Sexual Assault on College Campuses: The Dark Corners of Society

Sexual assault is an evil act. The perpetrators of sexual assault are some of the lowest form of humans that mankind has to offer. Back in time, sexual assault was an act that happened numerous times and quite frankly it was not stopped often. People actually had the idea that it was a plausible and reasonable thing to do. Something that is even harder to understand is that sexual assault happens today like no one would believe. Now, people's way of thinking has been flipped, and the general public does think of sexual assault as a bad thing, as they should. But, due to what sexual assault is, people are afraid to figure out ways to stop it. Sexual assault is still running rampant in our society and is knocking the lives of countless people over. Recently, a light has been placed on sexual assault in colleges. This prompted me to write an essay about sexual assault on college campuses because it is an issue that concerns all of America.

The day where everyone moves into college is supposed to be one of the sweetest, most sad, but happiest days for parents and their child. Parents are watching their child leave the house, yet they know that their son or daughter is beginning the next chapter in their respectful lives, and they are always beeming with pride. However, for some parents as they move their daughters into college, they get a glimpse of some horrors that could be facing their daughter. An article written by USA Today, talks about a fraternity at Old Dominion University and how they displayed sexually aggressive signs as parents moved their children in. 'Rowdy And Fun! Hope your baby girl is ready for a good time', 'Freshman Daughter Drop Off', were just some examples of the rude and offensive signs shown by the fraternity. Parents were excited to watch as their own baby girl turned the page on one chapter of her life and began the next chapter. But, they watched in horror as they saw signs made be testorone filled young and wild men, waiting to prey on their daughters.

The Real State of the Issue of Sexual Assault at American Colleges

'The Hunting Ground: The Inside Story of Sexual Assault on American College Campuses' was written by Kirby Dick, and Amy Ziering. The book is all about the topic of sexual assault on college campuses. An intriguing part of this book is how it analyzes the victims and that they are frowned upon when they actually come out and say they were sexually assaulted. Especially, if the attacker was a college athlete. Erica Kinsman who was a student at Florida state who claimed she was sexually assaulted by the star Quaterback of the football team, jameis winston. Winston has later gone on to be a star quarterback in the NFL. As Kinsman was coming out about the horrific assault she faced, it was clear that the Florida State authorities were on the side of Jameis Winston and protecting him, instead of dealing with her needs. Aware that the case was about to become public, FSU officials moved fast to create a chain of evidence to protect Winston. That is plain shocking. Yes, in America people are innocent until proven guilty, however the university should have been helping Kinsman as well and doing everything in their power to make sure she was okay.

People can be ignorant to the problems going on, people can be plain oblivious. They can argue that sexual assault has gone down in recent years, however all that needs to be done is for them to be read a few statistics and they will see how wrong they are. Alison Hatch wrote an excellent acadamia book on this topic, titled 'Campus Sexual Assault: A Reference Handbook'. A survey by the Association of American Universities administered at 27 universities and with over 150,000 student responses found that 23 percent of female undergraduates reported they were victims of non-consensual sexual contact'. Other surveys and studies throughout the book had around the same statistics as well. Which all together is quite disturbing, for around 1 in 4 girls in college have some type of sexual encounters that were not wanted by them. To back Alison Hatch's book up, there was an article written on by Kelly Wallace from CNN on the same topic and even used the same survey from the AAU. Some other key points that Ms. Wallace brought up were the fact that the percentages of unwanted sexual conduct rose at some of america's most prostegious universities. Another one of her key points was the fact that 'Nearly 11% said the unwanted contact included penetration or oral sex'. Sexual assault is a huge problem, a problem that has not shrinking at all. Well known books are being written about it, and well known news stations are picking the story up as well. How much more is needed to be done until people actually realize it is time for everyone to come together and stop it.

Brandie Pugh and Patricia Becker wrote an amazing scholarly piece 'Exploring Definitions and Prevalence of Verbal Sexual Coercion and Its Relationship to Consent to Unwanted Sex: Implications for Affirmative Consent Standards on College Campuse'. It analyzed all the different in's and out's of sexual assault. One topic, sexual coercion was brought to light, and how it is a majore factor that brings about the unwanted sexual conduct. 'Another study, defining sexually coercive behavior as the act of using pressure …, alcohol or drugs, or force to obtain sex with a person after they already refused to engage in sex, found that 78 percent of college women reported experiencing at least one tactic'. The fact that 78 percent of the women in that study reported being encouraged and having people trying to influence them into having sex, should be highlighted. One way sexual assaults can be stopped, is stopping the amount of times people are put into situations where they could be influenced into doing something they don't want to.

Conclusion

Sexual assault is something that needs to be erased and eradicated forever. It should no longer be a thing. It has gotten better from what it used to be. However, there are still bad people out their willing to commit acts of it. People need to come together and figure out ways to end sexual assault once and for all.   

References

1. Krebs, C. P., Lindquist, C. H., Berzofsky, M., Shook-Sa, B. E., Peterson, K. A., Planty, M., ... & Langton, L. (2016). Campus Climate Survey Validation Study, Final Technical Report. RTI International.

2. Cantor, D., Fisher, B., Chibnall, S., Townsend, R., Lee, H., Bruce, C., & Thomas, G. (2015). Report on the AAU Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Assault and Sexual Misconduct. Association of American Universities.

3. Bureau of Justice Statistics. (2021). Campus Climate Survey Validation Study, 2019. Retrieved from https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=6740

4. Campus Safety and Security Data Analysis Cutting Tool. (2021). US Department of Education. Retrieved from https://ope.ed.gov/campussafety/#/

5. Fischer, S., Cullen, F. T., & Turner, M. G. (2020). Sexual Victimization at College. Annual Review of Criminology, 3, 335-354.

6. Humphrey, J. A., & White, J. W. (2020). Sexual Assault and Violence on the College Campus. Annual Review of Psychology, 71, 479-502.

7. Krebs, C. P., Lindquist, C. H., Warner, T., Fisher, B., & Martin, S. (2007). The Campus Sexual Assault (CSA) Study. Final Report. National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice.

8. Koss, M. P., & Gidycz, C. A. (1985). Sexual experiences survey: Reliability and validity. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 53(3), 422-423.

9. Foubert, J. D., & Perry, B. (2007). Creating lasting attitude and behavior change in fraternity members and male student-athletes: The qualitative impact of an empathy-based rape prevention program. Violence Against Women, 13(1), 70-86.

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10. National Sexual Violence Resource Center. (2021). Campus Sexual Violence Resource List. Retrieved from https://www.nsvrc.org/projects/campus-resource-list