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
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.
Sexual assault is sexual intercourse, or any sexual act, done without consent. It is often violent where victims are being physically forced to engage in the act against their will. It may involve a stranger or someone familiar. All forms of sexual assault are crimes, even if the parties involved were drinking, taking drugs, given drugs, or unconscious. Hundreds of Americans are affected by sexual violence everyday. Although there is a lot more attention being given to this topic than there was previously, many people still do not believe that it is a big deal. I see a lot of jokes about rape and sexual violence, and viewers find them to be epigrammatic. Also, men make claims like “asking for permission is a sign of weakness” or “forcing yourself on women makes them love you” as an excuse
Sexual Assault in the Military The way we interact with each other in our Army culture impacts the way we perceive behavior in relation to sexual assault and harassment. For instance, a culture that allows discriminating jokes or demeaning behavior helps to perpetuate an environment in which sexual assaults
Last week, the White House released a short, celebrity packed, 60-second public service announcement (PSA) on the topic of sexual assault. 1 is 2 Many addressed those who are in control of preventing sexual assault as its intended audience was those who can put a stop to sexual violence: the perpetrators or would-be offenders. Although this one minute announcement completed the task of bringing sexual assault to the forefront of discussion, it failed to encompass the central issues concerning the culture of sexual assault: societal misperceptions, the victims, and the justice system. Sexual assault is a phenomenon that has been around for centuries; the culture of sexual assault is rooted in both legal practices and societal perceptions.
University of Tennessee Knoxville was recently involved in a lawsuit for enabling athletes to sexually assault women by silencing the victims and failing to provide disciplinary actions or even investigation onto the accused. While this is a recent case, this is not the first time this sort of behavior involving a school has been brought into light. One in four women will be sexually assaulted by the end of their undergraduate career (Posluszny). Sexual assault happens throughout society no matter what the gender or age, seeming to be in increasing epidemic over the last few years. While the idea of sexual assault is largely met with public hostility in theory, actions often contradict this. This contradiction lies heavily in a culture that is unwelcoming to the victims and often leads to the perpetrators being tolerated. The existence of rape culture in western society occurs due to the preservation of violent media, patriarchal standards, and the state of the criminal justice system. This culture cannot be improved until we confront each of these problems to their roots.
Sexual Assault on College Campuses When it comes to choosing a college, there are many factors in this major life decision: price, location, type of education, and finally, safety. Young women in college campuses across the country, although no campus is immune from these heinous acts, safety is still a main
Talya Brown Ms. Terry October 10, 2014 AP Writing Lab The Invisible War Allegations of sexual harassment are thrown about freely in today’s society and it seems that individuals do not fully understand the gravity of the word or what it actually conveys. Daijah Wilkins, a senior this year explained that until her sophomore year she didn’t fully understand either. She was standing in the hallway when she overheard a teacher, Mrs. O’Conner, tell a couple that she felt sexually harassed by their actions. The couple, as well as Daijah couldn’t understand how that could be possible when the two were simply kissing. After the students explained to Mrs. O’Conner that sexual harassment was only possible if someone physically touched another
Frustratingly, these days, some people still treat sexual assault as an “okay” thing, making comments such as “she was asking for it” and that she was “equally responsible” for the situation. This is exactly the sort of mindset that is contributing to the startling statistics today.
Sexual assault policy in the United States as it stands is clearly inadequate for protecting the physical wellbeing of men and women from sexual assault. Layering of policy serves a s a Band-Aid on a social wound much too large to be contained and the rise of sexual assault as
How Should Sexual Assaults On-Campus Be Handled? When congress passed the gender-equality law known as Title IX (1972) more than 40 years ago, no one expected it to make colleges responsible for handling sexual assault. Title IX was a “stealth law” aimed at helping women get through the doors of higher education and is now being interpreted to require colleges to investigate and resolve students reports of rape, determining whether their classmates are responsible for assault and, if so, what the punishment should be. (Wilson, Paragraph 1-2) The term Sexual Assault was defined by the district as any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient. With that definition, the term on campus was
“The Perpetuators of Sexual Assault on College Campuses” 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.
Psychological Effects of Sexual Assault Sexual assault is a term that is used interchangeably with the word rape. The decision on whether or not to use the term rape or sexual assault is made by a state’s jurisdiction. Sexual assault is more readily used in an attempt to be more gender neutral (National Victim Center). Sexual assault can be most easily described as forced or unconsentual sexual intercourse. The individual that is performing these acts on the victim may either be a stranger or an acquaintance. In 1994, 64.2 percent of all rapes were committed by someone the offender had previously known (Ringel, 1997). Regardless, this type of crime can have extreme effects on the victim.
Definitions For the purposes of this paper, sexual assault is defined as being forced to engage in sexual acts (Abbey, 2002). These acts include: “forced touching or kissing; verbally coerced intercourse; and physically forced vaginal, oral and anal penetration” (Abbey, 2002). Rape is defined as “sexual behaviours that involve some type of penetration due to force or threat of force; a lack of consent; or inability to give consent due to age, intoxication or mental status” (Abbey, 2002). The definition of sexual aggression was quoted from authors Barongan and Nagayama Hall, however they adapated their definition from authors Hall, G. C. N. and Hirschman, R. Sexual Aggression is defined as “ranging from sexually impositional acts such as telling a sexually oriented joke to someone who finds such jokes offensive, to extreme forms of sexual aggression like rape” (Barongan & Nagayama Hall, 1995).
The major question today is: What should be considered sexual assault? Many people believe that the seriousness of it is evident, however there are some that disagree, they disagree of what sexual