The Victimization Of Women Through Rape

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).

The article introduces sexual assault to readers as a problem that is in line with other forms of violence such as domestic violence, dating violence and stalking. It gives a figure of 19% undergraduate women who have reported a complete or attempted sexual assault while in campus and worth noting is that in most of the incidences, the victims knew the perpetrators, who also feature in other related crimes.

“Among undergraduate students, 23.1% of females and 5.4% of males experience rape or sexual assault” (RAINN). Rape is a threat virtually anywhere people go, but no place has a higher risk for sexual assault than college campuses. However, many of these occurrences go without penalties against the attacker, and even more are not reported at all. The lack of consequences for the accused indirectly suggests that rape and other forms of sexual assault are allowable and create further problems for the victims of the horrendous actions. Harsher punishments need to be given out for sexual assault on campus, as the current rulings are biased and immoral.

Sexual assault and rape are serious social and public health issues in the United States and throughout the rest of the world. In particular sexual assault on college campus are prevalent at an alarming rate and leaves serious effects on the victims. This essay will focus on statistics and the prevalence and effects amongst college students, through examining a number of reasons why women fail to report sexual assault and rape. This essay will also cover sexual assault prevention and things that can be done to mitigate the risk of becoming a victim to such matter.

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

Fisher, B. S., Cullen, F. T., & Turner, M. G.. The sexual victimization of college women. 2000

Next, I will review what the academic literature has to say about the issue of sexual assault on university and college campus and how they have responded to the incident. Third, I will discuss resources that are available for the victims on universities and campuses. The factors that we will be exploring throughout the paper are: resources to help the victim, organizations, and treatments, and the effects on the victim physically, emotionally and academically. A review of literature makes it clear that services and programs offered to victims of sexual assault on universities and college campuses (Vladutiu, Martin, and Macy 2011). I hope that I will be able to answer the research question that I have provided to you at the beginning of the paper properly and efficiently that you will be able to

College can be one of the most influential and exciting times of self-discovery and exploration in a young woman’s life. In addition to expanding academic horizons, a woman’s college years can be used as a time of self-exploration and discovery. For some students, however, despite all the wonderful experience college has to offer, young women need to be mindful of a silent issue plaguing campuses everywhere: sexual assault. Gager defines sexual assault as “a public health and public safety problem with far-reaching implications.” According to Wikipedia, sexual assault is any “involuntary sexual act in which a person is coerced or physically forced to engage against their will, or any non-consensual sexual

Women should be made aware of the statistics that most rapes are committed by someone known to the victim (Anonymous, 1999). They should be made aware that most rapes occur within a victim’s own home (Anonymous, 1999). Again, society must focus on women’s awareness rather than continuing to put them in fear. If women are taught some simple precautionary steps, they can greatly reduce the chances of becoming a victim. Walking briskly, looking alert and confident are simple things that can be done to cause a sexual predator to reconsider a person as a victim (Hanson, 1993). Avoiding dark areas and never walking alone in dark places will eliminate a potential area of opportunity for a predator (Anonymous, 1999). If a woman suspects she is being followed, she should move fast and towards a group, crowded area or to a local safe area. When in a vehicle or at home, keep doors and windows closed and locked at all times (Anonymous, 1999). Before driving from one location to another, women should make contact with a family member or friend to let them know when they leave and when they arrive (Anonymous, 1999). Women should also be encouraged to take a self defense course (Golding, 1997). It all comes down to educating women on all the aspect and dangers of potential sexual violence (Golding, 1997).

This essay explores the ongoing issue of sexual assault and sexual violence on college campuses across the United States. Education on the topic of sexuality and sexual assault throughout secondary and post secondary education is vital to the awareness of, and battle against sexual assault. Issues in sex-education, included lack of depth into healthy sexuality, and abstinence only sex education. Women are not reporting their cases to the authorities or universities because of issues with privacy, shame and guilt. Universities are not providing reliable support to victims, which creates wide spread apprehension to report cases of sexual assault. Pop culture and media promote a skewed image of sexualized women, creating a cultural expectation for women to please and be subservient, promoting sexual violence against women across the country.

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

Nevertheless, sexual abuse has always been biased towards women relative to men for as long as we can remember. Considering the fact that sexual abuse can occur to both genders, it is mostly known to victimize women. One of the most common environments for sexual abuse to take place is in academic domains. In the view of society, men are above women; in consequence, women portray a weak image, hence making easier casualties of sexual abuse in the educational field. Due to the fact that students may need guidance to better excel in their career, some professors begin treating it as an opportunity to gain sexual access from the student. To better illustrate the idea that sexual abuse makes its way through into academic environments, take the word from the victims themselves. “I was naive enough to think that we would talk about Wittgenstein, but after he flopped over me a few times, telling me that I had to have sex with him... I made my escape” (Whitley 39). Moreover, another victim said “I couldn’t say ‘no’ because he would have responded with rage and revenge. He would have ruined my career”(Whitley 39). In both cases, these women were attacked by the professors for being of lesser status; they were manipulated to remain silent by fear, threats, and their dependence on the professor for academic help. Due to the idea that women are viewed lesser than men, inflicts professors’ to

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.

In almost every part of history, women have been fighting for their rights to be recognized, including the ownership of their own bodies. For the past centuries, it was believed that after a marriage of a woman, she would be owned by her husband, by another words, she gave her husband the authority over her, including her entire body. Therefore, raping his wife for any reason was not considered to be wrong thing to do because upon marriage, the wife had given irrevocable consent. In marriage, rape is a serious and a common form of violence against women. Rape can be defined as intercourse or penetration (vaginally, anally, or orally) forced with violence, threat of force or when the wife is unable to give the consent. In fact, rape can be seen to be more prevalent in patriarchal societies with the rapidly increased of sexism from it. Patriarchy is often defined as a system of male dominance. According to Merriam and Webster, patriarchy is defined as a family, group or government controlled by a man or a group of men. In addition, in such societies, men dominate women through the control of female sexuality. Men are kings, they conquer so seize land and treasures, in such, women, will be their property and men have their right to rape women. These could be understood that marital rape is far less violent than acquaintance or stranger rape, as believed are not illegally sexual threatening another person until the 1970s.

     Webster’s Dictionary describes rape as the crime of forcing another person to submit to sex acts, especially sexual intercourse. Rape is a crime in which most women cannot defend themselves. The fear of rape plagues every woman at some point or another in her life. The traumatic effects of rape vary from mild to severe, from psychological to physical. This paper will evaluate rape, as well as the effects it has on women, the theory behind male dominance and patriarchy, and differences in demographics.