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Fraternities and college rape culture: why are some fraternities more dangerous places for women
Fraternities and college rape culture: why are some fraternities more dangerous places for women
Introduction on sexual harassment in colleges
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In this essay, "Fraternities and Rape on Campus", the authors Patricia Yancey Martin and Robert A. Hummer talk about their research on the fraternities’ characteristics and their encouragement of sexual coercion on women. Thıs article is about the construction of brotherhood rules in fraternities. Internal and external rivalry within the fraternity results in the commodification and usage for theır benefıts of women. Apart the work of Ehrart and Sandler study, there is no research concerning the rape encouragıng sıtuatıon of fraternıtıes and campuses. Fraternities are obsessed with masculinity more than anything. The ideal brother picture includes values and actions heavily colored by this organization and are very different from the mainstream
culture. By using inductive method, Martin and Hummer noted down observations at Florida State Unıversity, complete with the interviews with students, university administration and advising alumni. All these helping them to create a social construct (social construct of men and masculinity). According to them fraternities value members if they are competitive, dominant, wealthy, materialistic, alcohol tolerant and most importantly sexually powerful. In their study there is even a part concernıng negative values in fraternities: effeminacy, homosexuality. A fraternity’s reputation increases with its members’ possession of already defined and accepted masculine qualities. Academic success unfortunately isn’t the first criteria among these. There is a strict procedure of acceptance for new members and in this also relations with girls takes a very important part to become definitive member
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).
Do people really understand the secrets behind the Greek community? There are many pressures girls face that the public is not familiar with that are specifically evident in sororities. Alexandra Robbins, the author of the book Pledged: The Secret Lives of Sororities, went undercover and followed four different girls during their experiences within the Greek system. Although there are many struggles girls can face in sororities, the five most prevalent type of pressures include: having a perfect body image, substance abuse, stress, silence, and hazing.
according to the article "Fraternities and Collegiate Rape Culture: Why Are Some Fraternities More Dangerous Places for Women?" written by A. Ayres Boswell and Joan Z. Spade.... ... middle of paper ... ... Colleges should hold clubs such as fraternities and sports to the same level as others and be harshly punished for crimes they commit so they don't feel superior and think they can get away with rape. When the penalties are harsher and people are made an example of, then fraternities and sports in college will become safer environments.
I decided to investigate what qualities the fraternities of Oklahoma State have, so I interviewed the girlfriends of several fraternity men. This gave me the chance to view other girls’ relationships in certain fraternities and if the girls’ relationships are different in each fraternity or if there are similarities. I interviewed girlfriends and fiancées of all sorts: the ones who had been there from the very beginning, before they were in a fraternity, the girlfriends who didn’t meet their partner until after the guys were already in fraternities, and the fiancées who experienced fraternity relationships from their sophomore year until their senior year.
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.
After watching a documentary on Netflix called, “ The Hunting Ground” it explored on the sexual assaults on campuses, but college officials tends to cover up the crimes. Usually, the person who sexual assaults you is from somebody that you know, a person who may have classes with, or somebody you just met. More than 16% of college women are sexually assaulted while in college. 88% of women sexually assaulted on campus do not report. College officials tend to cover up the crimes because they do not want the college to have a bad reputation, so they don’t help the individuals who were sexually assaulted and let the perpetrator be set free. Which these perpetrator repeat their crimes.
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln recently finds the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity at fault for committing indecent behaviors during the January 21 Women’s March in Lincoln.
Yale had 28% of students reporting “nonconsensual penetration or sexual touching involving physical force or incapacitation in 2015 when the national average is 23%. Sexual assault is a huge problem amongst the Ivy Leagues. Not only do they have these disgusting acts being committed on their campus, but they are not adequately meeting the needs of survivors at all. Why is it such an issue in the Ivy League? Shouldn’t they be focusing on their studies instead of committing crimes? An article called “Does the Ivy League have a sexual assault problem?” answers it’s own question. Yes, it does. They contribute most of these heinous actions to this sense of “Ivy League entitlement” and “institutional self-protection.” Ivy League Fraternity brothers often have this idea that the girls they have invited are lucky to be at their parties. These people think that because they have this high status at an elite school, they can just do whatever they want and get away with it… mostly because they do get away with it. Schools do not want to have a reputation of having a lot of sexual assault cases, so they will protect themselves by not protecting the victim. They don’t take it seriously because if they did, they’d realize what a mess this has become and how they are going to have to find a way to deal with it. The fact that they just ignore the needs of the survivors and don’t do anything about it just
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.
The target audience for “Whales Tales” was for college women, to help inform them of the potential dangers that some fraternities and men in general may pose. The author utilized all sections; introduction, the problem, the methodology, analysis, background info on the organization, his results, discussion and conclusion to convey his message of the objectification of women in fraternities. After Rhoads (1995) explained the problem he stated that this study built upon others’ work as well as his use of formal structured interviews, informal interviews, participant observations and informants. Rhoads also allowed his transcriptions be reviewed by participants for accuracy and comments.
Caroline Heldman’s lecture, Confronting Campus Sexual Violence, really opened my eyes. The shocking statistic that one in five college women face assault/rape was a lot to take in. As she stated, college for us women is a risk factor, we face a higher risk that our non-college peers, and that frighten me. After sitting and lecture and taking in all of the statistics, I reflected upon on myself, and everyone I know on this campus, and I could not leave behind the idea that perhaps one of them have gone through that. Nonetheless, as captured in Sexual Assault on Campus: A Multilevel, Integrative Approach to Party Rape by Elizabeth A. Armstrong, Laura Hamilton and Brian Sweeney focus on the high rates of sexual assault on college campuses. Based on their study, they show that sexual assault is a predictable outcome. They focus on the gendered process such as fraternity control every aspect of their parties, in terms of themes, admission, access to alcohol and even the movement of guests (617). On the other hand, women are expected to be nice and grateful guests. Therefore, this demonstrates the idea of power, and how is in control of who and this is what generates room for sexual assault. From a personal experience my freshmen year, I went out with a group of friends, nonetheless, once we got to the fraternity party they only allowed my female friends and I in, and the
Ehrhart, Julie K. Campus Gang Rape: Party Games? Washington: Association of American Colleges Gordon, Margaret T. The Female Fear. New York: The Free Press (•1989)
One of the many social issues in this society is sexual assault on college campuses. It has become a tremendous issue. According to one of the articles, “One in five women (20%) will be sexually assaulted while at college while only 4% of college men will be sexually assaulted”. Females are usually afraid to inform anyone about what happened to them for the same reason that they are scared that people will not believe them or are embarrassed. 42 percent of the females will keep silent, and in college, only 5 percent of the people that get sexual assaulted report it, which makes sexual assault the most unreported crime. On college campuses, perpetrators are often the serial offenders and there are ways we can better this issue.
The issue I’m focusing on is sexual assault on college campuses. The question I’m researching is, are sexual assault rates on college campuses on the rise or has awareness just increased?
Hazing (subjecting newcomers to abusive or humiliating tricks and ridicule) has always been seen as a secretive campus activity when it comes to fraternities and pledging. As a result, Dr. Mark Taff resorted in his article that, "..a series of 168 cases of injuries and deaths related to fraternity hazing activities...[occurred] in the United States between 1923 and 1982" (2113). Young college men are being hospitalized and even worse, dying, just for a couple of friends that give them a sense of belonging. The major causes of hazing are the students' wanting a sense of belonging in a big college campus, the college's infrequent knowledge of what occurs in fraternities, and the unwillingness of fraternities to change tradition. Since hazing has been around for more than a century, one cannot expect the practice of hazing to stop all together. It will probably take years before hazing perishes from the fraternity scene. Nevertheless, until an end is put to hazing, solutions can be used to make hazing less common, until it no longer exists. These solutions that may be able to put an eventual stop to hazing, in the long run, are better education about fraternity hazing, stricter laws to prevent hazing from occurring, and more intervention from college administrators.