One Victim’s Story, Myth Busting, and Everything You Need to Know About Sexual AssaultBy: Delanie Howell

Sexual assault is an issue that widely affects the population, yet many people don’t know how to confront it or don’t really like to talk about it. According to Matt Atkinson, the Director of Rural Sexual Assault Programs at the Oklahoma Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, says, “Today most people that look at the statistics say it’s going to be about one of out six” women in the United States who will be a victim during her lifetime. When looking more specifically at college students, Atkinson mentions that “The last study we’ve got on those numbers was from 2007. It was about one out of eight. One out of eight college students, female, in Oklahoma, would experience either a rape or an attempted rape during her time at a university.”

One victim, who wished to remain anonymous, shared her story. She said, “I was a new freshman in college and very eager to pursue the full ‘college experience.’ At a party, I ran into a senior guy who I had briefly met once before. He and I stood there talking, and then he leaned in to kiss me on the cheek. As he led me down the hall to the bedroom, I felt sleepy and loopy. I knew I wasn’t drunk because I had not had that much to drink. As I sat down on the bed, everything was very blurry and muffled. He leaned in to kiss me again, this time on the mouth. I felt so weak that I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. I was not asleep for very long and when I opened my eyes, I saw through my blurry vision that he was on top of me. I felt so helpless in that moment because it felt like there was nothing I could do. His strong arms on either side of my body made me feel trapped.” This woman is one of many. After her incident, everything changed. “Everyone treated me differently after that; they thought I was crazy for ‘thinking’ I had been raped. One friend that he and I had in common - a girl who was dating his roommate at the time - called me and came to my dorm room, sat down on my bed, and said, ‘We need to talk. I think that you just need to ask God for forgiveness.”

Atkinson is passionate about busting the myth that most of the time women are simply making it all up. He says “less than 8% of all rape reports turn out to be false. And when you look at the physical pain and embarrassment of a rape kit, a rape exam, when you look at the social stigma they go through, making false reports doesn’t give women some kind of unfair power advantage, it turns their lives upside down. It’s ridiculous.” Atkinson’s wife is a survivor and now is open to sharing her own story with other women to help them understand they are not alone and should not be embarrassed by their own strength and courage in dealing with their experiences.

Kathy Moxley, Director of the Women’s Outreach Center at the University of Oklahoma, also hopes to clear up some of the myths about sexual assault in order to change the way it is perceived. “I think one of the ones our students are most surprised by is that most college rapes are acquaintances, that it’s not a stranger. Most of the time, people are assaulted by someone they know and trust so changing that perception is really important.”

So, this seems like mainly a women’s issue, why should men care about it? Atkinson says this aspect is one that is very personal to him because of the choice he was given when his wife told him about her experience when they were in college. “A lot of guys that I’ve talked to don’t really know how to get engaged in this, they don’t know what they’re role is. But here’s the most important statistic I want men to know: of women who do report their assaults, half of them turn to a male as the first person she’ll go to for trust or help or advice. There’s this amazing opportunity for men to be effective allies and supporters; not controlling, not judgmental, not critical, not know-it-all heroics, but just allies, equals, and supporters. And until we deal with men on the basis of that potential, then we won’t make half the progress we could because half of our population gets left out of the issue.”

The University of Oklahoma Women’s Outreach Center has taken some steps toward improving the issue on our campus. Moxley says the goal of the WOC is “awareness, education, training, and response.” The programs that have been implemented are aimed not only at the female student body, but the males as well. Moxley gave some examples including the White Ribbon Campaign. She said, “The White Ribbon Campaign is men, on our campus, who are considered high visible men, who wear white ribbons and get their pictures taken for a poster. The white ribbon is someone who is standing up against violence against women.” The WOC also does student body education and participates in Rape Awareness Week and Sexual Assault Awareness Month activities, and is currently working to implement a mandatory online education for incoming students, similar to the alcohol education program at OU.

However, there is always more that can be done to help with any issue. Atkinson encourages continued training of law enforcement to deal with sexual assault cases, more political activism, and more programs that allow survivors to come together to share their experiences with people who understand. Moxley believes the thing that will make the most difference is changing the culture on our campus so that it’s not embarrassing for women to come forward and report incidents.

The WOC has a Sexual Assault Response Team that is available 24 hours a day seven days a week to assist students who have been victimized. Moxley said, “We can provide any level of support. If someone just wants to get a referral to counseling, we can do that. But if someone wants a forensic exam, they want to talk to law enforcement, we can be there as well.”

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, there is help available. Below are some links to legal resources as well as resources for victims who wish to connect with other survivors taken from a pamphlet called “You Can Take Back Your Power: A Guide to Your Rights After Rape.”

Oklahoma Safeline: 1-800-522-7233 (SAFE)

Oklahoma Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault: www.ocavdsa.org

Oklahoma District Attorneys Council, for victim’s rights and services:
www.ok.gov/dac/

www.pandorasproject.org

Resurrectionafterrape.org


For Men:www.mencanstoprape.org

www.malesurvivor.org

From Division I to the World Stage: One Athlete’s Journey to the 2012 Olympics

By: Delanie Howell

Every four years people stop their lives to watch the best athletes in the world compete in the Olympics. But what if during the time between Olympic competitions, you walked by one every day and had no idea? Alex Naddour is one of those you might miss.

Being born to parents who both competed at the college level in the same sport is not something everyone can say. Naddour’s mother, Sandy, competed at Ohio State and his father, Mike, at Arizona State in gymnastics. Mike Naddour also owns USA Youth Fitness Center in Gilbert, Arizona and coaches the Arizona Flairs, a team Naddour would later join. With his father as his first coach, Naddour began to realize that he was a natural at the sport and said,  “I did try other sports, but gymnastics was the one that stuck.”

When Alex Naddour made the decision to attend the University of Oklahoma, he did so over such prestigious schools as Stanford, Cal-Berkeley and Penn State. He liked the tradition of excellence in the gymnastics program at OU, as well as the coaching staff. Naddour’s coach at OU, Mark Williams, is excited about the success of his athletes and looks forward to watching some of them in the Olympics; Naddour possibly being one of them. Williams said he wanted Naddour on his team because his “talent level stands out from some of the guys we looked at, [he] just [has] aspects that, um, drew me in as a coach and wanted to take [him] to the highest potential [he] had for the sport.” There are four OU students on Team USA, as well as the alternate. The team recently brought a bronze medal back to the states from the World Championships in Tokyo, Japan.

Naddour feels his chances of making the Olympic team are “pretty good. The World Team is made of six people; the Olympic team will be made of five. Most of the time, the Olympic team is the World team. Judging by that alone, if I wasn’t on the team, it would drop our team score two points.”

Those who are around Naddour often say that he is pretty laid-back about all of his success.  His roommate, Raymond White, commented on Naddour’s preparation for Tokyo, “It was kind of weird, you would think that living with someone preparing for something so big like that, things would be different with crazy packing and like going off to Wal-Mart to buy whatever you need. His attitude would change, but not really. None of that actually happened. It was pretty normal.”

Alex Naddour competing at a home meet in 2011.

PHOTO: Whitney Ewing

Naddour is grateful for the success he has achieved, but ask him about his car or his dog, and you’ll get much more out of him. 

Obesity and Childbearing: Could You Be Hurting Your Baby With Too Much Of A Good Thing?

Reproduction is a necessity for the continuing of every species and in order to reproduce, one must eat. However, the old saying “eating for two” while pregnant could be doing more harm than good. In America today, obesity is a much larger problem than ever before. According to Alison Steube, M.D., many women are gaining too much weight during pregnancy, which can lead to complications for both mom and baby. But, what is too much weight? Dr. Steube, Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, says it’s “35 pounds or more for a woman with a normal body mass index, or BMI. Gaining too much weight is linked with… higher odds that both mom and child will be obese later in life.”

Dr. Garrett Lam, who serves as the Director of Maternal-Fetal Medicine at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona says “Obesity affects pregnancy in profound ways.” He discusses some of the complications that can occur during pregnancy. He mentions that ultrasound technicians have a harder time dating pregnancies and getting a good look at the fetus if the mother is obese. This means due dates and trimesters may be inaccurate. Also, Dr. Lam says, “It not only increases the risk for underlying diseases such as preeclampsia and diabetes, but it can even lead to… fetal defects such as spina bifida.” Laci Brown who is a Licensed Practical Nurse in Labor & Delivery at Jackson County Memorial Hospital in Altus, Oklahoma, says the most common complication during the birth is shoulder dystocia. “The baby comes down and the mother has enough skin that it’s hard to do a maneuver where you put your fist into the pelvis to remove the shoulder below the pelvis and we end up calling it a turtle baby. So we end up having to go for an emergency C-section to get the child out.”

The obesity rate in the United States has risen to dangerous proportions. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately one in three American adults are obese and “17% (or 12.5 million) of children and adolescents aged 2-19 years are obese.” Oklahoma is below the national average for population obesity, but not by much with a 30.4% obesity rate.

What does all of this really mean? James L. Lindsey, M.D., found in his research that “A meta-analysis of 96 population-based studies found that maternal overweight and obesity was the highest-ranking modifiable risk for stillbirth.” In addition, he says that preexisting diabetes and hypertension are also important contributors to stillbirth. This is important because hypertension, or abnormally high blood pressure, is a major part of preeclampsia, which was mentioned above.

So what can be done to ensure maintenance of a healthy weight during pregnancy? Keeping up with a regular exercise routine which can be modified in intensity as the pregnancy progresses is important. The most important factor, however, is diet. Amanda Doyle, a Junior in Nutrition at the University of Oklahoma, says, “Pregnant women need to eat a high fiber diet that includes at least five servings of fruits and vegetables. They also need to eat a higher level of folic acid so that the baby’s spine develops properly. They should stay away from processed foods that are made with a lot of additives, as well as caffeine.” Also, it is never too early after the child is born to begin preventing obesity and instill it in their mind at a young age. Chancie Robbins, who is a mother of three, explained that she “always encourages her children to do activities outside and if it’s too hot or they just want to play a video game, I will only allow them to play on a Wii console, so that they are still being active.”

So there you have it, American moms, eat well and encourage activity so you and your child can avoid becoming part of the statistic. 

In and Around University of Oklahoma's Gaylord Hall

“The Definition of Marriage”: Do you know?

On September 9, 2011 a man on a mission for a controversial issue visited the University of Oklahoma by request of the Department of Philosophy. Professor John Corvino from Wayne State University came to introduce students and faculty to the “Definition of Marriage.” Professor Corvino spoke of the argument between Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) supporters and New Natural Lawyers (NNL) regarding same-sex unions and why calling them “marriages” is such an issue.

Oklahoma does not rank in the top 10 of the United States by percentage of LGBT population. This may be due to the fact that Oklahoma is not among the states where same-sex marriage has been legalized and also does not validate same-sex marriage licenses from any other state. For this reason, Professor of Philosophy Martin Montminy and the department thought it a good idea to invite Professor Corvino to raise awareness of the debate. “The kind of issue that he addresses is not your typical, mainstream issue that philosophers like to talk about. It’s a kind of issue that we rarely discuss in philosophical circles so that was the thing that I thought was interesting.” Professor Corvino spoke to an audience of about 50 OU students and faculty.

According to the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy at UCLA, an estimate of “about 5.8% of the American population identifies as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender” as of this year. What Professor Corvino did was to take main points of both supporters of same-sex marriages and the NNL from articles and produce counterexamples. Professor Corvino himself never explicitly stated his personal association with either group. Supporters of civil unions being called marriages have a revisionist view, which says “marriage is an emotional union of two people of any sex who commit to mutual care and who may engage in whatever sexual acts they find mutually agreeable.” The NNL support a conjugal view, that “marriage is a comprehensive union between a man and a woman consummated by reproductive-type acts which unite them biologically, an thus personally.” After the lecture, Professor Corvino hosted an open question-and-answer forum to discuss some of the issues he had addressed. Philosophy Graduate Student Sammuel Robert Byer commented that he “thought Professor Corvino was extremely charitable to the articles that he was referring to and the question-and-answer section was good.”

In most states across the country that do not acknowledge same-sex marriage licenses, same-sex couples are denied certain benefits. One of those that Professor Corvino addressed was if one partner is rushed to the hospital and the other tells the staff that he or she is married to the patient, they can still be denied the opportunity to enter the room. Professor Corvino explained that the way to avoid this issue until these states acknowledge same-sex marriages is to carry a Durable Power of Attorney, in this instance for health care. Therefore, there are limited opportunities for same-sex couples to receive these benefits anyway, if they have the right materials.

Although the lecture topic was out of the ordinary for OU, for some students that just wasn’t enough. Jarred White, a senior in Multidisciplinary Studies who attended the lecture, wished there had been another expert in the room, maybe on the other side of the argument, to help tie up loose ends. “I think you could have had a more definitive, somewhat closure. Obviously, you never simply convert everyone in the room to one belief, but you can have a more complete rounding of opinions of two people who are on equal footing as far as their knowledge of a given subject.” There are frequent opportunities to listen to speakers on campus, which means that many chances for OU to find a way to better reach students about the topics that interest them.