Sexual Assault Research Paper

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

Despite having hundreds of sexual assault cases each year, most colleges take little action to resolve these cases. In fact, only 20% of female sexual assault survivors report cases, the rest believing that it was too personal to share, or that if they did, the police wouldn’t listen to them. If they did report, often times it was to the local police rather than the campus police in fear that they would be shamed or turned away by the universities.

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.

Sexual Assault on college campuses is a national epidemic. Most colleges aren’t doing anything about it. Brown University finally stood up and is in the process of doing something. They are setting an example for what other schools should be doing, especially being an ivy league. Education is a powerful tool and it should be used to educate students on what consent is and how to be an appropriate bystander. Sexual assault on college campuses is a problem that will take a long time to solve, but the ending must start

, 1 in 5 women, and 1 in 16 men will face sexual assault during their time at a college? And from rainn.org women in school are 3x more likely to face it than women out of school( ). Hopefully that’s as frightening to you as it is to me. It is important that one day these statistics are lowered to 0. Today, I want to give everyone more insight on how sexual assault can be stopped by letting you know about the problems we face being in college when it comes to sexual assault and the laws and reasons that make it difficult for victims to report. After stating the problems, I will present you with solutions and the benefits your actions will have.

A typical teen, fresh into adulthood has just graduated high school. At this point in their life, they must choose how they want to proceed forward, their life is no longer necessarily decided upon by their parents. A majority of recent high school graduates typically decide to further their education, whether this may be to achieve the career goal they most desire, or if maybe they just want to be able to say that recieved a degree. These next four or more years they will experience all sorts of new things, they may make new friends, go out to parties, and most likely have lots of fun. However in today’s society, going off to a college campus could end up being their worst nightmare. According to the article “Campus Sexual Violence Statistics”, “Women ages 18-24 are at an elevated risk of sexual violence” (RAINN 1). By this statistic, college aged women are at a higher risk for some form of sexual violence. Campus sexual assault is so universal because the justice system does not treat sexual assault as seriously as they should, a large amount of sexual assaults are left unreported, and sexual assault cases are very difficult to prove.

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.

Danger can take shape in many forms, one of the most prevalent in our society today sexual assault. According to the Campus Sexual Assault Study (CSA), 1 of 5 women will be sexually assaulted during their experience at college. This is a staggering and frightening amount. A study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Justice, The Sexual Victimization of College Women, has findings even more grim than the CSA. It states that 1 of 4 college women will be raped.

Look around at four of your female friends; according to “Not Alone,” a US Government report on sexual assault, by the time you graduate college, one of you will become a victim of sexual assault. For years, schools have struggled with figuring out how to handle this epidemic. Many schools just don’t focus on sexual assault; for example, according to Rolling Stone’s article, "Rolling Stone and UVA: The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism Report" by Sheila Coronel, Steve Coll, and Derek Kravitz, The University of Virginia has expelled 183 students for academic dishonesty and 0 students for sexual assault. This shows how policymakers have pushed sexual assault to the side for decades on college campuses, despite frequent protests and requests from students for colleges to make campuses safer. Sexual assaults on college campuses have been mishandled throughout history, and colleges that have made policy changes have often made ineffective or misguided choices. Colleges need to adopt a “yes means yes” policy for verbal consent and should model their policies after the University of Kentucky’s successful “green dot” program.

Current data and statistics involving sexual assaults on college campuses are very sad and depressing. According to Monique DiCarlo, who used data from the Department of Justice, 1 in 5 women are likely to be sexually assaulted during their time on campus (M. DiCarlo, personal presentation, October 17). However, many of these assaults go unreported to authorities or the universities. Some of the reasons victims do not report are because victims do not believe the school will do anything or help, do not believe it to be important enough to report and fear of reprisal (M. DiCarlo, personal presentation, October 17). With major advancements in policy including Title IX, the Cleary Act, and defining what is consent, one could assume sexual assaults on campuses should be declining. However, sexual assaults are not declining and many departments such as athletics and international student offices have to deal with the problem. In this paper, I will discuss the current climate of sexual assault on campus, provide a brief overview of rights and protections of Title IX, discuss how the office of international student services could be impacted and how Title IX coordinators are handling the problem and what still needs to be done to help protect all students.

Sexual assault on college campuses is a growing epidemic. Twenty five percent of college women are affected by sexual assault (A. Amar, T. Strout, S. Simpson, M. Cardiello, & S. Beckford, 2014, p. 93). Sexual assault is the non- consensual sexual touching of a person, in which a person is forced to engage in a sexual act against their will. Taking advantage of a person sexually is morally wrong, and causes victims of sexual assault significant emotional and physical damage. Sexual assault is a big issue because it is destroying the lives of college students. No one, that is, attending college, and has their whole life in front of them should ever have to experience trauma from such an act and have their whole future compromised because of it. But the problem is that the majority of the victims of sexual assault don’t report it. So what solutions are there to prevent sexual assault? Sexual assault on college campuses can be managed by enforcing a strict no alcohol policy on college campuses, so that it can not be used as a weapon by rapists. Sexual assault can also be thwarted through sexual assault prevention workshops to educate students and staff about the issue, and through the college administration, reporting sexual assault to local authorities, so that the legal consequences of sexual assault can be implemented. Out of the three preventative measures, having the administration report sexual assault to local authorities is more effective, because the crimes are

According to Kathleen Hirsch, the author of “Fraternities of Fear: Gang Rape, Male Bonding, and the Silencing of Women” 1 in every 4 women attending college will be the victim of sexual assault at some point during her academic career. Or in another study reported in the “The sexual Victimization of College Women” there are 35.3 incidents of sexual assault in a group of 1,000 women in a time span of 6.91 months (Statistics). Obviously sexual assault is a huge problem that should be taken very seriously. Some colleges have wonderful programs put in place that provides great services to help those students who have been have been sexually assaulted and programs that help education and prevent sexual assault.

Sexual assault has been a huge issue for many years on college campuses and universities nation wide. As society has evolved, thoughts on sexual assault have also evolved, becoming more focused on the details of victim treatment than ever before. The topic of sexual assault is debatable and sparks many opinions on weather sexual assault on college campuses is becoming more frequent, or if there is just heightened awareness. Sexual assault can happen to anybody no matter the gender, race, religion, or age. Recently there have been many studies conducted on sexual violence on college campuses and universities producing ample amounts of statistics. One may argue that sexual assault rates are the same, but there are simply more studies and attention on sexual assault in the past 20 years. Gender roles have played a huge part in sexual assault on college campuses. Women and men have different expectations when it comes to roles in the relationship, men are often expected to make the first move. One may ask what causes a perpetrator to sexually harass somebody and think it is acceptable. There are various reasons as to why perpetrators do what they do, and may vary from person to person. Although sexual violence is a large problem for many colleges and universities, there is a surprising shortage of federal laws/rules and regulations regarding sexual assault. Colleges are able to develop their own personal policies and procedures for how they will prevent and deal with sexual

Sexual assault and rape are on-going issues plaguing college campuses all across the nation. In part, I believe this is due to a lack of education on what sexual assault actually is. All too often, victims are leaving these situations feeling confused about something that they will forever deem "a weird night". It often isn't until much later that they realize what happened to them was a violation of their body and of their rights.

College-age adults are known to be high risk for sexual violence and most studies show that one in three women have experiences some type of sexual assault whether it was through physical force or harassment. These statics are known by most women on college campuses to ensure that women know and understand that this could happen to them. The issue is more than ensuring that women are aware of how protect themselves and know how to avoid these situations because it shouldn’t even be happening. When women are taught that they should know how to defend themselves we are saying that this type of behavior is normal and inevitable. We should shift from this dynamic and start teaching both men and women that this behavior is completely unacceptable and that sexually assaulting or harassing someone is NOT normal. This paper will mostly focus on incidents of rape and sexual assault on college campuses and what the outcome and reactions of these incidents were.