Essay about Drinking Alcohol Causes Sexual Assault

Assault in all forms is dangerous to both men and women. Sexual assault on college campuses is fairly common today, and occurs in a number of ways. Young women are most often the main victims of assault on college campuses. This is becoming a serious issue in American society today because either some of these cases go unreported or these young women are too scared to report them or are too embarrassed to report it because the men causing these might be their friends or someone they know. Many young women face this kind of problem, especially when in college. It is mostly at college parties where girls are at risk of having drinks that have been “roofied.” Roofied drinks are drinks that have been spiked with drugs and are most often used by men against women to make them sleepy or cause them to black out. These men are able to take advantage of these vulnerable women. It is difficult to tell if a drink is roofied as the color, taste and odor of the drink remains the same. These actions also put out a bad image of the “good” men and the men that actually care about a women’s safety and wellbeing. As a result, women will naturally form opinions based on experiences they have and will tend to be more cautious.

Every two minutes a woman is sexually assaulted in the United States (FBI, 2003). According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, sexual assault is the most under-reported violent crime in the United States. In 2005, the Armed Forces received 2,374 reports of alleged cases of sexual assault involving its members. Of these figures, the Air Force received 584 reports. That is an increase of 28 percent over the past year (DoD, 2005). The Air Force is concerned with the safety, dignity, and well-being of all its members. The Air Force does not tolerate sexual assault and has implemented a comprehensive policy that reinforces prevention, response, and accountability.

Alcohol impairs a person’s judgement and can increase aggressive behaviors (it does most of the time). Alcohol related crime/violence rates are rising very quickly throughout the country. There are two million incarcerated men and women in the United States, and 37% of those people admit to drinking before being arrested. When it comes to rape and sexual assault, 90% of cases involve the drinking of alcohol. Almost 30% of inmates reported being under the influence of alcohol or drugs when committing murder. Almost 3 million violent crimes happen a year in which alcohol is involved. In addition, 95% of all violent crimes reported at American colleges involve alcohol. It has been proven that binge drinking or prolonged drinking can lead to acts that are more violent and that can put other people around the drinker in serious danger. Substance abuse plays a huge role in these violent crimes. The more a person drinks the less they can control their actions and how violent they become.

After experiencing the campus police and the preceding hearing, I have learned that drinking while underage in a dry building is both against the university’s and my own policies. This university takes these matters seriously, which I am grateful for. After this one irresponsible night, I will not be drinking on campus let alone underage. The process that the RAs and campus police took were excellent, for they really frightened me once we were caught. I am aware that this process is in fact a real procedure, not just show. This made me really contemplate what occurred the night the offense was brought to light. I learned, that you will get caught if you drink excessive amount of alcohol in a dry dorm building. The RAs were probably trained to figure out when these situations are occurring, along with the campus police. In addition, I learned that the RAs are just making sure people are being safe (along with teaching them a lesson of not drinking). They are not there to be mean or anything, which one of my peers was convinced was true, but to teach irresponsible students of the results that will inevitably follow after. The fear and

So, let’s get started. Because we are in college, most of us probably spend some weekends out at the bars, parties or other events where alcohol is presented. Around 89,000 cases of rape are reported annually and of those cases 7.2% occurs at parties or other events, according to statistic brain. To be put that in a better Boone Pickens has 56,790 seats (O’ Colly). So, that’s almost 1.5 stadiums filled with people that have been sexually assaulted at a parties. Just think about that for a moment, we ourselves either know people or are the people who go out and have too much to drink sometimes, but is anybody asking to be belittled or taken advantage of? Being at social events make people less aware, especially when they are drinking, so their guard is being put down, which is how they may be taken advantage of. Not only does sexual assault occur out at public events, but it also occurs in people’s private time as well. Put yourself in the shoes of someone who may just experienced sexual assault. Who did it to you? Someone you’ve never met? Well, guess what if I told you it was your best friend, a relative, or your boyfriend/girlfriend. According to the National Institute of Justice, approximately 90% of sexual assaults reported are committed by someone that they know ( ). You probably never thought of that, just as most victims didn’t. Because most victims do experience this from someone they know, an estimated 63% of sexual assaults are never reported, according to NSRVC( ).

Women tend to be the overwhelming victims of sexual assault and rape while men tend to be the perpetrators. According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC), one in five women and one in seventy-one men will be raped at some point in their lives. Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of victims are women who have been victimized by men. There are two major forms of sexual assault, which includes non-consensual forced physical sexual behavior such as rape or sexual assault. The second type of assault is the Psychological form of abuse, such as sexual harassment, stalking, human trafficking, and indecent exposure and the targets of exhibitionism, especially children.

I choose this topic because sexual assault is one of the most offensive crimes committed in our society. Not only is it a threat to the community, but it has a physically and psychologically effect on the victim in many ways. For the last couple of decades, sexual assault, rape, and child molestation has become the focal point of public concerns today. According to a 1993 National Crime Victimization Survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice, about 500,000 rapes or sexual assaults occur each year (Statistics, March 2010). The Department of Justice states that, “rape crimes have risen nearly three times as fast as the total crime rate”, although other studies have shown statistics that are in

In today's modern society alcohol addiction and alcohol abuse has become one of the most complex, life-threatening issues. Most depressed individuals usually indulge themselves in bars or pubs with their alcohols to escape from their stressful life. It has become increasingly alarming how alcohol does not only attract the adults, but also teenagers these days. "Research has shown that approximately 14 million Americans (7.4%) of the population meet the diagnostic criteria for alcohol abuse or alcoholism" ("Facts about Alcohol"). Alcohol addicts may encounter social impact such as loss of respect from others who may see the problem as self- inflictive and easily avoided. Repeated use of alcohol over a period of time can result in

Alcohol abuse in high school teens is very common . Three-fourths of high school seniors have experimented with alcohol, according to a report by the Fairfax, Va.-based Society for Prevention Research.(M. C. B 1) . 95% of the time high schoolers start drinking because of peer pressure . Also, males are likely to start drinking before females do .Teens that drink often are three times more likely to commit self-harm such as cutting or suicide attempts than teens that don’t drink. Adolescent drinking represents a significant problem in the United States (Doumas 1) . The Effects of Alcohol Abuse in High School teenagers are death, low academics, and health issues .

Sexual harassment and assault are often associated with alcohol use: In a recent survey of college students, 75 percent of male perpetrators and 55 percent of female victims said they were drinking at the time of the attack.

As with most acts of physical hostility, men tend to be the ones who target women as partners. Johnson further states that “In women, the drinking-game-related incidents accounted for 90% of the variance in overall incidents of being taken advantage of sexually that were associated with alcohol use” (304). Drinking games do not always have to have a sexual price though. Johnson reports that “Students, especially women, appear to drink more when playing drinking games than they

There are still quite a few debates and questions revolving around the correlation between alcohol and/or drug use and sexual aggression and sexual assault (Swartout & White, 2010). It has been shown that males in college exhibit higher levels of sexually aggressive behaviours. In a national survey conducted on college men, 25.1% of them, before the age of fourteen, said that they had

Many believe that alcohol affects women much more than it does men. This can sometimes be because men are much bigger than women are but at the same time, men usually metabolize faster when means that their bodies can break down the toxins much quicker. Studies have shown that women are more vulnerable than men are too many of the medical consequences of alcohol use. For example, alcoholic women develop cirrhosis, alcohol induced damage of the heart muscle (i.e., cardiomyopathy), and nerve damage (i.e., peripheral neuropathy) after fewer years of heavy drinking than do alcoholic men (National Institute on Alcohol abuse, 2004). Studies comparing men and women’s sensitivity to alcohol-induced brain damage, however, have not been as conclusive.

Teenage binge drinking (consumption of five or more alcohol drinks in a row) has grown to be a serious problem in the United States. A report in 2009 from the Surgeon General’s office show alcohol consumption by teens start as early as 11 years of age for boys and 13 years of age for girls (Grant & Dawson, 1997). In the youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Report (2007), data results showed that over three million teenagers in grades 6 through 12 are alcoholics, and several million teens have serious health issues due to drinking. Further research conducted by the Harvard School of Public health (2006) show a direct correlation of automobile accidents, alcohol poisoning, poor academic performance. violence and

Alcohol is the number one drug problem among America’s youth. More senior high school students use alcohol than any other psychoactive drug. Family doctors, pediatricians, schoolteachers, and parents know that alcohol is overwhelmingly the drug of choice among today’s youth, although trendier substances such as cocaine are often given more attention in the headlines (Carla Felsted, p. vii). Furthermore, it is widely acknowledged that drinking alcohol is a part of the youth culture in America; it may also be understood as a culturally conditioned and socially controlled behavior.