a half minutes somewhere in America a woman is raped.
According to the 1998 survey from Prevalence, Incidence and Consequences of Violence Against Women Survey, one out of every six American women have been the victims of an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime (14.8 percent completed raped; 2.8 percent attempted rape).
