Rape culture. A term used to define our college or university campuses today in the west. A place apparently ripe with the sexual abuse of women and the indoctrination of our young men and sons. It is widely accepted, especially by the liberals and the left, that universities are a place of rape, misogyny, racism and all of the above. There was even a study taken place by the National Institute of Justice that stated that one in five women are victims of sexual assault. On top of this, people believe those who are skeptical towards victims of rape and their story are labeled as rape supporters and in support of the culture. But universities do not teach young men that it is ok to rape or sexually abuse a women, the men themselves don't think …show more content…
This is false. The one instance at the Canadian University is quite tragic and sad however they were exercising their right to free speech. The campus on the other hand sought to ensure that the students were sent to sensitivity training classes and then suspended. While those 80 students might have been intoxicated or maybe plain stupid, they were forced to take accountability for their actions. The students at the campus where outraged, some stating that “It was completely unacceptable,” and that they should have acted as the ambassadors that they were supposed to be. There was a student led reform later that presented 20 points to ensure that acts like won’t happen again. All the faculty, staff and students were enraged by this and sought to ensure that this never happend again. No one but the people who were at the chant supported it. Not the University, nor the other male students at the campus. So no, no one supported that nor the so called rape …show more content…
Well the statistic is not entirely true or accurate at all. According the Washington Examiner, it is stated that not only has this been “debunked multiple times” but the statistic itself is “misleading at best”. The study on took students from two unnamed public universities, with only 5,446 graduates. The researches stated that a limitation of their work was that the “response rates were relatively low” to take represent the whole undergraduate demographic. For any sort of demographic statistic, this would be it's downfall if not the absurdity of the questions. According to the CSA study, they were asked questions if they were “unable to provide consent or stop what was happening because you were passed out, drugged, drunk, incapacitated or asleep?” Or another being “about events that you think(but not certain) happend”. These questions are far from direct and the replies that go back the the CSA were up to them to determine if they have been raped or sexually assaulted. As Christina Hoff Sommers, of the American Enterprise Institute, notes, “No one interviewed was asked if they’d been raped or sexually assaulted.” Matter of fact the federal justice department reveals that around 1 in 52 college women are rape
About 25% of females will encounter a pursued rape or will be raped during her college experience and
When university or police find out about the sexual assault, they immediately blame the victim or question what the victim was wearing, drinking, or doing. “Brownmiller identified four basic rape myths: (1) All women want to be raped; (2) a woman cannot be raped against her will; (3) a woman who is raped is asking for it; and (4) if a woman is going to be raped, she might as well enjoy it” (Helgeson, 2012, p. 432). In The Hunting Ground, the rape myth, which a woman who is raped is asking for it, is seen throughout the testimonies of the survivors. Clark, herself, was told by her dean that “rape is like a football game” and asked if “looking back, what would you have done differently?” (Ziering & Dick, 2015). These rape myths affect how many victims actually report and how seriously sexual assaults are taken within universities and the justice system. For example, some women, themselves, subscribe to rape myths because they see how current cases are handled. “Women who did not physically fight off the person who raped them and who subscribed to the rape myth that “it can’t be rape if a woman doesn’t fight back” were less likely to acknowledge that they had been raped” (Helgeson, 2012, p. 434). Universities need to teach first-year students about consent and how to
In what is sure to be a very solemn matter for all American students and their families across the country , in January 2013 , President Obama, the office of the Vice President and the White House Council on Women and Girls converged and issued a renewed call to action against rape and sexual assault report which analyzes the most recent reliable data about this issue and identifies who are the most in peril victims of this malefaction, investigates the costs of this violence both for victims and communities , and describes the replication very often inadequate of the US malefactor equity system.
Also, the colleges that attempt to cover up the crime should be penalized by not our justice system but the media so the world can be better informed about the college they either go to or send their child to. First I summarized "Fraternities and Collegiate Rape Culture: Why Are Some Fraternities More Dangerous Places for Women?" written by A. Ayres Boswell and Joan Z. Space. The. Then I used information from my criminology class to better define violent crime. Lastly, I explained how rape on campus is not a cultural component.
In an article written by John Alan Fox, Fox makes the broad claim that sexual assault is in an era of, “...Hype and hysteria--far out of proportion with the actual risk…” and “The often - repeated yet exaggerated claim that one in five college females are sexually assaulted during their undergraduate years…” (Fox, para 1&2 ). The claims of sexual assault have become more constant in the past years, yes the claims are repeated, but in no way are most claims of sexual assault “exaggerated”. It truthfully takes the victim a while to even talk to a friend about their assault let alone report it, “When students nationwide were asked why they did not report incidents of sexual misconduct...because they were ‘embarrassed, ashamed or that it would be too emotionally difficult’...” (Campus Sexual Assault Survey Details Prevalence at UT Austin and 26 Other US Universities, para 16). The claim of the “one in five college females” is an often repeated claim that many see in sexual assault campaigns and is most common among college women, but, “Sexual violence happens to people of all ages, races, genders, sexual orientations, religions, abilities, professions, incomes and ethnicities” (Info and Stats on Sexual Assault, pg 9). In fact, “The rates of sexual assault and misconduct are highest among undergraduate women and transgender, gender queer
Nicole Johnson*, a 22-year-old senior at an area university looks back at her college experience as graduation approaches, generally happy with how everything turned out, however, a dark cloud still looms over her freshman year when she was raped.
Rape Culture Many of the attitudes, beliefs, and mistaken ideas about rape have been with us for centuries. By looking at myths, such as “women ask for it,” and “it would do some women good to get raped,” from a historical perspective, leads us to better understanding how they evolved. Women are still seen as the property of men, and are protected as such. Men and women are still taught to occupy very different roles in today’s world.
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 In the United States 80% of sexual assault victims are under the age of 30. Of that 80%, 44% are under the age of 18 (RAINN, 2016). That leaves 36% of victims between the ages of 18 and 30. These percentages become even more alarming when that 80% is of about 293,000 victims of secual assualt each year (RAINN, 2016). It is estimated that 1 in every 6 women in the US has been or will be victims of sexual assault in their lifetime. The risks of sexual assault increase on college campuses. Women ages 18-24 who are enrolled in college are 3 times more likely than women in general to suffer from sexual violence (RAINN, 2016). One would think that with all these women being sexually assaulted, one would hear more about it, or perhaps the police stations would constantly be busy. This is not the case. Sexual assault is one of the most unreported crimes, with 68% still being left unreported (RAINN, 2016). This could be because of every 100 rapists, only 2 will spend a day in jail. Of the 32 out of 100 that would be reported, only 7 are referred to an arrest (RAINN, 2016). Why would men or women want to report sexual assault when the system that is supposed to protect them fails so often, and why does this system continue to fail?
“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.
According to an interview by Beckett Brennan with Katie Couric “95 percent of victims that were sexual assault on college campuses do not report the sexual assault” (The Case). Majority of sexual assaults that happen on a college campus, will never be reported. Colleges should have more of a responsibility when it comes to the sexual assaults on campuses. Colleges need to own up to the sexual assaults, and take responsibility for the sexual assaults. Colleges need to stop pushing sexual assaults away, and need to stand up and do something about the sexual assaults on college campuses. Although sexual assaults are an individuals responsible, colleges should also be responsible in the sexual assaults that happen on college campuses.
With one in five college students experiencing sexual assault during their college career who wouldn’t be afraid? This remains especially true for young women between the ages of 18-24 (“The Realities of Sexual Assault”). While a woman’s freshman and sophomore year of college are when she is at a most risk for assault, it can happen at any time. According to Robin Gray in the article on sexual assault statistics, “between 20% and 25% of women will experience a completed and/or attempted rape during their college career,” (Gray). At Northwest Missouri State University for the 2016-2017 academic year there are 5,618 undergraduate students enrolled. With the ratio of male to female students being 44% to 56%, there are about 3,147 female students. In terms of the statistics estimated by Gray, 630-787 of the female student population at Northwest Missouri State will experience rape during their college career (“Northwest Missouri State University”). This is a disturbingly large figure. Women are not the only ones susceptible to these acts, but men are too. It is said about “10%” of all sexual assault cases involve male victims (“The Realities of Sexual Assault”). While this number is slightly lower for men it is often believed that male victims of sexual assault do not often report their crime due to the social stigma surrounding their assault. Men may feel
Have you ever been encountered in a circumstance of being raped or knew an individual that was a victim of rape? Every one-hundred and seven seconds an American is sexually assaulted (RAINN). Rape has become a continuous problem causing controversy due to the way colleges cover up or simply hide incidents of rape throughout campus. More college students are also being raped by their own acquaintances rather than random strangers. Students, parents, and politicians question the way schools protect students and how their campuses can become more effective and efficient in preventing further occurrences of rape. Over the past years there has been a series of incidents where rape has been an extreme problem on college campuses in America that have been kept quiet until something traumatic happens. The prevalence of rapes on college campuses is continuing to rise due to lack of security, surveillance and awareness.
In "Fraternities and Collegiate Rape Culture" Ayres Boswell and Joan Z. Spade analyze the social perspective of the gendered relations in male fraternities that add to the high rate of violence against women on many college campuses. They list a host of factors that distinguish higher-risk from lower-risk atmospheres discussing the rates of rape in colleges and state how "1 out of 4 college women say they were raped or experienced an attempted rape" (217). Additionally, "1 out of 12 college men say they forced a woman to have sexual intercourse against her will" (Boswell, Spade 217). In other words Boswell and Spade indicated that the rates were high when it came down to women getting raped in colleges by men who also attended those colleges. In addition, Boswell and Spade specify in how most people are aware of rape but know very little about rape culture (Boswell, Spade 217).
What do you think and feel when you hear the word rape? Do you feel uncomfortable? Maybe even angry? Your certain feelings and emotions towards this word is a result of rape culture. Rape culture, essentially, is how a society as a whole sees and reacts towards rape or instances of rape. In 2013 rape was defined by the FBI as, “Penetration… of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.” (Division’s Crime Statistics Management Unit 1). The definition was finally changed after the old definition deemed inappropriate by today’s standards, which beforehand, stated that physical force needed to be used for rape to be considered rape. This is good news for men and women who have been fighting for the definition to be changed, but unfortunately this does not mean that state laws are being changed the same way. Even though the FBI may acknowledge the older inappropriate definition, most states do not. Sexual assault is a commonly unreported crime, where only an average of 36% of sexual abuse is actually reported to the authorities (Planty 7). Some forms of rape can include physical harm, threats, and even death of the victim, and most victims do not want to tell others for fear of criticism, self-blame, or even the fear that their attackers will carry out on their threats. In many cases, victims do have a reason to be afraid. When someone is brave enough to come forward and say they were sexually assaulted, they are putting themselves in the position of being in not only a long legal process, but also having their motives questioned and misunderstood, which is the last thing they want after their experience. The legal system in the United States...
This has been seen across several college campuses. It’s a very difficult stigma to remove though since there are still women who will lie about something that happened to them such a “the mattress girl.” There was a girl named Emma Sulkowics from Columbia University who, for a performance piece called “Carry that Weight,” carried around her mattress around the campus after being assaulted in her own bedroom. Her story was later found to be false (Charen, Mona). There are many other heart-wrenching stories of assault that are completely true though that tend to be overlooked because of fabricated stories and general disbelief that things like this happen here in the