Sexual Assault On College Campuses

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).

In the article “Athletic club weekend turns into a nightmare for college freshman” by Carol smith and Lee Van Der Voo, Emily Lorenzen shares her story of being a rape victim. Emily shares her account because she wants to help to prevent rape from happening to anyone else. After interviewing Emily the authors shared a statement expressing that “Emily lorenzen believes that if people hear her story, they will be more comfortable confronting the issue of sexual assault on campus. She wants more conversation, so that men get a clearer definition of rape, face stiffer penalties if they ignore it and administrators learn to reach out to women like her and show compassion. She especially wants bystanders to step up and protect people who are vulnerable.” Rape victims need support to not feel guilty or ashamed, and that is exactly what Emily and her father desire. On this topic, Shipman an influential contributor of the Spokane sexual assault

The issue of sexual harassment on college campuses is an issue today that I feel is very important to look at. Many young men and woman go off to school to get an education maybe even to get away from issues at home and of course have fun at the same time. Sexual harassment gets over looked by many people when they come to college. It 's thought to be " oh it won 't happen to me" that 's the thought that gets young woman and in some cases men in trouble. Sexual harassment or assault isn 't just an issue that can occur at parties. The harassment can be an issue even in a classroom. It 's a problem all over the United States , and across the world as well. The only way to address sexual harassment and violence is through the implementation of sexual assault policies by colleges and universities. It has also been noted even with policies, the assault still occurs. The American Association of University Woman reported in 2005 that " 62% of female college students report incidents of sexual harassment at their university." ( Marshall, Dalyot, Galloway, P. 276) It was also stated in a report that the real number of incidents may be higher, given that 10% of students never report their incidents to administration or faculty members. Sexual harassment can include " unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature." (Marshall, Dalyot, Galloway, P.278) " In 2010, the DOE

According to Nancy Chi Cantalupo, writer in the University Chicago Law Journal, “twenty to twenty-five percent of college women are victims of attempted or completed nonconsensual sex” (Burying Our Heads 207). In October 2014, an eighteen-year-old freshman at Old Dominion University was sexually assaulted. She reported her case to the ODU Police Department where she was treated as a suspect rather than a victim (Jane). The university police department denied this young woman of many things such as a medical examination right away, food, drinks and even did not allow her to use the bathroom (Jane). These factors caused her to suffer multiple injuries mentally, emotionally, and physically (Jane). Many cases of on campus sexual assault has come

Before discussing the sexual assault crisis on college campuses, it is important to disprove some misconceptions. When someone reports a sexual assault, society tends to immediately deny the assault happened, claiming false accusation, but, according to Stanford’s “Men Against Abuse Now” report, only two percent of allegations are false, a

As stated by an article from Bettercolleges.com, sexual assault can also involve forcing someone into non-consensual sexual acts by means of manipulation, any form of coercion, or psychological force. Sexual violence is more prevalent on college campuses compared to other crimes. In fact, according to Rainn.org college women are twice as likely to be sexually assaulted as they are to be robbed. The sad reality is that these victim’s voices are often never heard: only 5 percent of female student victims between the ages of 18 and 24 ever report to law enforcement because of factors such as distrust of authorities and fear of blame (“Campus Sexual Violence: Statistics”). In regard to male victims, they oftentimes face different types of stigma branching from issues such as stereotypes about hyper masculinity, sexual desire, and what it means to “be a man” in society, preventing them from reporting unwanted sexual activity (“Realities of Sexual Assault on Campus”). In the cases of both men and women, these assaults are often enhanced by the increased presence of alcohol and drugs on campuses. For instance, one study found that 15 percent of young women experienced incapacitated rape during their first year of college, meaning that when were raped when they could not give consent because they did not know what was happening (“Sexual Assault on College Campuses”). Peer pressure to participate in these types of social activities puts victims in a more vulnerable position for sexual assault. This environment in which rape is prevalent and in which sexual violence against women is normalized and excused by leaders within the school system is known as rape

Sexual abuse and assault on college campuses has been a rising issue dating back to the late 1950s. According to The United States Department of Justice, sexual assault is defined 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.” Sexual assault has long lasting effects that go way beyond the immediate trauma that victims experience in the beginning, including pregnancy, transmitted diseases, anxiety, PTSD, depression, etc. Multiple studies and statistics have shown that not only will “approximately 20% female students

The topic of sexual assault has always been a tough subject to discuss because it is a heinous crime that can and has happened to men, women, young and old. It is a topic that is disturbing and heart wrenching, especially when involving children. In the past few years, our media outlets have captured the images and stories on sexual assault, focusing mainly on College Institutions and how sexual assault cases have been handled within those institutions. Sexual assault is a very important topic to discuss, since this can happen to anyone you know, man or woman, adult or child, or yourself. This paper will touch on the different types of sexual assault, stigma of sexual assault, treatment of sexual assault, and understanding the perpetrator. There will be a brief discussion of the current social issue of college campus sexual assault. Sexual assault is such a wide topic with many areas to discuss, but this paper will outline the basic understanding of sexual assault and what can be done to overcome this stigma of sexual assault and how we can help the victims/survivors.

Sexual assault has always been a concern for young women and young adults all over. Women now account for the majority in the student body at colleges. Women should only worry about their education rather than a potential sexual assault. With an influx of women in college the faculty and staff have been under prepared to respond to sexual assault. Over the years the amount of sexual assault reported and unreported on American campuses has risen. The response of colleges towards sexual assault has not been effective in investigating or punishing the perpetrator.

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

College for many is the best four years of their live, but for others it’s hard four years trying to balance a social life, working, and getting good grades. However, women have even one more thing to add to their list of things to worry about. Resisting Gender Violence states “Among college women it is reported that women at a university with 10,000 female students could experience about 350 rapes a year” (550). The likelihood of sexual assault or rape on a college campus is tremendously high due to social organizations, alcohol, and the presence of ‘rape culture’. Sexual violence is the most prevalent crime committed on a college campus, for every two sexual assaults there is just one robbery. Therefore, college women are twice as more likely to get raped than robbed. This leaves the elephant sized question, what is it about college that fosters ‘rape culture’?

How many people have to get raped before the United States takes action? “1 out of four female students will be the victim of a rape or attempted sexual assault.” (The Hunting Ground) As this new culture progresses in the world our generation has to incorporate discipline and a new way of thinking to contribute to the new and improved mindset. Another thought being that, the view of sexual assault as well as rape is the victim's fault must be discontinued. We must discover ways that will revive our subtlety to the subjects.

Sexual Violence defined by the United States Center for Disease Control as “penetrative and non- penetrative acts…[occurring] when a perpetrator commits sexual acts without a victim’s consent” is an issue finding itself highly concentrated on collegiate campuses nationwide (Basile et al. 1). Statistically speaking “one in five women, and a substantial number of men, [will experience] attempted or completed sexual assault during their college career”(OAESV 2). These numbers are utterly horrific, and reflect the decreased safety campuses nationwide are experiencing. Students enrolled in the higher education system are increasingly being put in danger of becoming victims, and victims live in constant fear and doubt of their safety on campus. While the perpetrators of these crimes are ultimately to blame for the danger they present, college and university tendencies in sexual assault prevention and response play a direct role in decreasing levels of campus safety nationwide. Though the higher education system has much room for improvement in many areas pertaining to sex crimes, specific issues such as the weak relationship between campus crisis centers and universities, increasing leniency in perpetrating student athletes, and the overabundance of response rather than prevention programs on campus are a few major patterns contributing to reduced campus safety. These dangerous patterns, common among many universities and colleges, foster campus environments aiding the

Research states that ladies enrolled in colleges/universities are at a more serious danger for assault and different types of rape than ladies in a general population. Female colleagues are the objective of verbal provocation, revolting telephone calls, stalking, and constrained lewd gestures. This study found that in a given scholastic year, overall, near three percent of females going to college will encounter an assault. This would add up to an assault rate of 27.7 for every 1,000 female undergrads. Further, Fisher, et al. (2000) discovered occurrence of assault was higher than the exploitation rate as 23% of the assault casualties had been deceived numerous times. While the event of assault among school ladies may appear to be fairly low when these figures are initially inspected. Components improving the probability of these events incorporate living in dorms, being single, drinking while at parties, and earlier sexual exploitation. Female undergrads perspective assault as an offense that shadows apprehension of up close and personal exploitation. More or less 30% of understudies stay away from night classes when conceivable, and those with former rape experience do as such at a more prominent

Sexual assault and rape have always been a part of society since the beginning of human kind. It would only make sense for it to be a part of the college campuses unfortunately. As a typical female college student is between the ages of 18-24, statistics taken from 1995-2013 prove that women around these ages have the highest percentage of rape (Sinozich and Langton 2014). Within 1995-2013, males ages 18-24 reporting sexual assault or rape were far less than the women, although that does not mean it did not happen just that is was lesser of the two (Sinozich and Langton, 2014). Roughly, 18% of male college students reported having a history with sexual victimization or unwanted sexual contact within the past year (Turchik and Edwards, 2012). These students were classified either as college, university, trade school, vocational school students, or nonstudents meaning anyone else in that age range that is not in any form of school (Sinozich and Langton, 2014). Rape and sexual assault occurs quite often even if the victim is not in school. However, when people are closely placed within a location, like college campuses the chances of assault heighten as there are more opportunities for the perpetrators.