Detroit Lions DeAndre Levy Asks Men To Man Up Against Sexual Abuse

Many people had no idea that April was Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Before the closing of April, Detroit Lions’ linebacker DeAndre Levy saw fit to pen an essay via The Players’ Tribune, to discuss the importance of men sticking up for women and speaking out against sexual assault.

He starts the essay pretty boldly, reiterating that rape is a power issue. “It’s truly astounding how many awful things that occur in this world because men are afraid of appearing weak,” says Levy. “So what’s the opposite of weakness? Power. And oftentimes, how powerful a man is is directly associated with his sexual exploits.”

Levy acknowledges that sexual assault occurs in many forms, including women assaulting men, but he wanted to use his platform to discuss the most common, men assaulting women. Levy breaks down the word ‘consent’ in case anyone was confused. “Consent only occurs when a woman clearly says yes. Consent is not being naked, it’s not kissing, and it’s not touching or flirting. It’s a clear, freely given yes, which is not the same as the absence of a no.”

The 29-year-old recalls being a young college student, ignorant to what consent really was, hearing other students talking about running a train on a drunk girl and not thinking anything of it. He then discusses the problem with society, telling women to avoid rape, rather than telling men not to rape. “Why are we not also focused on educating young men about the definition of consent and what constitutes rape? We’re essentially dealing with the problem by telling women to be more careful — and that’s bullshit.”

Before completing his piece, Levy offers one last refresher on consent and rape. “Using the example I mentioned earlier, what if a woman says yes to letting a handful of strangers engage sexually with her while she’s under the influence of alcohol? That’s called a gang rape. What if everyone else was also drunk? Still a gang rape. What if everyone was sober, but she said yes — a response that was likely prompted by her fear of the many men in the room? Yes, still rape.”

Read the entire blog HERE.