Essay On Sexual Assault

Sexual assault is defined by the department of justice as: any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient. Falling under the definition of sexual assault are sexual activities as forced sexual intercourse, forcible sodomy, child molestation, incest, fondling, and attempted rape. Women aged 18-24, in college, are three times greater at risk than the average woman any age. (RAINN). The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has 246 ongoing investigations into how 195 colleges and universities handled sexual assault under Title IX. (Huffington Post). Many ask, Why on college campuses? Why have these statistics been rising? For a rapist or an assaulter, college is

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.

The alarming increase in sexual assault among male and female students is a source of concern. Despite improvements in the general statistics on rape cases, the college setting remains to be the hot bed of sexual assault, especially among the female counterparts (Allen, 2007). A victim, regardless being a male or a female, never feel safe in their life as something precious was taken from them once. Statistics show that 17.6% of women are likely to be victims of rape in their entire lifetime while only 0.3% of males are estimated to be the victims of sexual assault. According to the National Violence Against Women Survey (NVAWS), the most critical ages men and females are likely to be engaged in sexual abuse is when they are children or adolescents (Gonzales, Schofield & Schmitt, 2006).

The problem: Sexual assault has become one of the forefront issues of our day. There has been an increasing rate of sexual assaults in our society and specifically on college campuses.

In America, 1 out of 6 women fall victim to rape at some point in their lives—completed or not (“Victims of Sexual Violence” 1). However, this is only one form of sexual assault that women are forced to face. Groping and other non-consensual, sexual acts are also examples of sexual assault (“Sexual Assault” 1).. Many perpetrators of sexual assault roam free, practically unaffected and likely to commit another similar act, while the woman could feel the effects of this event for her entire life. This problem affects women from around the globe—and it’s time that we put an end to it, because if we don’t, who will? If boys were to be taught how and how not to treat women in their early years, sexual assault would not be as prevalent, thus, women, including us, would not have to worry as much about enduring this kind of torment.

According to John Thawley, “domestic violence, or domestic abuse, is a systematic pattern of intentional intimidation that is reinforced by violence or the threat of violence, for the purpose of gaining or maintaining power and control over one’s partner.” Many people feel the need to act in a way that will intimidate their partner for numerous reasons. The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica state, the abuser might feel stressed or might have a lot on their plate and not know how to cope with it. Another reason, according to Encyclopedia.com, could be, as a child the abuser witnessed their parents go through domestic violence and it stuck with them as something that is normal or justifiable. Although, there is no justification for violence within a household. Many victims of domestic violence in the Hispanic community do not seek help because they do not understand the law and are afraid to call the police. Victims need to understand that, in the city of Houston, there are laws set in place to help them; regardless of what their cultural upbringing was, it should not justify their partner abusing them; and if their partner went through a challenging time as a child, they need to get help.

Sexual assault is defined as any vaginal, oral, or anal penetration that is forced upon another, regardless of sex and sexual orientation, using any object or body part. The issue of sexual assault in America is primarily encouraged by rape culture. Women Against Violence Against Women is an organization that defines rape culture as a complex set of beliefs that encourage male sexual aggression and supports violence against women. The acceptance of rape culture, rape myths, and the disregard for sexual consent also allow for the perpetuation of sexual assault against women on college campuses. Recent examples of sexual assault on college campuses show how prominent this issue has become and how hostile campuses have become for female students. Some examples include the University of Southern California’s “Gullet Report,” Miami University of Ohio’s “Top Ten Ways to Get Away with Rape,” and a sexual assault on the campus of Kansas University. Sexual assault is perpetuated by the acceptance of rape myths and rape culture, lack of effective sexual education, and the disregard for consent. The solution to this issue lies with defeating rape culture, increasing awareness and funding for campus sexual assault crisis centers, and enacting more prevention programs on campus.

According to the report from Dominica news online on December 9th 2016: “Thirty-seven- year-old Mathis Alson Woodman will serve 15 years in jail after he was found guilty for rape, incest and indecent assault.” Permitting the facts, “Woodman in November 2015 at Palm Groove brought his sister an isolated area and forced himself on her and had sex with her against her wishes. In its submissions, the prosecution stated that the use of force by Woodman on his sister was aggravating also the breach of trust and she was suffering from physical and emotional scares because of the incident.” Justice Victoria Charles-Clarke stated that “The incident has left an adverse effect on the sister who said that she wished that she was dead. She also claims to receive panic attacks whenever she thinks of it and “hates men” and is always traumatized whenever she passes in the area. She said that she is also being ridiculed by members of the family.” No! This must end! However, questions such as “How many more of my loved ones, need to suffer sexual abuse at the hand of their relatives?” Are still unanswered. Shouldn’t we as a society respond to cries of our children for instance “My Aunt struck me countless times for something petty as forgetting to wash the dishes and as a result, my skin became discolored and thus I couldn’t come to school.” By what means, should young people immerse themselves in depression and pain? Notwithstanding, that to cope is to commit suicide, to smoke or do drugs and drink beyond their limits. These are just a few of the questions that often bombard my mind as I myself incessantly encountered some of these circumstances. In the words of Shannon .L. Alder, “Your perspective of life comes from the cage you were held captive in.” Even so, my desire to free others from the world of silence and pain by means of creating a better Society increased, and hereafter I decided that I wanted to be a Social Worker. Still, the question rests, who are Social Workers and what role do they play in Society? Social Workers are persons who “help other individuals, families, and groups restore or enhance their capacity for social functioning, and work to create societal conditions that support communities in need.”

“Sorry ma’am there just isn’t enough to bring this case to court” a statement that millions of victims of sexual assault, and rape must hear from the justice system. They must live the rest of their lives knowing two truths; first being that they were sexually assaulted and or raped, and the second truth being that the assailant was set free and may victimize more people. It is difficult to believe that even in modern times that this is happening, yet the truth of the matter is that these victims are truly being failed by the justice system. Usually a big issue with sexually assaults are usually they boiled down to “she says – he says” because of there’s no real tangible evidence of what really took place of the encounter.

Sexual coercion, sexual assault, and rape are acts of violence with numerous physical and mental health consequences (Helgeson, 430). It is important for future generations to be informed about these topics so that we can it prevent it from continuing. Sexual assaults are a rising problem for female teens on college campuses because of the discrepancies with the no means no policy, reoccurring problems with college fraternities, and today’s “rape” culture enabling sexual assault.

“Jackie”, a freshman student at the University of Virginia, was brutally raped by 7 men after a fraternity party. She was lured up to a 3rd floor room by a man named “Drew”, and in the weeks in months after her assault she says, “He acted as though nothing unusual had happened, even thanking me for a ‘great time’”. Drew and his 6 friends who committed this assault, graduated that fall from UVA and were never charged for their crime. Jackie never received the justice she so desperately needed. Why? Because UVA handled her rape allegations internally, and a call was never made to the police. Yet another example of this occured at the prestigious Stanford University. This time to a sophomore, who had met a star player on the Stanford football team one Saturday night. She was raped. The football player claimed it was consensual. The women wanted to go through the correct channels so she first reported it to her school. Because of Title IX’s lax policies towards investigations, it was up to five board members to decide if sexual assault has occurred that night. They decided it hadn’t, without so much as rape kit. The woman said her investigation was shoved under the rug, “I realized that I got into this school and deserved to get an education here. He was a valued player, but I had earned my right to be here, too.” Under Title IX, it is up to colleges to adjudicate their cases of rape and sexual assault as they please,allowing them no only to never investigate, but to do so

‘A potential solution for reducing sexaul assault due to alcohol intoxication is a prevention method called the Bystander intervention. According to Michael Winerip, a writter for the New York Times magazine, Jane Stapleton, a University of New Hampshire researcher who runs victim assisitance programs at universities around the country and in Europe, believes the bystander intervention porogram is the best hope for reducing campus sexual assault rates (“Stepping up” par. 2). Bystander intervention is a program where a person or bystander intervenes to prevent another person from being sexually assaulted. The intervention seems pretty basic, but it can be tricky at times. Stapleton recommends getting creative when trying to intervene. Stapleton suggests that suddenly turning on the lights at a party or turning off the music can be the easiest and safest way to stop the assault. Other interventions can be done such as, spilling a drink on the possible assaulter or simply pulling them away. The goal is not only to stop the attack, but to also recognize signs of possible abuse and intervene before it crosses the line from partying to sexual assault. The method is not only called upon women to make it work, but also for men. Anyone who is witnessing an assault should intervene. These interventions are simple and require minimal effort, but can make a drastic change in someone's life. (“Stepping up” par 1-9)

The topic I chose to research is Domestic Violence. The reason why I chose this top is because something that happen around the world is sad and is it is interesting. For example, many children are homeless because of domestic violence. In addition, I think we have to try help that people how past in a situation like that. Furthermore, it is life changing. And finally,it is good to know about this. Due to the fact,“3-4 million children between 3-17 age are at risk of exposure to domestic violence each year,” all schools in the US must provide domestic violence programs similar to those from Futures without Violence. These program help to prevent domestic violence in the early stages through education that trains people to be able to identify warning signs of abuse, skills to develop healthy relationships, and education about services available to the victims.

Social injustice happens daily around the world and it is all around us. As soon as we turn on the news in the morning or check our social media we see something new every day that continues to surprise us. Elders relentlessly insist that our world is becoming a terrifying place to live as is just now speaking up on the pressing, severe, and crucial issue that millions of people deal with daily. Sexual assault in our society today is a punch line that most consider comical. We do not take it seriously in the least bit due to the simple fact that generations before ours have made it that way. Sexual assault is the most unreported violent crime in the United States. Only 11% of rapes are reported on campuses because most victims believe their allegations are not serious enough to report (Staying Safe on Campus). Not only do women face sexual assault but 1 out of 50 men do too. In this proposal argument, I will be addressing the following issues that have caused this crime to become a societal norm today; the classification of sexual assault, the media portrayal that follows every sexual accusation, the burdens of recent cases, and how we can raise awareness to reach as many people we possibly can. Sexual assault is not only an issue in today’s society, but a social issue that almost every person faces at least once in their life. If we, as a race, can seek to change these criminal acts, we can stop the main stream portrayal of sexual assault in the media to become more aware

According to studies conducted “one in five women and one in 16 men will be sexually assaulted while in college and… eight in 10 victims know their attacker” (Giller). It is an undeniable reality, sexual assault is a rising problem at colleges and universities all across the United States but, I am not writing this for nation-wide colleges to read. This is only directed toward you, Dr. Cathy Akens, Associate Vice President and Dean of Students here at Florida International University (FIU). As you may know, FIU’s “It’s on us” campaign is currently in place to raise awareness about sexual assault and support victims through a committee that was developed by you, in October 2014, shortly after the White House launched the It’s On Us campaign on September 19, 2014. As published in Jamie Giller’s article, you stated that “the focus of this campaign is emphasizing the personal responsibility that every member of our university community has to help end sexual assault. That includes students, faculty and staff. We want to teach our students especially, how to speak out and take action when they see something. We have been providing outreach and education for a long time and we are excited to participate in this national effort”. But all this committee is responsible for is creating “flyers, banners, t-shirts and other materials to bring attention to the matter” (Giller). Do you actually believe broadcasting advertisements for a campaign across FIU’s campus is enough to aid the