Theme Of Rape In Jon Krakauer's Missoula

Rape has become a huge topic in today's media. Specifically cases of rape in college towns, like the case of Brock Turner for example. At Jacksonville State University, a college campus located in Jacksonville, Alabama, the school's staff felt obligated to pass out copies of Jon Krakauer's book Missoula to all of the incoming freshman at their Freshman Orientation. Missoula is a book about rape culture and the justice system in a college town. It would be logical to give every college student, not just the freshman at Jacksonville State, a copy of Missoula. This piece of literature gives information on how to handle being a victim of rape, how being a victim of rape changes the victim’s life, and it gives an estimate of how many times rape goes without consequence.
These are all things that college students need to be aware of, considering the fact that these are real life things happening to real life college students. Missoula mentions a few different cases of reported sexual assaults that happened in Missoula, Montana, between 2008 and 2012. The main case mentioned throughout the book is that of Allison Huguet and her rapist, Beau Donaldson. Huguet attended Eastern Oregon University, whereas Donaldson attended the University of Montana where he played football. The book informs its readers that these two were extremely close friends growing up. Despite their friendship and history, when Huguet ended up falling asleep, drunk, on Donaldson's couch, he decided to rape her. Krakauer portrays through Allison's story, the story of every rape victim. He writes about the uncontrollable crying, the betrayal, and the guilt that people who have been sexually assaulted have to go through. The book walks the reader through the case with details of the rape happening, of how Allison felt afterwards, what she had to go through, and how long it took for her to actually get the courage to report Donaldson. College students need to know that they should get themselves checked out even though it might be a little hard to do. If someone is careless enough to enact in non consensual sex, the chances are that that person is also careless enough to spread STD’s. Along with getting checked out, having a rape kit collected is always a good idea, because it can be used in court. Krakauer tells how Huguet had to get checked out after being raped, and even went into detail about how the hospital collects a rape kit. These details, while gruesome, are necessary, because some girls aren’t aware that they should get checked out after being raped. Not only will the rape victim have to deal with the memories of being sexually assaulted but, they will also remember being poked and prodded by doctors, as well as all of the pain and suffering that happens after the fact. So many people get away with rape simply because it is not reported.
Krakauer shows examples of that in Missoula when the women in the cases talk about how they are afraid to report their perpetrators. In the author’s note of Missoula, Krakauer talked about a survey conducted by the CDC in 2011. He shortly afterwards states that “19.3 percent of American women “have been raped in their lifetimes” and that 1.6 percent of American women-- nearly two and a half million individuals-- “reported that they were raped in the 12 months preceding the survey.” Maybe women are afraid they will be slut shamed, or called a liar. Or in like Allison Huguette's case, maybe the guy was well liked and it would be hard for people to believe that he committed such a crime. All college students need to be aware of these issues. Regardless of why women aren’t reporting these crimes, Missoula sends out a message that rape should always be reported in order to prevent it from happening again. If every college student were required to read Missoula, they would know that rape is a real life issue that happens all the time, and they would know what to do if they ever found themselves in a rape related
situation.