Prevention of sexual assault should be a focus in classrooms

Megan Garringer

Staff Writer

When a shocking NextDoor post came out about an alleged rapist walking Mira Costa’s halls last November, the rumor mill began churning and gossip spread like wildfire. However, the pressure to find out who it was, and what their punishments would be drastically died down within the a month.

Costa senior Allie Smythe has close personal ties to the situation, and was appalled to see what she believes to be a lack of action on the administration’s part. She has been pushing Costa authorities to intervene in the situation since last summer.

According to Smythe, Costa officials have known about the incident since July, but despite being given ample information, including names and transgressions, they have yet to take any steps to address the matter publicly.

As the only student currently on Mira Costa’s Healthy Relationships Committee at Costa, Smythe feels responsible for standing up for those without voices. She believes that there needs to be a change in how the faculty handles and teaches sexual assault education. Smythe has worked with school officials, board members, and representatives from the Beach Cities Health District to find new approaches to this issue. The current lack of action at Costa allows rape culture to continue to prosper and does not enforce accountability on the school’s transgressors.

Although the administration has made several proposals regarding consent and sexual abuse education, Smythe believes their ideas are outdated and would ultimately be ineffective, as the proposals addressed the serious issue of sexual assault too lightly. Currently the “Positive Prevention Plus” curriculum is implemented in all health classes and  has been regularly updated for years according to PE teacher James Beaumont.

Meaghan Ramsey, a Manhattan Beach Middle School alumna and speaker on self-esteem and womanhood is scheduled to begin speaking in assemblies to all Costa grade levels next year. These will start out in a more general sense for freshmen, but will continue to become more specific as students mature.

According to Smythe, the school also hopes to implement the Red Flag Campaign, a movement focused on the prevention of dating violence. The campaign uses intervention to address and prevent assault, and uses these opportunities to talk about how students should deal with specific situations.

Smythe says she has had to fight hard for this education, but she believes now is the perfect time to start up this conversation. Society’s consciousness has begun to focus more on the health and safety of our women, and the media has been integral in spreading these ideas. The #MeToo movement has made great strides for sexual assault survivors, as celebrities, entertainers, and other influential men and women share their stories.

However, while the media can be a helpful outlet for victims, it can also be very toxic for impressionable young adults. While many teenagers are aware of what “no means no” alludes to, there are many levels to consent that are not as understood or talked about as they should be. The media does a poor job of showing these complex situations in which consent is unclear by validating stereotypes about men and women. Consent is glorified and  previously assumed in most TV shows and movies so that it portrays consent as unnecessary.

Costa needs to be keeping students updated on situations that put people’s personal safety at risk. The idea that those accused by their peers still walk the campus unpunished only reinforces the stereotypes which hold us down. Even if we are not sure about the validity of the claims, these situations should, at the very least, be investigated and considered seriously, rather than ignored and brushed under the rug.

Smythe’s main focus for her last year at Costa is spreading the word about Denim Day. Happening on April 24, this nationally recognized event recognizes the struggles of sexual assault and abuse victims. She intends to get everyone at Costa, including members of the staff and administration, to wear as much denim as possible in order to spread awareness for the cause. Smythe hopes that everyone will come out and dress up in denim, so that students who may have been through similar situations will feel empowered by the support from the community and will be encouraged to speak freely and share their stories. With this show of solidarity we can be more optimistic about making change in our community.