It’s the classic story: A young woman starts attending college. She is excited to begin college and for this new chapter in her life, and she truly believes that nothing could, or will, go wrong. A few weeks into her stay at the university, she is walking home, across campus from her night class. Even though there have been some talk about attacks happening to women late at night on the campus, the girl feels little fear of walking home alone. However, as she is about half way back to her dorm, a fellow student of hers jumps out and sexually assaults her. After this, the girl decides to report her attack to the campus authorities. However, instead of being met with sympathy, she is met by the college authorities with accusations and little …show more content…
I believe that this number thoroughly demonstrates a serious issue that needs to have an effective and solid solution. While many people have attempted to find solutions, I believe that such solutions include finding a definite definition of sexual consent, and universities being more understanding and helpful in cases of sexual assault. However, before I continue with this paper, I have to define what sexual assault is in terms of this paper. I define sexual assault as any sexual act that is unwanted and unwarranted. It also includes the use of manipulation of sex, which is the coercion of gaining a sexual act, from an individual who does not want to engage in the sexual act. With this definition, I will show that while sexual assault is a serious issue, there are solutions that can help combat the issue of sexual assault on college campuses. The cause of sexual assault in college can be related back to a number of issues, such being the use of alcohol, an indefinite definition of sexual consent, and the issue of manipulation. Alcohol, which causes impairment in thinking and judgment, can often lead to unwanted sexual intercourse. As states Allen J. Ottens and Kathy Hotelling’s book, “Sexual Violence on Campus”, around 7% of college women that they had been drinking when they had “experienced nonconsensual sexual intercourse” (33) and that “26% of women had experienced unwanted sexual activity by a student who had been drinking” (34). This shows that while
Jade does not receive adequate treatment from her counselor when reporting a recent sexual assault. Her integrity is questioned, and the counselor advises her to forget the incident ever happened. The rapist receives no punishment or consequences for his actions. Cases similar to this hypothetical situation occur regularly. Victims of sexual assault often resort to dropping their cases due to the lack of support and services offered by the college. Students continue to fight for the fair treatment of everyone on campus. The problem with reporting sexual assault during college lies in the unfair treatment of the victims and the limited consequences and punishment for the rapist. Colleges have attempted to lower
In Daniel Luzer’s article, “Is Alcohol Really to Blame for the Prevalence of Sexual Assault on College Campuses?” published on November 18, 2013 by Pacific Standard, the author argues that alcohol is not the only thing to blame for sexual assault on college campuses. He observed that alcohol has always been a risk factor when it comes to sexual assault, but drinking is not what has changed throughout the years. What has changed is the way men and women socialize with one another. Throughout the years, interaction between young men and women in college has become less instructed. Back then colleges were not coed and there were rules for when women were allowed in the male dorms including certain times they were allowed there. There are not as
In Daniel Luzer’s article “Is Alcohol Really to Blame for the Prevalence of Sexual Assault on College Campuses?” he suggesting that alcohol is not the reason for the continuous sexual assaults at the college level, published on November 18, 2013 by Pacific Standard. In this article Daniel along with other sources suggest that all of the sexual assaults in college, although may involve alcohol, should not be blamed on alcohol, but on the society we have become. They suggest how college students mingle today is different than how they did years ago, and college students are not assaulting females because they are drunk, but because they have not been taught that it is wrong to do so. Different studies have shown that alcohol in colleges has not
In Daniel Luzer’s article titled “Is Alcohol Really to Blame for the Prevalence of Sexual Assault on College Campuses?” published on November 18th, 2013 by Pacific Standard, the reality about sexual assault is shared. While in college, many teens are reporting more sexual assault cases on campus, but is alcohol really to blame? Due to the consumption of alcohol, behavior changes occur for both men and women. Many believe girls are at fault for putting themselves in the position to be assaulted because of their decision to drink. On the other hand, people also blame the boys for their drunken violence towards girls while intoxicated. Alcohol is not the only misdemeanor in this case. Throughout history, changes are occurring in teens’ social
In Daniel Luzer’s article “Is Alchohol Really to Blame for the Prevalence of Sexual Assault on College Campuses?” publish in Pacific Standard, on the 18th of November in 2013, the answer to the question is shared. In several cases of sexual assault drinking is present. Even though, drinking has continuously been done by numerous college students over the years the number of assaults are continuing to rise. Why is this happening so often? According to Luzer, things have changed from the past, but not the amount of drinking being done by students. Environments in which boys and girls have now has changed drastically compared to the past. Rules have changed, dorms, going to church, the way students dress, and other factors have all changed. Therefore,
According to Nancy Chi Cantalupo, writer in the University Chicago Law Journal, “twenty to twenty-five percent of college women are victims of attempted or completed nonconsensual sex” (Burying Our Heads 207). In October 2014, an eighteen-year-old freshman at Old Dominion University was sexually assaulted. She reported her case to the ODU Police Department where she was treated as a suspect rather than a victim (Jane). The university police department denied this young woman of many things such as a medical examination right away, food, drinks and even did not allow her to use the bathroom (Jane). These factors caused her to suffer multiple injuries mentally, emotionally, and physically (Jane). Many cases of on campus sexual assault has come
In Daniel Luzer’s article “Is Alcohol Really to Blame for the Prevalence of Sexual Assault on College Campuses?” published on November 18, 2013 in Pacific Standard, the truth about the cause of increasing sexual assault is discussed. From the constant disagreement about how many women are actually a victim of rape while in college, the alleged reasoning for these numbers is due to alcohol consumption. Throughout the text, Luzer examines different articles about alcohol consumption relating directly to cases of rape. Different viewpoints are discussed like tell women not to drink during college and warn women about the dangers of drinking. Both of these actions have been taken, and the numbers in the Washington region are still increasing. More
Every 98 seconds sexual assault occurs. More than 570 people in the United States alone face sexual assault in the duration of 24 hours. A large percent of these victims are students. Rape and sexual assault is escalating rapidly throughout the country within highschool and college students meanwhile schools are not addressing these issues. Many factors contribute to the rise of sexual assault such as; illegal drinking, greek-life, lack of police related officials, and campuses are not supporting them. Although students don’t speak up about sexual assault because they are afraid of getting in trouble, these incidents are occurring more and more. Schools need to address the issue of sexual assault on campuses because it is the victims and their
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.
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 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
Most people think that rape or sexual assault only happens to college women when they are under the influence of substance; however, most of the time that is not the case. Thousands of young college women, especially freshmen, are being raped each year. Statistics show that “Women ages 16-24 experience rape at rates four times higher than the assault rate of all women. College women are more at risk for rape and other forms of sexual assault than women the same age but not in college,”(Sexual Assault and Rape on U.S. College Campuses). This is
Alcohol related sexual assault incidents are escalating on college campus, the main cause of this violence is yet to be found and agreed on. Recently we have seen an increasing number of sexual assault cases that involve alcohol unresolved. This is due to lack of understanding the relationship between sexual assault and alcohol. Many professional individuals have shared their views and beliefs regarding this issue of alcohol related sexual assault and have provided effective solutions to this issue. Since most of them have different opinions and beliefs it has resulted in a controversy. A number of perpetrators have claim to be the victims in sexual assault cases that involve alcohol but we are not certain that some of these claims
Today I will discuss the prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses and the lack of enforcement from law officials and college administration to bring an end to the problem, and how to prevent it.
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).