“One in five college women, and one in 33 college men, will be sexually assaulted during their time on campus, adding up to an estimated 100,000 assaults for the coming year. But only 5% of these get reported. (The Hunting Ground).” With statistics like these, it’s easy to see why sexual assault is still a prevalent issue on college campuses. In the Movie, The Hunting Ground, the issue of sexual assault on college campuses is addressed. What set this documentary apart from other documentaries that address sexual assault was that it was from the views of the victims, as opposed to just covering statistics and generally talking about the issue. Aside from sexual assault, the other main topic covered was title IX, which is a program that is required …show more content…
Often, I found myself yelling at the TV screen in disbelief and anger. The story that spoke to me the loudest, although not as similar to my own story, was that of Erica Kinsman. She was sexual assaulted by the quarter back of FSU, Jameis Winston. Because of the sports frenzy in the south, people around the Florida State University campus shamed HER for coming out about her sexual assault, because it was ruining his future. WHAT?! This hit close to home for me because she was a sister of the Florida State Delta Zeta sorority chapter, which is the same house that I am affiliated with at a different university. One of the best things about a sorority is having a connection with other women from across the nation that share the same sisterhood as you, and to know a sister that has gone through a similar circumstance as me, made me feel more connected to her situation, and therefore, made me even more angry about the whole situation. It amazed me when they showed interviews of the Florida state fans talking about Erica, because more of the people they interviewed were females, and they all condemned her for potentially ruining an athlete’s future, as opposed to worrying about the fact that the face of their school athletic department was a serial …show more content…
The documentary stated that “the second most common type of insurance claim against the fraternity industry is from sexual assault (The Hunting Ground).” But because the Fraternities have more to offer to the university, than the university has to offer the Fraternities, everybody just kind of turns their cheek because ignoring the situation is easier than standing up to it, and getting involved (The Hunting Ground). Alumni relations are very important to the Greek community, because, for the most part, it is the alumni that financially support the organizations. It’s frustrating to me that institutions care more about money, than the well-being of their students. However, recently Oklahoma State University has been taking the initiative to figure out the significance of sexual assault on our campus. Being that mine occurred on a different campus, I have not dealt with the issue first hand at Oklahoma State University. It would take talking to the president or other staff members on campus to fully understand how our campus would handle it. Obviously, we all would like to think that our campus would take initiative in the circumstance that sexual assault occurs, however, as shown in the movie, most colleges publicly declare that they “take these situations very seriously,” when they are just saying what the public wants to hear. Behind the scenes, it is a
The chapter “ Fraternities and Collegiate Rape Culture: Why are some fraternities more dangerous places for women?” by A. Ayres Boswell and Joan Z. Spade helps to shed light on why some fraternities are associated with high number of sexual assaults on women. I was surprised to learn that “frat brothers rape 300% more and 1 in 5 women are raped on campus” (Valenti, 2014) and despite these horrendous statistics fraternities are still around. So why aren’t there more stringent actions set into motion to stop sexual assaults on women on campus or better yet ban fraternities. A lot has to do with how society as a whole sets double standards with regard to gender sexuality. Men who sleep around are viewed as “studs” or a “player” and women who sleep
The differences between interactions of social events are derived from people feeling secure and protected verses feeling threatened and helpless. Campus settings are interrupted as high-risk environments for rape culture and are seen to promote sexual aggression from the dominant groups. When looking at systemic factors in the problem we can see how fraternities create guideline that follow in the traditions of perpetuating rape culture. Men who participated in fraternity living arrangements are encouraged to interact and bond with like-minded members. Often these brothers are not encouraged to develop or share experiences with others outside of the fraternity. This level of involvement embraces the dominant cultural beliefs or values to be see as a way of life. Without being able to experience healthy and diverse situation these people are
“'Til it happens to you, you don't know” You won't know how it feels to be victimized, or what it’s like to have, what seems like, the world against you. The documentary, The Hunting Ground directed by Kirby Dick, gives a small look into the life and treatment of a rape or sexual assault victim on colleges campuses. Using anaphora, the rule of three, and imagery, The Hunting Ground makes it a little easier to understand exactly what is happening.
In Greek fraternities, a culture that supports and encourages sexual violence thrives. My paper will focus on the relationship between the fraternity culture and lack of response that creates this life-ruining problem. The topic is important to all college students because of the lifelong consequences to both victims and perpetrators of sexual violence.
“One in five women are sexually assaulted while in college” (Not Alone, 2014). In our class of twenty women that means that possibly five women have been sexually assaulted. Out of the five women that I stated could have been sexually assaulted they may have known the perpetrator and often will not report what has happened. According to the spring count of students completed by West Chester University, 9,211 of those students were females (“Headcount Enrollment”, 2014). If I go by the statistic mentioned earlier that one in five women is assaulted that would mean that 1,842 women have been sexually assaulted while enrolled at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. Out of 1,842 possible assaults only four were reported last year. Two of which the victims knew prior to the assault. Rankin and Associates consulting conducted a Climate Assessment on West Chester University in September of 2010, a section of the results focused on sexual assault on students. According to the report seven people who reported a sexual assault to the university described their reactions to the universities response. Two students shared the way they felt the response was inappropriate or poor. One described that they felt the suspension for one semester was not an appropriate response to an admitted rape, that public safety lost the victims statement, judicial affairs painted the victim offender as innocent, and that the registrar protected the offender putting the victim in harm’s way and everyone
Despite federal laws issued to combat sexual violence, each year 4,000 college women report to school officials that they've been sexually assaulted. What happens after they file those reports has stirred debate on campuses across the country, leaving parents and students fearful that colleges may not be the ivory towers of security and integrity that appear on their recruitment pamphlets.
One in five women in college will be sexual assualted during college. Yet that is not what I though about the summer before college. I was free from high school. I was excited about college. I was about to move away from home and finally be on my own. There were so many new and exciting things about to happen. Yet I was nerves as well. I was about to move far from home to new place where I knew no one. If things went wrong, my parents will not be there to fix it. For me this is how the summer when. Yet there was another worry that I forgot about, something I had talk and thought a lot senior year. This worry came from a documentary my friend and I watched senior year, The Hunting Ground. This is a documentary about sexual assault on college campus. How colleges cover it up and the toll it has on victims and their families. Watching the women that step up to talk about these stories, I could help but think how easy that could be one of my friends, someone I love or me.
Last semester NOVA women’s center organized to show the film the “hunting Ground” which lead to a discussion about the reality of sexual assault on campuses. This event will be continual and there will be another event in May. Even though such events are something to be appreciated the fact remains more needs to be done. NOVA needs to incorporate trainings and programs into the school system to educate its students on reporting, preventing and build better understanding of sexual harassment in general. Even though traditional programs are not something to be disregarded the statistical data we have is a proof that more change is needed. The climate survey findings will highlight what is urgent and critical to the NOVA community. While the survey will tell us, what is happening in our campuses the mandatory trainings will work towards addressing the issue of why sexual misconducts are happening at the current rate. Other schools – including the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Kansas University, the Montana University system, Portland State University, Georgetown University and the University of California–Berkeley – have made sexual assault awareness training programs mandatory for students according to an article by USNEWS. Elon University in North Carolina, for example, students must take a course online before they even reach campus that walks them through the ethics of relationship and alcohol's effect on behavior. "You can't do a one-time program and expect it to make a difference," says Ruth Anne Koenick, director of the Office for Violence Prevention and Victim Assistance at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey–New Brunswick. As these schools reevaluated their way of dealing with sexual violence and changed their approach a decrease in sexual violence has been reported on their
Greek life plays a major role in colleges and universities all across the United States. Greek life allows men and women to join an organization and create a long lasting bond, as brothers or sisters, which they will carry with them for the rest of their lives. College campuses explore and boast about the positive impacts that Greek life has on students as well as the community around them. However, even with fraternities and sororities being on college campuses for decades, few people outside the Greek life community have discovered the real, enduring process that it takes to become a "brother" or "sister". Throughout my research, I will be focusing on the negative effects that fraternities and sororities pose upon pledges. This includes hazing
Sexual assault is a topic that no one wants to cover, but almost everyone endures, or knows someone who has endured it throughout their lives. Particularly, sexual assault on college campuses is a huge deal. One in five women are sexually assaulted, which is a number that is insane to think about. In reference to the article on ending college sexual assault, the way the initial victim Maya reacted to the sexual assault is the same way many others do as well. Not only does it go unreported, which leaves the door open for continued sexual assault, she also fell behind on her studies as her mental state deteriorated. That example represents many students worldwide across campuses, and that is something that is just not alright.
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
Before watching this film I was not aware of the prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses. I always thought people could get help on campus and if they could not get the help they needed on campus they could send them somewhere off campus. This really surprised me, I thought sexual assault wasn't very common and if it did happen to someone the school would do more about it so it wouldn't happen again. I never thought the school would blame the person who got assaulted or not do anything about the situation.
When colleges and universities are constantly in competition with each other for students, there are certain issues that occur. Competition has turned into universities and colleges often mishandling sexual assault and rape cases. Campuses want to minimize the danger that they may pose which leads to sexual assault and rape crimes to often be veiled. With this veil in place, it counters the efforts of colleges and universities to address the issue of sexual assault and rape. In July 2016, a survey was released to 350 colleges and university presidents. The purpose of this survey was to showcase whether sexual assault and rape cases were handled correctly or mishandled. Over the last five years, “more than 40 percent of the schools had not conducted a sexual assault and/or rape investigation” (citation). It was revealed that
Sexual assault occurs on every college campus. Surveys from campuses across the nation could be used to try and challenge this claim, because within them, many universities reported of having zero cases of sexual assault; however, most schools can claim this small number only because they hide any reports of sexual assault. Why is it that an institution would hide an act that harmed one of its own students? A huge reason is that the perpetrator of the crime is mostly always one of the school’s own students as well. Being known as a school that admits and educates rapists will ruin a school’s reputation, and reputation is the primary aspect that a school prides itself on.
Men taking advantage of women is considered a social norm. Also, When fraternity members admitted to doing things that by law are considered rape they did not believe that they were rapist. They insist that if a girl is intoxicated then they are still able to consent to sex. Granted not all Greeks are this way. Many fraternity members treat women respectfully and contribute greatly to bettering the college experience. The problem is too many offenders do exist and they have ruined the once credible reputation of fraternities everywhere.