The majority of people have at the very least heard of Music Television, more commonly known as MTV. In November of 2016, the channel aired a new show called Sweet/Vicious. Sweet/Vicious was set on the college campus of Darlington where incidents of sexual assault and rape occurred much too often. The main characters, Jules and Ophelia, felt inclined to attain justice for the victims of sexual violence, one of which happened to be Jules herself. Sweet/Vicious may be fictitious, but it is a parallel to the real world and what the victims of sexual assault and rape experience. The injustices that victims of sexual violence face are revealed through statistics, the reporting process, and survivors’ personal accounts. There are countless surveys …show more content…
and studies conducted to obtain accurate statistics regarding sexual violence. A sexually violent act occurs every ninety-eight seconds. Although ninety-eight seconds may appear to amass, the number of sexually violent acts per year has decreased by sixty-three percent since 1993 (“Scope of the Problem: Statistics”). Sexual violence encompasses attempted and completed sexual assaults and rapes (“Sexual Violence: Definitions”). According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, sexual assault is defined as “A wide range of victimizations, separate from rape or attempted rape” (“Rape and Sexual Assault”) and rape is defined as “Forced sexual intercourse including both psychological coercion as well as physical force” (“Rape and Sexual Assault”). Sexual violence is not discriminatory; therefore, it can happen to anyone. As was previously stated, anyone can be a victim of sexual violence. Men and women alike both have the possibility of being victims of sexual violence. Some fail to understand that men as well as women can experience sexual violence, but this misunderstanding may be due to the fact that ninety-one percent of victims are female, whereas only nine percent are male (“Statistics About Sexual Violence”). Moreover, one in five women compared to one in seventy-one men have been or will be raped in their lifetime (“Sexual Violence”). Once more, one in five women have been or will be sexually assaulted, but the ratio for men reduces to one in sixteen that have been or will be sexually assaulted (“Statistics About Sexual Violence”). It is clear that females are more likely to experience rape or sexual assault compared to their counterpart male, but particular conditions can augment the likelihood for anyone to be a victim of sexual violence. Certain circumstances increase the possibility of sexual violence. Incidents are more likely to occur on Friday or Saturday nights than on weekdays and between the times of 12:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.. People between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four are more at risk to experience sexual violence than people of other ages (“Campus Sexual Violence: Statistics”). The majority of this age group is comprised of college and university students, which may be an indication as to why they are more at risk. Sexual violence occurs on campuses more frequently than any other crime (“Campus Sexual Violence: Statistics”) and that may be why students living on campus are more likely to be sexually assaulted or raped (“Statistics About Sexual Violence”). Given these facts, statistics concerning sexual violence assist in displaying the injustices victims encounter simply because they are victims in the first place. The process of reporting a sexual assault or rape is also permeated with unfairness. The decision to report a sexual assault or rape lies solely on the victim. Victims are not required to report, but it is recommended. Consequent to being victimized, a person’s options are to call 911, contact the local police department, or to visit a medical center; some chose to do more than one. When reporting an incident to 911, the police, or to medical staff, there are almost always specific personnel trained to handle situations concerning sexual violence. If a victim does not know how to proceed with their case, they can contact Sexual Assault Response Teams (SARTs) or the National Sexual Assault Hotline at (800) 656-HOPE (4637) in order to acquire guidance through the process. It is best to report as soon as possible because there is a statute of limitations regarding sexual assault and rape (“Reporting to Law Enforcement”). Although victims are recommended to report, rape remains as one of the most underreported crimes (“Statistics About Sexual Violence”). Nearly eighty percent of incidents are not reported. Victims most commonly say that the incident was not important enough to report, but others also say that the incident was a personal matter, that they did not want get their offender in the trouble, or that they feared revenge, skepticism, or shame (O’Connor; “Rape and Sexual Assault”). A victim’s rationale for not reporting is an injustice that occurs within the reporting process, but the complications that arise during the process are equally significant. A victim’s fight for justice is arduous. Many attorneys avoid taking on cases that involve sexual violence because of the issue’s susceptibility to lose. Most attorneys are more worried about their amount of victories, rather than serve justice. A sexual violence lawsuit is likely to lose because there are rarely many witnesses and in most cases, alcohol is involved (O’Connor). Shapiro also acknowledges that when cases are pursued, they are typically not acted upon in a timely manner. It takes forever to get to trial and if and when it does get to trial, the proceedings are prolonged (Shapiro; Resnick). If assailants are brought to justice, they generally do not receive very extensive punishments equivalent to what they deserve; they typically receive very merciful sentences if they are sent to jail or prison at all, but the majority of perpetrators are not. (O’Connor, “The Criminal Justice System: Statistics”). Despite the fact that most trials relating to sexual violence are flawed, some laws have been created to help victims and potential victims obtain justice. Namely, Title IX and the Clery Act aid sexual violence victims in attaining justice. The United States Department of Justice states that Title IX, “Prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded education program or activity” (“Overview of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972”). The purpose of this law is to avoid using federal money to support discrimination. Although this law is used in many National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) lawsuit, it is now more commonly used in sexual violence cases, but can be applied to any trial involving gender discrimination in any educational level, not just the postsecondary educational level (“Overview of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972”). Similarly, the Clery Act, “Requires colleges and universities to disclose information about crime on and around their campuses.” The Clery Act requires schools to report incidents of any crime, but it is most commonly used in reference to sexual violence (“The Clery Act”). In any event, the injustices that the victims of sexual violence experience continue to prevail. Many survivors of sexual violence chose to disclose their experiences in an attempt to obtain justice, as trivial as it may be. There are numerous online websites such as www.bravemissworld.com and www.dancinginthedark.com for survivors to post, read, and learn about sexual violence. There are also documentaries such as The Hunting Ground and books such as Voices of Rape by Janet Bode that expound cases of sexual violence. All of these sources can be used to comfort survivors or to let them know that they are not alone, but these personal accounts of sexual violence reveal the injustices victims encounter nonetheless. The Hunting Ground is a documentary film that was released in February of 2015 to present the injustices faced by sexual violence victims to a broad range of spectators.
Erica Kinsman, a Florida State University student at the time, shared her story within the documentary. Kinsman recalled the night she was raped by Florida State quarterback, Jameis Winston. She remembers heading to an apartment in a cab with three guys and once in the apartment, Winston began to rape her in his bedroom as she continuously shouted, “Please stop.” After Kinsman was raped, she initially did not know what to do, but she eventually decided to go to a hospital and complete a rape kit. Detective Scott Angulo, a Florida State University alumni, from the Tallahassee Police Department was assigned to Kinsman’s case. One year later, after the Florida State University Football Team became national champions and Jameis Winston won the 2013 Heisman Trophy Award, Erica Kinsman’s rape kit was finally tested and the DNA provided by Winston matched the DNA found on the rape kit. Even with this concrete evidence, Winston was not convicted (The Hunting Ground). State attorney, Willie Meggs, claims, “I did not have enough sufficient evidence to prove that he sexually assaulted her against her will” (The Hunting Ground). The corruption in Erica Kinsman’s case is explicit. Firstly, the detective of her case, Scott Angulo, was a former Florida State student with a bias toward the successful football team which may imply why the rape kit was tested a year after its date of completion. Secondly, each defendant of a trial should be treated the same, but Jameis Winston was not. Florida State University attempted to silence the problem in order to maintain investments from donors as well as sporting events and allowed Winston to continue his football career without repercussions. Lastly, the DNA confirmation of Kinsman’s rape kit was ignored. Erica Kinsman did not receive justice for her victimization and
Jameis Winston certainly did not experience any consequences for his actions considering he is currently an NFL quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This story is only one of many obscured stories; however, the “Stanford Rape Case” is one of the more renowned stories of sexual violence (The Hunting Ground).
Oftentimes, the things individuals take for granted as preexisting facts are merely the products of social construction, which exert tremendous impacts on belief and action. Men and women are socially constructed categories inscribed by norms of masculinity and femininity that enables rape to occur. Catharine MacKinnon claims that rape is defined in a male perspective, which lacks the account of female experience. On the other hand, Sharon Marcus argues that rape is a constructed language that scripts the female body. As bell hooks points out, black men celebrate “rape culture” as a mean of expressing patriarchal dominance and endorsing female subordination. In order to redefine rape and to develop effective rape prevention, it is crucial to deconstruct the predetermined assumptions about men and women. Rape is socially constructed, through the ways how individuals possess misogynistic ideologies and endorse patriarchal power, turning the erotic fantasy of male dominance into “reality”.
Instead of providing a safe and loving environment for her daughter, she built up anger towards her and eventually lashed out, physically and emotionally abusing her. Mary carries resentment towards Precious because Carl preferred having sex with Precious rather than Mary. The resentment continued and progressively became more aggressive as the movie went on. Child abuse is a major social issue in not only the United States but all over the world. Cases of child abuse and neglect that involve black children are reported and are approximately twice that of the cases that involve white children. This film sheds light on negative social issues that occur in young African- American children lives, and how these characters within this movie gained power and ultimately decide to peruse a positive life for themselves. Out of the 7.4 billion people in this world, forty million children are abused each year; that is only the amount of reported cases and does not include unreported cases. In the United States, a child is abused every ten seconds. Abuse typically leads to an unsuccessful life, despite your race or ethnicity. Statically speaking, child abuse victims have a 38% increase arrest rate for violent crimes; and 84% of all prison inmates had been abused as a child. As her mother beats her; Precious dreams of a better life and eventually takes the necessary steps to achieve that dreamed about life. The director
Sociological Analysis of Sexual Assault This essay will examine the social and cultural conditions, within the macro-diachronic and micro-synchronic theoretical models, that intensify or perpetuate sexual assault. I have chosen only one concept from each model because these are the only concepts that I feel that I can use to most accurately and comprehensively depict causes and reasons for why sexual assault is deeply entrenched in our social structure. I will thus explore, from these ideological viewpoints, some of the motivations and circumstances that lead offenders to sexual assault. I will also fuse some of the historical attitudes from which today's concepts have evolved into our contemporary understanding of these social phenomena. However, it’s important that we look beyond both offenders' motivations and history, and to the greater sociological view, if we are to correctly reconstruct acts of violence such as sexual assault.
In the early 2000s Baylor University’s basketball, men’s team underwent tough times of investigations and was later found guilty of breaking several NCAA rules and was punished. The athlete scandal erupted after the murder of Baylor university basketball player Patrick Dennehy. He was a junior forward from the University of New Mexico due to his sophomore season in year 2001-2002. In the summer of 2003, Dennehy and his teammate who later confessed to be the killer of Dennehy said that they were concerned about their safety. However, on 25th June 2003, Dennehy’s car was found in Virginia Beach with no license plates. A confession that had been filed on 23rd June that was seeking a search warrant for Dennehy’s computer expressed that an expert from Delaware informed police that Doston who was by that time at home ...
• Two University of Colorado football players were charged with rape and were acquitted, but then left school.
Rape until 2012 was defined as “The carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will.” It was severely lacking was only updated by the Federal Bureau of Instigation in 2012. It left out an entire section of rape that can be committed which is man being the rape victim. This lead to misclassification of rape of males for years. So even the statistics used till 2014 were underwhelming and inaccurate when it was related to male rape or sexual assault. Rape in the United States is now defined by the Department of Justice as “Penetration, no matter how slight, 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.” Male Rape or men being the sexual assault victims are rarely ever the subject of a dialogue when Sexual Assault is the topic being discussed because rape is generally seen as a heterosexual highly sexed male attack on vulnerable, attractively dressed female victim. Most rapists have alternative outlets for sexual gratification, many take little notice of their victim 's physical attributes, and some may experience sexual dysfunction during the assault.
Sexual assault is defined as a type of behaviour that occurs without explicit consent from the recipient and under sexual assault come various categories such as sexual activities as forces sexual intercourse, incest, fondling, attempted rape and more (Justice.gov. 2017). People often become victims of sexual assault by someone they know and trust (Mason & Lodrick, 2013) which is conflicting to the public’s perception and beliefs that offenders are strangers. Women are the main victims for sexual assault and are 5 times more likely to have been a victim of sexual assault from a male (Wright, 2017, p. 93). Men are victims of sexual assault however only 0.7% of men, compared to 3.2% of women, experience some form of sexual assault which highlights how vulnerable women are compared to men. Sexual assault is publicised and exposed in the media, however is often
Rape is an issue that usually occurs to females and is more likely executed by males than females. Nonetheless, a female’s position in rape can and does go further than being the victim. Considering that women can be the perpetrator in this sexual assault, who are their victims? Rape can occur to anyone by anyone. In the same way a female can be a victim of rape, so can a male. According to RAINN, an anti-sexual assault organization, “About 3% of American men have experienced attempted or completed rape as of 1998, an estimated 4.5 million as of 2010” (Who Are the Victims?). However, men are not necessarily the victims of solely female-on-male rape. In fact, the majority of males who are raped are the victims of male-on-male rape and
The US Military has been one of the most powerful and respected fighting forces in the world; it is also a hotbed for sexual assault. Each year, thousands of men and women take an oath to serve and protect their country and each thousands of military service members are sexually assaulted. “Earlier this week, Pentagon officials released a new report which estimated more than 70 sexual assaults occur in the military each day.”(Shane III) Fear of retaliation, both personal and professional, and humiliation stop many service members from reporting their sexual assaults. Those few that make the bold choice to report incidents of sexual assault often finds themselves disappointed by the outcome; assaults that do get reported have an incredibly low rate of conviction of the offender. The US Military has proven over time that they are incapable of effectively dealing with the sexual assault problem that it faces.
2. The rape occurred in the basement at a friend’s house by one or two girls.
Gender inequality is defined as “unequal treatment or perceptions of individuals based on their gender”. In our society there are a plethora of gender inequality related issues, and it is vastly important that these issues are brought to light, and ultimately resolved. In society today, the feminism movement is at an all-time high while lots of gender oriented issues are being questioned and analyzed. The portrayal of women in the media is a major issue in todays world. Various issues such as female athletes not being adequately compensated for their efforts, the media portraying a master image for all females to meet, as well as slut shaming are all vast issues in todays world that must be acknowledged. However, contrary to popular belief,
In the 1970s, feminists coined the term Rape Culture. The term is a combination of Rape, a form of sexual assault involving sexual penetration without consent, and Culture, the ideas, customs, and social behavior of society. When put together, Rape Culture comprises of a collection of beliefs that encourage sexual aggression and supports violence against women. Rape Culture allows the justification of rape and allowing rape to flourish. While some find it difficult to identify elements linked to Rape Culture, the examples below will highlight everyday occurrences that show its prevalence.
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.
Rape and sexual violence is a very serious problem that affects millions of people each year. Rape is someone taking advantage of another person sexually. Sexual assault can be verbal, physical, visual, or anything that forces a person to join in unwanted sexual contact or attention. ("Sexual Assault.") Rape is one of the most underreported crimes. In 2002, only thirty-nine percent of rapes and sexual assaults were reported to law officials. ("Sexual Violence: Fact Sheet.") Victims sometimes do not report that they have raped because of shame or feeling that it was their fault. It is never the victim's fault. "Victim blaming" is holding the victim of a crime to be in a whole or in partly responsible for what had happened to them. Most victims believe this. ("Myths and Facts about Sexual Violence.")
Is anyone truly a stranger to nightmares? Has anyone not woken up in a feverish sweat with a racing pulse or pounding heart? Whose eyes have never wildly searched their room for the phantoms of a dream? Now, what if the familiar consolation of learning it was all in your head never came? How do you wake up from a nightmare that is, in fact, a reality? I think I’m getting ahead of myself. What I mean to say is, I was raped, and rape is a nightmare.