34. Common Book Reflection

Throughout this semester, I have accumulated a lot of research on my thread. My thread earlier in the semester was focused on athlete sexual assault cases including collegiate as well as professional athletes. I later changed my approach to this thread. I narrowed my research to mainly sexual assault committed by collegiate athletes. I was way more intrigued with collegiate athletes’ sexual assault cases because I am a college student and I felt I could relate more to college athletes. All the work I have done on this thread has improved my ability to research a specific topic. I have learned how to continuously find new information on college athlete sexual assault cases. I have looked over many cases and I believe I have a greater understanding of the sexual assault culture on college campuses in regards to college athletes. I learned a lot about myself as a writer. I learned how to gather sufficient information from multiple sources. My thoughts on college athletes have completely changed. I used to look up to college athletes and after doing my research I have lost respect for athletes on college campuses. One sexual assault crime is one to many in my opinion. In school moving forward, I will now have more knowledge of how to research topics and write them well. This assignment has made me try new behaviors such as being more respectful to women and knowing what many of them go through socially with athletes. I hope to take what I learned in writing this common book and apply these new writing skills in my other classes. Even in nonacademic ways, writing this common book has helped me. For example, if someone asks me to research another topic whether it be political or environmental I believe I can do so very well. This has given me practice of effectively and efficiently following threads of interest and significance. I know now, after writing this thread that this will help me to do any type of project moving forward. I will now be able to participate in public discussions about athletes on college campuses. This thread that I have chosen is a very hot topic in today’s society and is growing all over the country on college campuses. There are new sexual assault cases every day and I am fortunate enough to now have the knowledge to participate in these intense conversations about them. Our society is at fault because we put athletes on a pedestal and they know that they think they are superior to others and they can get away with anything. I would love to have a discussion with anyone else that has knowledge on this topic so that we can share ideas and that I can obtain a deeper understanding. I want to find a way to prevent athletes from using violence and having a feeling superiority because it will make a significant impact in communities all over the country. Athletes should be leaders and the people we look up to on a daily basis. This assignment has taught me how to effectively research a hot topic in today’s society. I hope to take my skills I learned writing this and apply them for the rest of my life.

 

33. Bad Publicity

A college’s football program can either give the school a good reputation or a bad reputation. An athletic director’s disciplinary action is essential in regards tp the amount of respect you receive from your community. Florida State, for example, has bad publicity all around the country for the Jameis Winston incident. Winston was accused of sexually assaulting a female on campus. The university did not suspend Winston from playing football. Winston went on to win the National Championship. Florida State began to get bad publicity with reporters saying they only wanted to win and they did not care for the victim or the accusation. They were not going to let an accusation prevent them from winning a National Championship. This brings up the question again should college athletes be suspended before legal hearings have been taken place? If Florida State was not a National Championship contender would this have been talked about on social media so much? If this was Western Kentucky I do not think this would have been talked about so much. Also, Jameis Winston was the best player in college football at the time and that was a major reason it has so much publicity.

 

32. Violence Prevention

The NCAVA is a recently established organization this is helping athletes all over the country. National Coalition Against Violent Athletes, NCAVA, are educating young athletes on the effects of violence and sexual assault. Their ultimate goal is to prevent sexual assault crimes by athletes. They have created programs that help athletes understand who they are in the community and who they need to be. They need to be leaders who everyone respects and looks up to. They are facilitated by a nationally recognized athlete violence expert whose focus is to help athletes refrain from violent actions. He assures that the athletes will have a better understanding on the impact on the victims and their families. The program also guides these young athletes to prevent them from getting into harmful situations where a sexual assault could occur. The National Coalition Against Violent Athletes is a great and up and coming program that every sports program should consider looking in to. If more athletes acquire more understanding of this program then there will hopefully be a change in the rate of sexual assault crimes committed by athletes. College football programs especially should look into this organization because football is the sport with the highest violence crimes.

 

31. Football Compared to Baseball

As I was watching ESPN one Saturday morning I came across a report on another National Football League suspension for domestic violence a man beat his wife. This intrigued me to look into a subject that has been talked about for years. The subject I am referring to is the question does violent sports have anything to do with violence. Domestic violence is one of the most committed crimes in the National Football. Why is it that domestic violence is not the most committed crime in Major League Baseball? This proves a point that sports with violence has some sort of a relationship with domestic violence. Football is the most violent sport you can play while baseball is more mellow and laid back.  It is in there manhood to become violent and use physical action. People say it is because of their upbringing in the sport. As young football players you are always taught to have a crazy aggression towards who ever has the ball and to whoever you are playing against. Sometimes this aggression and start on the field and after awhile it can switch to off field aggression which creates aggression which at the end of the day is the cause of domestic violence and sexual assault cases. They must have programs to prevent violent sports athletes from committing crimes. This topic has interest me an immense amount. http://www.humankinetics.com/excerpts/excerpts/does-on-field-violent-behavior-lead-to-off-field-violence

30. Hookup History

The media has a major influence on our society today. Social media is changing the world we have grown up in. Femininity and masculinity are being perceived in a much different way than they did 50 years ago. I ask myself this question. Why is this? In our fast moving, 21^st century world, we sometimes believe everything we hear and see. We do not engage in what the media is telling us and analyze what information we are receiving. I have to admit I am a victim of this. My perception on femininity and masculinity has been altered due to the media. I believe at times there are misconceptions about how a man or a woman should act. Masculinity and femininity in the media has shown me a lot about how we, as men and or women, are “supposed to” relate to one another. Masculinity is portrayed a certain way in the media as is femininity. We need to be aware of these stereotypes and understand that this is not what men and women really act like or should act like that. In a class discussion my professor had a great lecture on how the media is portraying men and women. My professor was the reason I write about this topic.

29. Violence in Males

Violence is a negative side of masculinity the media gives us. Another side of masculinity the media gives us is popularity. I remember watching High School Musical with my sister when I was in middle school. I wanted to be as cool as Zac Efron was in the movie. The media can also portray young high school boys as confident, athletic, and very successful. Often times in movies you see high school quarter backs going after the captain on the cheerleading squad. From experience I understand that not every boy will have this confidence and the success of getting the hottest girl in school. In conclusion to masculinity, the media has shown me how not to act. I am fortunate enough that my sister exposed me to these movies. Because of these experiences, I have come to the realization that being a man is not just being violent and getting the girl. I believe being a man is much bigger than that. Being a man, is having a level of respect for everyone around you. Being a gentleman is what being a man is all about. Men in todays society do not often get the description as a gentleman. To me that is the greatest compliment a man can receive.  Compliments such as being strong or being a good athlete is not what being a man is all about and our society needs to understand. Young men need to gain knowledge of this subject.

 

28. Secrecy

Collegiate teams in general do not like to give the public any information. Programs make sure their players do not disclose anything to the media. Many times when a sexual assault crime is committed and the girl accuses the player the team will know about it before anyone. This secret is kept for sometimes days, weeks, and maybe even months. This is serious information that is kept from the public and I don’t believe it is right. I think teammates should be able to do what they feel is right. If they feel that keeping a sexual assault crime is wrong then they should be allowed to stand up and say something. Teams often times make sure the female does not tell anyone. The secrecy in teams is something that needs to be changed in college sports. In college sports we are dealing with eighteen to twenty two year old females who need to be heard and must be helped. The NCAA should be able to get involved in this conflict to make sure colleges tell the media everything that is going on off the field in regards to crimes. The public needs to know what is going on in their community and on their campus.

 

27. Immediate Action

Throughout my research on this topic there is one thing that bothers me the most about sexual assault cases committed by athletes. Women report the athlete for the crime weeks, months, and even years after the event took place. This means the victim had to live with the feeling of being assaulted for long periods of time. The victims were afraid to get a player in trouble because it would effect the team, player, player’s family, school community, and most of all the college. Coaches have gotten involved and told victims to not tell anyone and I think that is absolutely wrong. No girl she continue her life knowing she got sexually assaulted and the man who committed the crime is scoring touchdowns on the field. It is not about winning. At this point it is about doing what is right. Players should be accused immediately and action should be taken place shortly after. Suspensions of college athletes should be given out the day of the accusation. The school and sport program should later pay for mental rehab and assistance to the victim. If a player is caught with committing sexual assault then the program should be held responsible. This is something in our society that needs to be changed immediately. Women need to accuse the victim right away before he goes and sexually assaults another female. Women and men of all ages need to change the way our society views collegiate athletes.

25. Statistics

The NCAVA, National Coalition Against Violent Athletes, did a recent study on college athletes and sexual assaults. On a college campus, athletes commit one in three sexual assaults. This is an astonishing statistic given the fact that college male athletes make up a low percentage of all the males on college campuses. This also shows how college athlete sexual assault crimes are more likely to get reported. Women may not report sexual assaults from random men. This is a big reason why athletes need to be extremely careful with women on a college campus because everyone knows they are on a football team and they know their names. College non-athletes do not get the same amount of attention from the media. I am not saying non-athletes can go around committing sexual assault and getting away with it but in general athletes need to be more careful because of their amount of publicity. The general population has a conviction rate of 80 percent and athletes have a conviction rate of 38 percent. This is again another example of how women are intimidated by athletes and are afraid to report on a football player.

 

24. Discipline

A college’s football program can either give the school a good reputation or a bad reputation. An athletic director’s disciplinary action is essential in regards tp the amount of respect you receive from your community. Florida State, for example, has bad publicity all around the country for the Jameis Winston incident. Winston was accused of sexually assaulting a female on campus. The university did not suspend Winston from playing football. Winston went on to win the National Championship. Florida State began to get bad publicity with reporters saying they only wanted to win and they did not care for the victim or the accusation. They were not going to let an accusation prevent them from winning a National Championship. This brings up the question again should college athletes be suspended before legal hearings have been taken place? If Florida State was not a National Championship contender would this have been talked about on social media so much? If this was Western Kentucky I do not think this would have been talked about so much. Also, Jameis Winston was the best player in college football at the time and that was a major reason it has so much publicity.