State Rep. Christina Hale (D-Indianapolis) asked an insightful and alarming question recently.
“Why is Indiana so unique in this awful way?” she said.
Her question came during a recent meeting with the Criminal Law and Sentencing Policy Study Committee. Hale and health advocates outlined Indiana’s awful uniqueness when it comes to sexual assaults.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 17.3 percent of Indiana girls between grades nine and 12 have reported being raped.
The national average is 10.5 percent.
The national rate is shocking.
According to an Associated Press account, the testimony before lawmakers generated a lot of talk. The committee chairman, Sen. Mike Young, R-Indianapolis, pressed the group for specific steps the General Assembly could take to solve the problem.
He got some guidance, if not specific proposals.
One notion came from Roberta Hibbard, a sex crimes expert from Indiana University. She said “Heather’s Law,” which requires training in schools about dating violence, is an example of good legislation.
We agree that Heather’s Law is a good step. Legislation alone, however, won’t solve the problem.
What’s needed is a change in attitude. We need to give all teenagers a better understanding of the rights and responsibilities that accompany relationships. We need to make sure that young women are seen as more than sex objects. And we need to make sure that teenagers and adults alike can speak openly and frankly about what are often taboo subjects.
During that committee meeting, some people told lawmakers that simply talking about the subject is a good place to start.
Malea Crosby, who is now a therapist, said it took her 16 years to realize that what happened to her as a teenager was, indeed, rape. The lack of candid conversation in public makes it harder for teenagers to even understand whether they had been the victims of violent crimes.
“It’s still something we don’t want to talk about,” she told the lawmakers.
That has to change. And it will take more than lawmakers to change it.
It will take parents who are involved in the lives of their teenagers. It will take young people who treat each other with respect, and who are strong enough to demand that respect from others. And it will take adults who can lead compassionate and frank conversations about touchy subjects.
Working together in an honest and open way, we can make certain Indiana is no longer known for being “so unique in this awful way.”