Rape.

It’s an ugly word, probably the ugliest in the English language.

It sounds ugly; a short, curt, brutal syllable.

And it stands for the ugliest crime one can commit against another. Yes, that includes murder. Twice last week, it appeared on the front page of the Daily, and not in a positive sense.

Tuesday’s headline read “‘Date-rape drug’ hits campuses.”

The lead story on Wednesday detailed how someone had written “I was raped here and nobody helped me” on an ISU campus sidewalk.

And it won’t stop there; an article on date rape will run in the Daily later this week.

The fact that this newspaper is giving the topic so much ink is both positive and horrifying. It’s positive because the problem of rape in society and in the ISU community needs more attention, action and public awareness. But it is a sad commentary on society and the community that the problem needs such attention.

Rape is the result of dehumanization, to see someone as an object or beneath simple human dignity. And apparently, more than a few men in this supposedly advanced society see women in that light.

The presence of Rohypnol is proof of that. The “date-rape drug” is an industrial-strength tranquilizer that can be secretly mixed with a drink and slipped to an unwitting victim. It causes unconsciousness, paralysis and memory loss.

Rohypnol makes its victims into little more than puppets for an attacker. To even consider giving this drug to a woman in order to take away her consciousness, physical capabilities and even her memory is dehumanizing in the extreme.

Sororities at ISU are now educating their members about the drug and how to avoid becoming victimized by it.

While doing so is certainly a good idea, the fact they have to do so is grotesque. The guidelines suggested — especially “use the buddy system” — make parties and other social events sound like infantry combat operations.

This begs the question: What are children being taught about relations between the sexes and from whom? It seems that there has been a serious failure to ingrain the ideas of equality with and humanity toward women in male children.

In such an atmosphere of hostility and misunderstanding between the sexes, it’s no wonder that rape victims frequently do not report the crime to authorities. They feel as if they will be victimized all over again, reliving the experience and having it made public.

A graphic recounting of events, and an examination of the victim’s past sexual history, are bound to be presented in criminal proceedings. And those details — along with the name of the victim — will be known by the public, either through informal channels or the media.

Because of this, and the inevitable questions about their character, victims don’t report the crime.

The Ames Daily Tribune publishes the names of sexual assault victims, one of just a handful of newspapers in the U.S. that do so.

According to Wednesday’s story, Michael Gartner, the Tribune’s editor, says that the names are published “in the interest of fairness and thoroughness. If you publish the name of the accused, then you should publish the name of the accuser.” He went on to say that “names are important to a story.”

Well, thank you Mr. Gartner, for that lesson in journalism theory. Unfortunately, everything he said throws common sense right out the window.

Rape victims are afraid to report the crime committed against them out of fear of public scorn. It’s bad enough when this information gets out through informal channels, through rumor and gossip. But to have it thrown out into public view by the media is an unconscionable act.

By doing so, the media lowers the probability of victims reporting a rape past its already minute level. And then the media hurts society and fails to serve the community. It helps to keep the crime of rape hidden in a cloak of shame, not allowing victims to prosecute their attackers without fear of exposure before they are ready to go public, if ever.

I have seen the effects of rape up close; I was seriously involved with a woman at Wyoming who was a victim.

The experience of going through recovery with her was the most difficult thing I have ever experienced and witnessed.

It left me in a deep depression, one which cost me my ROTC scholarship and military career.

Perhaps everyone should see the effects of rape up close.

It may change some attitudes which badly need changing across society.

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Kevin S. Kirby is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Louisville. He has a B.A. in political science from the University of Wyoming.