By MADELEINE TRTAN

One in five women will be sexually assaulted on college campuses, according to according to a recent Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll.

The issue has forever been brushed off and swept under the rug. It was not until Rolling Stone’s coverage of a campus rape at the University of Virginia that the news media started actively discussing campus sexual violence.

This was a crucial topic at the time. It is real, it is happening and finally there was some light shed on it in hopes for universities around the country to change policies regarding sexual violence.

Ultimately, the article was falsely reported and left a bad aftertaste for many Americans. Victims are almost always blamed for sexual assault. Only when a woman immediately reports the assault and can precisely recalls every single detail of the assault, is she considered the “perfect” rape victim and is believed. However, this is rarely the case. Sexual assaults cause tremendous amounts of trauma which can leave the memory flawed and victims are likely to suffer PTSD.

News media coverage of sexual violence on campuses has given the false idea to the public that women are lying, framing or seeking attention. Instead of believing the victim, society is more likely to blame the victim and presume the accused is innocent.

If news media were to actively report sexual violence for what it is, sexual violence, and if society were to stop making the excuse “boys will be boys,” there would not be one in five women on college campuses being sexually assaulted.