The World Health Organization defines sexual violence as:
“…any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act, unwanted sexual comments or advances, or acts to traffic or other wise directed, against a person’s sexuality using coercion, by any person regardless of their relationship to the victim, in any setting, including but not limited to home and work (WHO, 2001).”
From this definition it is evident that sexual violence encompasses a variety of situations. Sexual violence includes rape, incest, sexual harassment, abuse, unwanted sexual touching, non-consensual sexual actions, and even physical or emotional coercion. The sad reality is that some people might have not even have known a particular situation was sexual violence, which makes this
…show more content…
This topic is later discussed in this paper. Sexual violence is a huge topic in today’s society and is far too common. Sadly, this has not been something new in our society. Since 1998, about 17.7 million women have been a victim of sexual violence (Vagianos, 2017). We see it every single day in a variety of forms such as in movies, in books, in our weekly magazine, and on our CNN updates. About every 98 seconds, someone in the United Sates is a victim of sexual violence (Vagianos, 2017). This means that every day it is estimated that about 570 people are victims of sexual violence (Vagianos, 2017). However, sexual violence has become an alarming subject and is affecting students on college campuses in the United States, which is the scope of this paper. Recent statistics have shown that around one in every five women and one in every sixteen men will be a victim of sexual violence by the time they graduate with their …show more content…
This is largely due to the fact college campuses are infamous for experimental phases of students. Many students find themselves drinking and experimenting with various forms of drugs during this time in their lives. Many students also report participating in consuming alcoholic beverages because it helps them to be “social,” helps them meet new people, and even gives students “liquid courage” (Brown, 2014). This binge-drinking trend in students ultimately leads to further problems, and one of the major problems being sexual violence. Sexual violence has resulted in coining alcohol to be the “date rape” drug (Brown, 2014). Heavy drinking is now known as the number one predator in sexual violence situations and is the result of many of these horrifying events. Many students have reported to have lost awareness in certain situations involving drinking and not fully recalling what happened to them until the morning after (Brown, 2014). Unfortunately, less than five percent of sexual violence cases were reported to campus law enforcements (Kingkade, 2014). Many college students have voiced that the reason behind the underreporting of this violence is due to embarrassment, self blame, lack of knowledge of the situation, and fear of the justice system (Wong, 2016). This brings in the importance for a public health
Haste In Romeo and Juliet, a father and son argue over the way they treat each other. Then, in the son’s haste and hot-headed temper, he decides to live with his mother. Eventually, he realizes that this decision is wrong, which causes him to go back to his father to patch things up. But in his father’s haste and hot-headed temper, he yelled at his son over the way that he was being treated. This cycle happened two more times before the tragic final outcome.
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.
sexual assault, because they have failed to keep the victim safe and instead favored in
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.
Sexual abuse includes any sexual act in which one person has not agreed to it. A woman can be sexually abused by means of, but not limited to force, coercion, blackmail, threat, or embarrassment. Sexual abuse may occur when a woman is forced to perform, watch, or in any other way engage in sexual acts. This includes but is not limited to vaginal, anal and oral sex, fondling, touching, disrespect of privacy, such as showering, being forced to watch pornography or view pornographic pictures, being forced into sexual poses, or being verbally abused in a sexual manner (Morris and Biehl 36, Haley 14).
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.
In general, rape means force or threatening to use force to a potential victim. It includes vaginal but doesn’t exclude other forms such as, anal and oral penetration. Rape tends to get grouped with women but, there are also men who get victimized as well. It’s not limited to heterosexuals either there’s also homosexual offenders (“Sexual Assault”). It is very common and it usually goes unsolved (Triffin). Here is a cause and three effects that helps prove this is an important issue.
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
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
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.
What is sexual assault? Sexual assault is, “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 attempted rape” (Sexual Assault).
A question among researchers is what type of force is required to constitute sexual assault. Does non-physical sexual coercion count as sexual assault? Russell (1982) found that women described sexual coercion as different than sexual assault, showing that there is a major distinction in their minds of these types of sexual violence. Thus, her research team distinguished between use of physical force and non-physical coercion, even to the point of determining which actions constitute physical force. Their criteria for use of force included “such acts as pushing, pinning, and being held down by a husband’s weight so that the woman couldn’t move,” (p. 48). In chapter five of their seminal work License to Rape (1985), Finkellhor & Yllo present
For some, sexual harassment and assault seem almost like myths or bad dreams. For others, it's a living reality. The United States Department of Justice defines sexual assault as “any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient.” Sexual harassment and assault are demeaning, terrifying, and forceful behaviors. And yet, it’s happening every day.