“In the criminal justice system, sexually based offenses are considered especially heinous…”
Those are the opening words to every “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” (SVU) episode that can continuously be found playing wherever you find your television programming.
Premiering in 1999, SVU has run for 28 seasons (and counting!) and spans almost 600 episodes. The impact, however, goes beyond the longevity of television—when miniseries are becoming an increasingly common trend—and deeper into the cultural trends of the 21st century.
It is supposed to be fiction, though occasionally SVU will pull from the real world—e.g., the sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church (Season 14, Episode 10), Chris Brown’s domestic violence case (Season 14, Episode 16), the shooting of Treyvon Martin (Season 15, Episode 3), the sexual assault cases against Harvey Weistein and the resulting Me Too movement (Season 16, Episode 20 and Season 21 Episodes 1 and 20), the Epstein case (Season 21, Episodes 9-10), the murder of George Floyd (Season 22, Episode 1), the sex trafficking allegations against Matt Gaetz (Season 23, Episodes 1-2), and the Amber Heard and Johnny Depp trial (Season 24, Episode 3). It follows that the reality of SVU is very much not fiction.
In the last month alone, Campus Safety has issued nine Timely Warning Notifications, four of them being for rape. According to the campus’ Annual Security & Fire Safety Report, there were two rapes reported in 2025, less than this fall semester alone.
Justifiably, we as a campus, me as a woman, have a right to be annoyed, disappointed (enter applicable verb here), especially in the wake of the gang rape case from Cornell University where seven fraternity members took turns raping a woman back in 2024, simultaneously broadcasting their actions in a group chat, containing at least 50 additional people.
Somehow though, it is always the woman’s fault, as the Cornell Seven (which has been regarded online as an insufficient moniker, making them sound more like a boy band, than what they actually are… rapists) got off writing essays as punishment—two have since been expelled from the university in the wake of the news—while Jane Doe had to move schools, and will have to deal with the repercussions of that night for the rest of her life.
The men move on. Women cannot.
Somehow, it is always that ‘she had too much to drink,’ or that ‘she shouldn’t have been wearing that,’ and not ‘did he ask for consent,’ or ‘did he listen when she said no.’
Because somehow, it always ends up becoming a woman’s responsibility.
Changing the Narrative
There has always been a stigma around sexual assault and rape—there probably always will be, unfortunately—and there has not been a time in history when women have not been assaulted or raped.
From as early as the premodern world, women were used as pawns for men’s advances. In the crusader world of the late 11th and 12th centuries, the punishment for women after the plunder of cities was rape—the men were usually killed immediately.
It might be argued, and it could be argued, that we are hearing the words, assault and rape, more. The increased report numbers and conversations regarding assault and rape are justifiably alarming; however, it is important to look beyond statistics particularly surrounding something so stigmatized. The more people who speak up, who share their stories, leads to others feeling comfortable sharing their stories. Numbers might say one thing, but being empowered to speak up says another.
SVU plays a role in this.
Victimhood in television is so often used as the sole feature to characterize a female character—but SVU shifts the narrative. Rather than focusing solely on the victimization, SVU shifts towards survivorship—justice, and most importantly, reclaiming who you are.
As Detective Olivia Benson said, “You survived the abuse. You’re gonna survive the recovery.”
A 2015 study by Stacey Hust at Washington State University, showed that “viewers of SVU had healthier attitudes toward sexual consent and a better understanding of the causes of sexual violence than those who watched shows like NCIS or CSI.”
While the stories were initially fictional, these shifting attitudes have real-world impacts on political conversations.
Influenced by the stories of survivors writing to her, Mariska Hargitay (Olivia Benson) founded the Joyful Heart Foundation, a non-profit designed to provide resources to sexual assault and domestic violence victims and change the narrative around rape.
Their biggest initiative is eliminating the rape kit backlog in all 50 states. As of May 2026, all 50 states have some form of reform in place to eliminate the backlog.
Some states have even ended their backlog.
Rape kits are the evidence, and without them it means little—rape kits contain the scientific evidence: DNA, blood, etc. Even if the whole word is on your side, words do not do much in the justice system.
Eliminating the backlog means that women get to stand up in court and tell their story, that there is evidence to show what happened, happened, and maybe people will start believing women more.
We Can All Change the World
We have a right to be mad.
We have a right to be scared.
The last few weeks—the last few years, really—have shown that there could be all the evidence in the world, yet people are still included not to believe women.
Let us make one thing clear then:
Being drunk does not give a man the right to assume a woman has consented.
Because apparently in New York it does..
Wearing a mini skirt does not give a man the right to assume a woman has consented.
There is no such thing as “she was asking for it.”
The absence of no does not give a man the right to assume a woman has consented.
Consent equals “yes.”
Full stop.
The number of sexual assault notifications we have received on campus this semester so far is concerning, because what then does that say about ‘rape culture’ on college campuses?
But it also does not hurt to look at those numbers from a different perspective.
Without denying the uptick in notifications, there is also a level of pride to apply when thinking of who is at the heart of the matter—the community members who have the strength and the courage to speak up.
Last year there were two rapes reported; that number is almost positively not accurate. While on paper that seems like a good number, the reality is that the number two represents the people who felt comfortable to speak up, to share their experiences, to seek justice, not the number of people on campus who were raped or assaulted.
Whether inspired by each other, or by Jane Doe, women are coming forward and they are telling their stories, and they should be applauded for their bravery.
In a world that tries its hardest to see women fall, we are doing a pretty good job at making them fail at doing so.
Keep speaking up.
Because even once voice, one story, can change the world.
The opinions on this page do not necessarily reflect those of The Sandspur or Rollins College. Have any additional tips or opinions? Send us your response. We want to hear your voice.
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