An American is sexually assaulted every 98 seconds, and every 8 minutes, that victim is a child. Only 310 out of 1,000 assaults are reported, but only 6 out of 1,000 perpetrators end up in prison (RAINN). Although sexual assault is egregious, these perpetrators are less likely to end up in prison than other criminals. The reason that is seems to be that victims do not report their cases. So why are sexual assault victims afraid to share their stories? Victims often do not report their assault because of many reasons, including the fear of reprisal, the belief that the police could not and would not do anything about the case, or because they simply did not know how to approach an official.
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
In all cases, sexual assault would be considered rape because it would involve non-consensual sex and other non-consensual sexual activities. Sometimes women can get severely injured and some even end up fighting for their lives. Recovering from a sexual assault is a
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
Laws, policies, rules, and standards have been put in place to regulate the behaviors of all individuals and keep everyone safe. When those laws or policies are not followed, people’s safety become jeopardized, peoples’ rights get violated, and individuals become victims and criminals. Every state has its own laws concerning different types of crimes. Each state has a different sentencing system in place for people who break the laws. Aside from state laws, there are also federal laws that can deal with criminals that break the laws on a federal level. There are many resources available to victims that can help them with physical, emotional, and psychological issues that may arise after being victimized.
Comaz-Diaz (1995), suggests that value that is placed on girl’s virginity, the shame of the victim, and cultural silence against discussing sexual matters are family values that are invoked to prevent disclosure on sexual assault. Incomplete or inappropriate sexuality socialization in childhood may affect one’s ability to identify abuse and as a consequence delay or hinder the disclosure of sexual abuse in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.
Many believed that there was no reason to report an abuse because the police or authorities would not believe them. However, they did not believe many until proven truthful, anyone can say someone sexually assaulted them, but they did not. This was to take precautions amongst both the victim and the accused perpetrator. In the article, there were many aspects that explained that the woman felt more victimized because of the courts decision to believe the abuser until proved he/she is guilt. Also, many children blamed themselves for the rape, so they would not tell their parents. To add, as we read throughout the article, we can distinguish that many abused individuals are scared and embarrassed about the sexual harassment. Many factors were brought to attention: youth and woman fell under the micro-level individual factors, and the community and police did not want to really intervene. These factors result in many victims maybe later on abusing others because they were abused, which should not happen. So, therefore, there was a lot of valuable information presented throughout this
Start blaming the system, not the victim. Sexual assault is a crime that is very common, yet the punishment perpetrators receive is not as harsh as it needs to be to reduce the occurrence of these crimes. Laws concerning sexual crimes have been edited over decades to be stricter however, sex offenders typically receive little or no punishment. Sexual Assault is defined as any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient (“Sexual Assault”). Victims of sexual assault are often blamed as the reason for the crime being committed while the blame is taken away from the offender. Harsher punishment must be enacted on sex offenders because the victims suffer conflict from the crime throughout their
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.
Sexual assault can be easily defined in the SHARP Handbook as “Intentional sexual contact characterized by use of force, threats, intimidation, or abuse of authority or when the victim does not or cannot consent. Sexual assault includes rape, forcible sodomy (oral or anal sex), and other unwanted sexual contact that is aggravated, abusive, or wrongful (including unwanted and inappropriate sexual contact), or attempts to commit these acts.” (Glossary, DoDD 6495.01, 23 Jan 12] ) While it may be easy to define it is not always so easy to detect or prevent.
described as any sexual act that is unwanted by somebody else. These acts incompass penetration with genitals and/or objects without consent, rape, unwanted sexual acts such as oral sex and touching of somebody’s body without their permission and is all about “power and control” (Sexual Assault). It is important to note the misconception regarding rape. Rape falls under the category of sexual assault not every case is rape (Sexual Assault). Sexual assault on college campuses is a reoccurring problem and it seems as if colleges aren't doing much about it. These abusive incidents happen on a day to day basis and it is not getting the attention and awareness that
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 described in technical terms is defined as any sort of sexual activity between two or more people in which one of the people involved is involved against his or her will. (3) The description of "against his or her will" extends to varying degrees of aggression, ranging from indirect pressure to a direct physical attack. While sexual assaults are associated with the crime of rape, it may cover assaults which would not be considered rape. What constitutes a sexual assault is determined by the laws of the jurisdiction where the assault takes place, which vary considerably, and are influenced by local social and cultural attitudes. Every year, an estimated 300,000 women are raped and 3.7 million are confronted with unwanted
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.
The definition of sexual assault, per the American Psychological Association, is “unwanted sexual activity, with perpetrators using force, making threats or taking advantage of victims not able to give consent.” (Encyclopedia of Psychology, 2016) Sexual assault is used as an attempt to gain power over victims, instead of sexual gratification. Sexual Assault can and has happened in many different types of
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.
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.