from sexual assault experience dramatic changes in their moods and behaviors. These changes can last for years after the incident and be extremely cruel to the victim’s body and mind than the sexual assault itself.
Sexual assault is a serious offense and within a college campus setting, can become more severe to the victims social and psychological tolerance. Being surrounded by unfamiliar people, brand new friends, and professors that are unaware can make matters of sexual assault more distraught and daunting to a person who has been assaulted. “Although earlier studies suggest that victims tend to seek aid from friends and family immediately after their assault (Darlington, 1993) and view friends and family as more helpful (Becker, Skinner, Abel, Howell, & Bruce, 1982), other studies have shown that the majority of victims will eventually seek help from sexual assault service providers within 2-30 years after their victimization (Frenken & Van Stolk, 1990).” (Carmody). Being away from friends and family at college can make the reality of being sexually assault much more frightening. Victims of sexual assault naturally tend to seek family aid and guidance before pursuing any or no assistance from authority on or around campus. Sexual assault is an attack on a person’s heart and soul and that can singe in the mind of a victim for years until able to recover from the confrontation.
Sexual assault is in most cases portrayed from a point of view of a larger male taking control of or afflicting nonconsensual acts upon a female. “National prevalence rates of women’s college sexual assault victimization have ranged from 28.5% (Krebs, Lindquist, Warner, Fisher, & Martin, 2009) to as high as 54% (Koss, Gidycz, & Wisniewski, 1987), and h...
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...ends not to deal with the matter in ways that law enforcement would if the crime was committed off campus grounds. Universities can receive many complaints and accusations of sexual assault presented on their campus with students enrolled at that university, however, choose to protect the reputation of the college than of the student. Within sexual assault, many tests and presented viable evidence are required to prove or verify the crime was truly committed. Many situations on larger, well known universities revolving sexual assault with student athletes, colleges may post pone trials or discontinue questioning in order to preserve student athlete’s eligibility to attend the university and represent the university’s athletic program. The social policy of sexual assault on a college campus can be seen to be disregarded rather than a matter of resolving the situation.
The trial of 19 year old Owen Laurie has brought into light the alarming rate in which Sexual assault is rising. The issue that rages on in Colleges is said to be making its way to high schools and primary school. In a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Division of Violence Prevention, 19% of Undergraduate women experienced
Rape is currently on the rise on American college campuses and it is the most common committed crime among college students today. In their time in college 1 out of every 5 women and 1 out of every 71 men will experience some form of sexual harassment as reported by the National Sexual Violence Resource Center. These numbers are growing each year and have raised a lot of concern in the administrative level of higher education institutions. In an effort to try and prevent these occurrences universities have begun to implement mandatory curriculum to educate students on the subject and have even begun to hold campus wide events and create clubs to spread awareness and show support because of the repetitive nature of this crime. While it is good
Rape is devastating to its victims. I feel as if this statement should stand alone, underlined and in bold typeface. It is crucial that we, as a society, come to a deep understanding and awareness of this message. For that reason, I will state it again:
Life has so many exciting events that happen, from birth to having a family and one of those events is going to college. High school students prepare everything to be accepted by their dream college. In college, there are many opportunities and excitement,. But with all happiness, there’s always a negative to coincide. A very big problem that is rampant among big college campuses is sexual assault. One in five women will be sexually assaulted while attending college and yet sixty-one percent of cases are unreported. Why is that? How come so few are heard? The reason why most on campus sexual assault cases go unheard or unreported is because the college or university has their attention focused on income rather than the well-being of their own students. This is coupled with the fact that
When it comes to sexual assault on college campuses there is also the question of what can colleges do to decrease the amount of sexual assaults. Bradford Richardson and Jon A Shields wondered the same thing, so they conducted an ...
“I felt his hands start to move down towards my shorts as if he was trying to unbutton them or pull them off. I was still crying at this point and felt so scared that I couldn’t move” (Henneberger, 2012). These are words written by a college freshman after she had been raped, but they are true for many others as well. According to the Rape Crisis Center of Medina and Summit Counties, “every two minutes someone in the US is sexually assaulted” (Get the Facts). “Girls ages 16-19 are four times more likely than the than the general population to be victims of sexual assault” (Get the Facts). These women may be described as slut, cheap, or ready for action, rather than victim, sufferer, or survivor. Rape myths encourage these demeaning terms for women and conceal the reality of rape culture. I will describe the pervasiveness of sexual assault on college campuses as well as the systems and procedures in place to address it. Power plays a role in this issue, including the powerful men on campus such as athletes and fraternity members as well as the administrators in power who regulate the punishments and actions that are taken against the perpetrators. The influence of those in power often goes overlooked in our society because it has become so intertwined with our culture.
Rape is the most common violent crime on American college campuses. A numerous amount of issues dealing with sexual assaults has been caused by unsafe environments on college campuses. Over the past years there has been a
Every semester, a student attending a college campus will have at some point experience some inappropriate, unwanted attention. There is always someone at school who tends to make someone uncomfortable, be it through eye contact, persistent advances, or just uncalled for innuendos. Of course, we do our best to ignore it, or to just report the bothersome activity, but that can only do so much without someone finding a way around such things. Someone is always going the extra mile to get what he or she wants, even if it’s at the expense of the victim. We can’t turn a blind eye on our friends, our family, or our associates in these dark, sexual assault situation. Campus sexual assault is a problem with plenty of factors regarding it.
Vladutiu, Catherine J., Sandra L. Martin, and Rebecca J. Macy. "College- or University- Based Sexual Assault Prevention Programs: A Review of Program Outcomes, Characteristics, and Recommendations." Trauma, Violence, & Abuse. SAGE, n.d. Web. 5 Nov. 2013. .
To date, “between 10 to 40 percent of female students [. . .] have been raped while [. . .] up to 60 percent of males students [have] commit[ed] actions that meet the legal definition of sexual assault” (Bretz 19). This percentage demonstrates the ineffectiveness of university policies and signifies a drastic change to procedures is in order if educational institutions want to see improvement. In order to see an effective change, policies must “explicitly define key terms such as “‘consent’, ‘force’ [,]‘incapacity’ and cover [a] range of sexually violent behavior” (Gunraj 9). Furthermore, since the age of fourteen 58.7% of females “ha[ve] experienced one or more forms of victimization[. . .] 35.0% ha[ve] experienced at least one completed or attempted rape and 23.5% ha[ve] been raped” (Senn et. al. Results). First-year female students are not prepared for the perpetrators they will face on campus, and as a result, are more vulnerable to sexual violence. Universities need to develop effective policies and procedures to not only prepare women for the challenges they may face but to reduce the overall number of sexual assaults and make school a safer environment for
According to the SACHA Sexual Assault Center, rape culture involves everyday phenomena that “make violence against women and sexual coercion seem so normal that people believe that rape is inevitable” (“What is rape culture,” n.d.). Common examples of rape culture include: telling women to always travel in groups at night, asking survivors what they were wearing or if they were drinking during the time of the assault, and ignoring or stigmatizing males who are sexually assaulted (Ray, 2013). On college campuses, rape culture can contribute to the underreporting of sexual assaults, as survivors may be ashamed or afraid of humiliation. Furthermore, the presence of rape myths perpetuates the overall rape culture by shaping public opinion towards blaming survivors and discounting the actions of offenders. Largely cited myths, such as women falsely reporting rape to protect their reputations or because they are angry with the accused perpetrator, are based on a kernel of truth that is unrepresentative of the realities surrounding these issues (Burnett et al., 2009). Rape culture is alive and well on college campuses, despite being a broader societal issue. While this socially ingrained behavior is difficult to reverse, universities are major institutions that must accept partial responsibility for the perpetuation of rape culture and consequently need to devise programs for change that circumvent this erroneous
According to a statement addressing the sexual victimization of college women The Crime and Victimization in America states that, “ One out of four women will be sexually assaulted on a college campus.” This disturbing fact has not minimized throughout the years, instead it is continuing to worsen throughout college campuses. Sexual assault is not an act to be taken lightly. Society must stop pinpointing the individuals who commit these crimes one by one, but rather look at the problem as a whole and begin to understand the main cause of sexual assault and possible methods to reduce these acts of sexual coercion.
Sexual assault is a traumatic event that can cause extreme psychological effects on the victim. These effects can be short-term, and they can manifest themselves into long-term effects, depending on the individual and how the sexual assault occurred. Victims of sexual assault can be either male or female, with both sexes having fairly similar psychological effects. In addition to these psychological effects, some individuals develop Rape Trauma Syndrome or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which can be more easily classified as short-term versus long-term responses. Every individual is different and may differ in their reactions to this event; there is no normal or common way to react (Kaminker, 1998, pg. 23).
In society, sexual assault has become a frequent occurrence, and there are several causes that influence it, including the low rates of reporting, the stereotypical gender roles and expectations, the sociocultural context, the power differentials, and the hierarchy between men and women. It is important to be able to differentiate the truth from the misconceptions. Studies show that, “ 13% and 25% of women experience sexual assault at some point in their lives” (Elliot 1). However, men are more likely to be physically assaulted whereas women are more likely to experience interpersonal violence (Elliot 1). For men, sex is binary, and they must receive it, which is a main cause of sexual assault. In addition, another cause is the majority of rapists do not get prosecuted, as the victims are reluctant to report it. In the sociocultural context, men are expected to be aggressive and women are supposed to be
A growing concern in today’s society is rape on college campuses. This is a grotesque action that is happening way to often on college campuses. I’ve decided to research and write about this topic due to the fact that soon I will have nieces and nephew’s going off to college. The rise in sexual assault accusation and cases have risen in the media in the past year, it seems as if more and more we are finding out about assaults that are being reported on college campuses. Even some that are reported to campus police and nothing is done about it. Therefore we have to not only figure out how to reduce these things from happening but what we must do when they have happened.