The Hunting Ground

In class we recently watched the movie called The Hunting Ground. It's about sexual assault on college campus's. As I watched, it gave me a different look toward colleges. The way they react to the victims of sexual assault is crazy. It's as if the schools try and blame it on person who has been raped. In the movie a UNC's administrator said to a victim, "Rape is like a football game. If you look back on the game, what would you do differently?" The thing that surprised me most was they were all big and most of them were ivy league schools. For example, UNC, Occidental, Swarthmore, Harvard, Amherst College, Notre Dame, University of Tulsa and more. Another thing that shocked me was the way the movie talked about fraternities and athletes, especially Sigma Alpha Epsilon, which in the movie they said they are known as being called sexual assault expected. I think Andrea Pino and Annie Clark are going to end up doing helpful things with their Title IX complaint.
Moira Macdonald from The Seattle Times wrote a review titled "Hunting Ground' tackles harrowing topic of campus rape". Her review was very well said, explaining how the film was "important but devastating." She also agrees that colleges are "turning a blind eye to reports of sexual assault by athletes, in order to protect the team’s winning record" which after watching the movie I hope anyone would. Macdonald says, "But, within the ire and the pain, there’s hope." and  I agree with her.
Thomas Lee has a different opinion. He wrote an article called "Review: 'The Hunting Ground’ squanders its powerful story." He says the movie is "Worthy stuff, but again, way too much." I'd have to disagree. I thought it could have had more because I wanted to keep watching. He also says "He devotes precious minutes at the start of the movie to an overly long sequence of students reacting with joy to college acceptance offers." He thought that wasted time, but I thought it was a great way to open up because it shows how excited people really are to get accepted to college and than everything can just get crushed so fast.

Sexual Assault in Cheerleading

In Kill Devil Hills,  North Carolina a cheerleading coach was arrested for alleged sexual assault in minors. Russell Scherer, 39, was arrested for five counts taking indecent liberties with children and one count of statutory sexual offense by an adult. The six counts are for crimes against three different minors, but detectives believe that there could be more children involved. Detectives are taking this seriously because Scherer has been in contact with so many children. As I was researching it kept saying stuff like "Investigators are now asking parents and guardians of children taught by 39-year-old Russell Sherer to speak with them about their interactions with him." Also in every article I saw it listed the places that he worked at. People also said that he was a very well-rounded person so the community was shocked about his arrest.

Sexual Assault in Atheletes

Now-a-days it's becoming more known of athletes being accused of sexual assault. Peyton Manning is a big case, especially after winning the Superbowl. Jamie Naughright, University of Tennessee's athletic trainer, has been a victim of many incidents. She eventually left the University of Tennessee after settling a sexual harassment lawsuit with the school in 1997. The lawsuit was settled for $300,000. In 1996 she complaint listed 27 examples of harassment and and discrimination but that number grew to 33. Those complaints cover her time that she was there, from 1994-1996. After reading about what Naughright had to say I do not think women should have this position. Some of the comments the men made were clearly uncomfortable. Women should work with women. It would decrease the chance of being a victim of sexual harassment.

NFL Halftime Show

During this years NFL Superbowl, Beyonce, Bruno Mars, and Coldplay performed at halftime. Coldplay came out singing Viva La Vida along with Paradise, Adventure of a Lifetime, and also ended the show with Fix You. Bruno Mars came out singing Uptown Funk and Beyonce performed her new single called Formation. Beyonce's performace caught the most attention.
Beyonce's new single Formation was released one day after what would have been Trayvon Martin’s 21st birthday and one day before what would have been Sandra Bland’s 29th birthday. The song has many people talking about the political views of it and whether is should have or should not have been performed at the Superbowl. People are offended for different reasons like, the fact that it was performed during the halftime show with millions of people watching, the reputation it gave the law enforcement, and the whole "Black Panther" theme she had planned. As I watched the Superbowl I was not paying attention to her lyrics, I was paying more attention to her dancing and the dancers. I think there was to much going on to see what she was really trying to do and I had no idea that's what her intentions were. It probably was not that best decision to perform it at the Superbowl, but I give her a lot of credit for not caring what other people were going to think.

Cheerleaders "Superbowl"

A cheerleader would consider their competitions as their "Superbowl". Once it comes down to the last two teams they do not get four different 15 minute quarters to show the judges what they got. Their team has about two and a half minutes to either make it or break it and one little mistake can ruin it all. The refs in football sort of remind me of the judges in cheer leading. They have to make sure no rules were broken and see what team has done better. Another thing that the football Superbowl and cheerleaders competition have in common is the way they are put into teams, by age and difficulty level. The difficulty levels go from 1-6, 6 being the hardest. Although there are cheerleaders at the Superbowl, those are the NFL cheer leaders and they are non-competitive. The biggest competition that competitive cheerleaders would call their "Superbowl" would be the UCA Nationals. They are split up into three divisions by age and difficulty. UCA stands for Universal Cheer Associations, it's the biggest competition in the nation. Its held in Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida and is televised on ESPN.