Athletic Club Phenomenon

‘Sexual Violence is more than just a crime against individuals. It threatens our families; it threatens our communities. Ultimately, it threatens the entire country’ (qtd. in Burleigh pg. 2). In the article, “Confronting Campus Rape” written by Nina Burleigh; a writer, journalist, and professor at Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, describes what students are doing to force universities to take a stronger stand against campus sexual assault. Moreover Burleigh describes what the government is doing to make a difference on the issue. This includes laws that have created consequences for the assaulter and laws that protect the victim. According to Burleigh, a young woman called Laura Dunn was sexually assaulted on campus. Dunn was a student of UW. On April 4th, 2014, Dunn lost her virginity to two UW athletes. That night, Dunn was attending a party at the university. Dunn was enjoying the party and lost count of her alcohol intake. Dunn remembers being led out by two older teammates, who she knew. Dunn was very intoxicated, enough to stumble on her way back to what she thought would be another campus party, as one of the athletes helped her walk. The athletes led Dunn to one of their apartments where she found herself on a bed with both of them on top of her. Dunn was so intoxicated that she couldn’t help but to drift in and out of conscious leaving her unable to stop the two men. Dunn began to feel sick and was led to the bathroom by one of the athletes, where he penetrated her from behind while she was throwing up. That was a date Dunn would never forget. Dunn like many other women at the UW have been sexually abused by other students. Although Dun’s incident is shocking, it is not uncommon for women to be sexually assaulted on campus. A woman at the  university of Wisconsin is more prone to being sexually assaulted than any other woman in the country because of alcohol intoxication; this is a problem that must be resolved.

Rape has always been a problem, specifically in colleges across the US. There is also large amounts of misinformation and ideas surrounding rape. Author Jon Krakauer, who did not know much on the topic of rape before his time spent in Missoula; uncovered proof of the true seriousness of this problem. His nonfiction book set in Missoula Montana, tells the hard story of the awful experiences rape victims are forced to go through in this college town in order for justice. He uses investigative narrative to lay out a story that both informative and sensitive towards the victims. Even though he is only focusing on a few victims placed in one college town it is obvious these issues have a much larger

Sexual assault and rape are serious social and public health issues in the United States and throughout the rest of the world. In particular sexual assault on college campus are prevalent at an alarming rate and leaves serious effects on the victims. This essay will focus on statistics and the prevalence and effects amongst college students, through examining a number of reasons why women fail to report sexual assault and rape. This essay will also cover sexual assault prevention and things that can be done to mitigate the risk of becoming a victim to such matter.

College students are often believed to be a subpopulation at elevated risk for sexual assault, and although sexual assault is experienced by both male and female students, women experience significantly higher rates of sexual assault compared to men. (Krebs, Lindquist., Warner, Fisher, & Martin, 2007) Research also suggests that women in college are at a greater risk to be victims of sexual assault in comparison to women of comparable age in the general population. (Fisher, Cullen, & Turner, 2000) Due to the higher rates of victimization, most research focuses on the sexual assault experienced by women on college campuses, however, there is some data concerning the sexual assault of men. Although this paper focuses on the

Emma Sulkowicz, a senior at Columbia University, carried her mattress around her campus, from class to class, all of last year as form of protest against her rapist who was not expelled from school. This story made news all across the country, leaving many wondering how this could possibly happen, and why it continues to happen. This is just one of the highly publicized cases of rape on college campuses, which also illuminates how often time administrators fail to bring justice to the victim. It seems as if of lately that rape and sexual assault on college campuses has become far too normal in our society, meaning that we have almost become numb to them because they happen so frequently. When we hear about a rape on a campus, it is often neither surprising nor shocking to us, which is a definite social, and criminal, problem. The question that must be addressed then is, why do these types of crimes continue to occur, and what factors contribute to this ongoing issue? It may be easy to point a finger at society as a whole, and say that parents have wrongfully raised their sons to behave in such a way, but there may be even more factors that work together to create a rapist or someone who is likely to commit sexual assault. Nonetheless, this is a huge, relevant, terrifying problem in our society which often leaves young women feeling as if they are not ever safe, not even at the college campus of which they are supposed to be able to call home.

Every 21 hours there is a rape on an American college campus. Each year students enroll in college to follow their dreams. These individuals have different visions for their lives and they have goals to perceive. They begin school eager to learn and to enhance their lives into adulthood. Many of them try to also enjoy the college years and many just work hard to reach their goals. However, the choice they make sometimes still leads them to a possibility that can harm them for the rest of their lives. Sexual assault happens too many of these students and it does not matter what the situation or location the scar is still mark. Sexual assault is one of the main dilemmas happening today in college campuses that needs to be solve.

College campus sexual assault has become a growing epidemic. Victims are assaulted by strangers, friends, or acquaintances, and receive no support when reported to the school staff. The importance of making this epidemic more aware to students or school faculty is to show the impact sexual assault has on a victim and their family, but also make it easier for victims to report and discuss their assault. Rape culture is becoming increasingly normalized within college campuses, and poses dangers to all students. The normalization of rape on college campuses promotes a mindset that suppresses victims and does not hold the attacker responsible for his or her actions.

As reported in, ‘The College Rape Overcorrection’ by journalist Emily Yoffe (2015); the case of Drew Sterret who attended the University of Michigan in 2012, was accused by a friend that he raped her, despite the fact that the sexual activity was consensual. The mistreatment he had to endure during his Sophomore year, he was

Unfortunately today rape is a relevant topic when talking about a college campus. It has become more prominent in the news every day and although it may seem as though actions are being taken to prevent such a tragedy many colleges almost seem to cover up or mask the fact that such a thing is happening. Jessica Valenti the author of The Guardian: The Web Edition Articles is a female feminist who wrote on the topic of college campus rape and how the victims are not being helped as well as the fact that the rapists are not being punished by the college to the full extent. Rape is a touchy subject for most especially for men, because in this situation the women more often times than not is the victim and therefore has full control, and as Valenti

Sexual assault within American culture has grown to epidemic proportions (Fisher, Worth, Garcia, & Meredith, 2000; Tjaden & Thoennes, 2000). Although recent studies have acknowledged the widespread prevalence of violence against an alarming number of female collegiate students, the vulnerable population remains “at substantial risk for being sexually assaulted, primarily by male acquaintances” (Senn et al., 2015, p. 2326). Studies have indicated that women living on college campuses fall within the highest risk group of the overall population for such assault. Moreover, assaults that are sexual in nature often precipitate sexual dysfunctions and can significantly impact a woman’s physical and mental

In a society dominated by patriarchal standards and plagued by its consequences, it is crucial to understand the variety of cultural patterns present in our everyday. Within the context of a university environment, in particular, individuals are faced with decisions and situations that hold potentially dangerous and damaging consequences. Whether we are enabling these situations directly or merely bearing witness to their results, we must all work to gain an understanding of these patterns and reflect inwardly about our values before we can make a legitimate social change. Below, I discuss three quotations that present issues especially relevant to college campus sexual assault, and how the authors’ discussion of these topics has affected me emotionally and intellectually.

Twenty percent of young women who attended college during the past four years say they were sexually assaulted, according to a Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll. But the circle of victims on the nation’s campuses is probably even larger. Many others endured attempted attacks, the poll found, or suspect that someone violated them while they were unable to consent. Some say they were coerced into sex through verbal threats or promises. There was a very interesting case “Carry the Weight” In September 2014, Emma Sulkowicz began to carry a mattress around Columbia University for along as her and her alleged rapist attend the same school. Emma Sulkowicz reported her alleged rape which happened in August 2012 her sophomore year. Two other students complained about the same student, and each time he was found “not responsible” by the Columbian University

Just recently, the Woman’s Center conducted a sexual assault training presentation with the UW football team. We discussed the importance of consent as well as what is rape, sexual assault, consent and the different degrees of each. Offering trainings to ensure that individuals are aware of what rape is important in generating a safe space for all. It is integral that we continue to raise awareness about sexual assault and engage in discussions to weave out any uncertainties and misconceptions one may have about sexual assault. Before the training we surveyed and asked what the athletes knew about affirmative consent and rape consequences and the results greatly illustrated why the talk was needed. Although these athletes were somewhat informed

When colleges and universities are constantly in competition with each other for students, there are certain issues that occur. Competition has turned into universities and colleges often mishandling sexual assault and rape cases. Campuses want to minimize the danger that they may pose which leads to sexual assault and rape crimes to often be veiled. With this veil in place, it counters the efforts of colleges and universities to address the issue of sexual assault and rape. In July 2016, a survey was released to 350 colleges and university presidents. The purpose of this survey was to showcase whether sexual assault and rape cases were handled correctly or mishandled. Over the last five years, “more than 40 percent of the schools had not conducted

It is the first week of her freshman year of college and she can not wait to go to her first party. After the party is over, she wishes she had never gone, never had any alcohol while they were there and had never been so friendly to that guy she had just met. Hoping to find relief and help from her college, all she’ll really get is questions like “What were you wearing?” and “How much did you have to drink”. With the statistic of every one in four women get sexually assaulted during their time at college, or “Between 8% and 11% of women experienced rape in each semester during their first year in college, which is hypothesized to be a time of increased vulnerability to sexual violence” (McCauley and Casler, 2015), why aren’t schools doing more to help prevent sexual assaults, provide emotional support, or getting the assaulter expelled or in jail? The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) estimates that at least 95% of campus rapes in the U.S. go unreported. (Best College, 2017) With this statistic, it shows that women and men are scared to report their rapes because they are afraid the university won’t do anything about it. There are also things that happen and people do see it as rape because they were both intoxicated or other people ignore it because “it’s human nature to think it won’t happen to you, or it isn’t you. Campus rape is someone else’s problem and someone else’s fault.” (Jarvis, 2016) So, because in that situation it’s not happening to them, it doesn’t