Contact: Gina Lauterio
Email: info@saveservices.org
‘One in Five, It’s a Lie:’ SAVE Launches Campaign to Restore Truth to Sexual Assault Debate
WASHINGTON / January 7, 2015 – Stop Abusive and Violent Environments is today launching a national campaign to expose common myths and false claims about campus sexual assault. The 12 myths, along with the factual information, can be viewed here: http://www.saveservices.org/sexual-assault/myths/
One of the most common is the “one in five” myth, the claim that one-fifth of college women experience sexual assault. But a recent Department of Justice report concluded the actual risk is 2.4% over the four-year college period.
Other myths include:
- Only 2-8% of Rape Allegations are False
- Our Nation Endorses a “Rape Culture”
- Encouraging Women to Follow Common-Sense Rape Prevention Measures is “Blaming the Victim”
SAVE believes these myths, and the concerns they engendered, contributed to a cultural milieu in which the UVA-Rolling Stone magazine debacle took place last month.
“Campus activists have systematically distorted the truth to promote ineffective policies and remove the presumption of innocence from the accused,” according to SAVE spokesperson Sheryle Hutter. “There is no ‘rape culture’ in American society, but these myths have served to promote a culture of ‘rape panic’ on college campuses.”
SAVE has drafted a bill that would require campus sexual assault cases be handled by local law enforcement authorities, not untrained campus disciplinary panels: http://www.saveservices.org/sexual-assault/sos/
Stop Abusive and Violent Environments is working to promote effective solutions to campus sexual assault: http://www.saveservices.org/