Beware of the college administrators, fraternities and athletes
“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, 1). This is one out of the many college-aged women who gave a statement about what they have endured while being raped. Women are common targets regarding sexual assault among college campuses. College campuses should be more aware that students should be protected from sexual perpetrators. In today’s society, men and women are each categorized certain descriptions due to gender stereotype. Stereotypically, men have a powerful role in college campuses, where they are connected to either
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In society, women are occasionally accused of provoking men based on the way they dress looking vulgar, and seductive, while giving men mixed signals. Students need to be more educated when it comes to sex, consent, alcohol, and drug use.
Sexual Assault is an ongoing crime that is common among college campuses. One defines sexual assault as nonconsensual sexual contact or intercourse (Franiuk, 104). As a woman in college, it is frightening to go to school, where there is a possibility of becoming one in five women who are victimized everyday in the United States. There is a constant fear in women who attend a college that has a history of reports on sexual assault. People who act on sexual assault such as attempted or completed rape should be punished, it is sad to hear stories on the news, while victims develop psychological problems like post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or Rape Trauma Syndrome, which can lead to self harm. An article in the Huffington Post, references two videos, one where College Humor created a video insinuating on the statistic that one in five college women are at risk of sexual assault (Kingkade, 2015). College Humor’s video involves five friends and a bear attempting to
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John Foubert established a program for students who want to change for the better, and make up for their mistakes, so people would go to a workshop where they would better understand the consequence of sexual assault. Students would learn what is a proper consent, hear real stories, and understand other genders perspectives. College campuses need programs and workshops like these because there are people who are not knowledgeable about what is right or wrong when it comes to sex. A perpetrator doesn’t actually get punished, and justice isn’t served. One of the stories that NPR mention was the History of Campus Sexual Assault, men don’t consider unconsented sex with a women a crime, so what is a crime to them. Let me clarify, men believe that if it is by force they aren’t doing anything wrong. This is baffling and sickening. These stories and opinions of sexual assault that college women and men define are not accurate, so the violence won’t stop. College men in fraternities are known to be more sexual coercive where they believe that women want to be sexually assaulted by them pretending to not wanting to have sex (Foubert, 362). Gang rapes are very common among colleges; it was reported to be 55% committed on women (Sampson, 14). College men believe that if they do these actions they wont get in trouble, and define them powerful. It has been said that
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
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
“Every 21 hours there is a rape on an American College Campus” (Sexual Violence on College Campuses). Sexual assault is something many have heard of and maybe know someone who was sexually assaulted in their lifetime. Sexual assault and sexual violence has been around for as long as our history books can tell us. With multiple cultural changes and new “fads”, as some may say, of college life; sexual assault has become a sort of recurring phenomenon of college lifestyles. This is not a positive thing and in no way should this be labeled as something good for college campuses. Sexual assault on college campuses should be prosecuted as rape can be falsely accused, non-consensual or under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, and is permanently
Imagine you have just arrived at your dream college and suddenly your life is ruined from a crime sexual assault, and the suffering mental and physical pain that follows from it. In the documentary, The Hunting Ground, director Kirby Dick portrays how rape is more frequently common in college campuses than what people really think, and how it effects the victim’s emotionally. Students that just get to college don’t realize the negative events that could happen the them. College is supposed to be the best time of people’s lives, but bad things can happen, and students, especially women, should come more prepared. Both men and women are being sexual assaulted daily, and it’s something that need to be fixed.
In the book Unsafe in the Ivory Tower; the Sexual Victimization of College Women, it is discussed how establishing one dedicated prevention method for sexual assault on college campuses may be difficult. This is due to not having accurate statistics on sexual assaults and also the assaults occurring behind closed doors with offenders being known to the victims. Establishing policy, awareness, and prevention programs may look good on paper and ease a parent’s mind about their kids going to college. However, these programs may be ignored or do not reach men who statistically are the violators. In the book the Unsafe in the Ivory Tower, the author states:
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.
A. Background Information: The next four years of the students’ lives after high school mark the moment they become independent. Because of the freedom, college students are more susceptible to careless actions like drinking, doing drugs, and even committing sexualt assualt. Sexual assault has been around for years and the actions to prevent this heinous crime has been minimal, especially in colleges and universities. In 2015, Brock Turner, a student from Stanford, sexually assaulted a young woman on campus. Turner claimed that because he was drinking, was with friends, and saw a “promiscuous” female student, that pressured him into committing such a heinous crime. This was because Stanford University didn’t teach its students sexual assault prevention which caused the victim to be harm and violated. By teaching college students about sexual assault prevention, it decreases the number of sexual assault cases on campus, prevents psychological damage to the victim’s mental state, and educates other students to know the signs
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.
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
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
Sexual assault is a social issue that has been a pressing topic of conversation throughout communities in the United States. The rapid interest in sexual assault comes after a string of released content about the prominence and severity of sexual assault against women. The media has chosen increase public awareness on the fact that “one in 5 women and one in 16 men are sexually assaulted while in college” (). Media content on the topic includes the highly-rated documentary “The Hunting Ground” and a report and a call to action from the White House Council on Women and Girls. The public outcry is not only because of the staggering rate of sexual assault rather it is the lack of or mishandled reporting of sexual assaults in college. This paper
Rape culture on college campuses is a prominent issue that various universities cannot effectively tame. Unfortunately, many put quotations on the issue as if its presence on college campuses is not as dramatic or detrimental as statistics illustrate. Although there are programs that receive grants to educate youth and young adults on rape prevention, the percentages of reported incidents and unreported incidents are not reducing as planned. This is in direct relation to some colleges and programs believing that “rape prevention is still a woman’s job”. (Allen) As reported by the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, 1 in 5 women and 1 in 16 men are sexually assaulted during their college career suggesting that this is more than a woman’s
About one in four women are victims of sexual assault in college, but there are ways to prevent this problem. The consequences of sexual assault are harmful and long-lasting and affect not only the victims but also their families and communities. Solutions to this problem _______. But, as Richard Edwards, chancellor of Rutgers-New Brunswick college said, “Regardless of the number, it’s a major problem, affecting our students and people all across the country and it has to be taken seriously” (5). If people work together, the steps can be taken to stop sexual assault in colleges.
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.