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College Sexual Assaults And Violence

College campuses should be a safe environment where students come together to share ideas. Unfortunately, higher learning institutions are not exempt from violence.

Horrific acts like those of mass shootings do bring the subject of violence on campuses to the forefront. However, it is not just guns that are a concern.

Violence at colleges worldwide is not only about random incidents of shooting. Other acts of violence include mental abuse, stalking, theft, vandalism, sexual abuse, and physical assault.

  • According to the Sexual Misconduct and Perceived Campus Response Survey, approximately one in three women (35.6%) and one in four men (28.5%) have experienced rape, physical violence, and stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime.

Only by understanding what violence is are you in a position to stop or prevent it.

  • Physical Violence

Physical violence includes the following but is not limited to; damage to property, physical assault, and shootings on campus;

  • Psychological Violence

It is why one party induces fear in another student and causes them emotional anguish, and they could use this as a tool to control them. Stalking is an excellent example. A person’s behavior patterns and acts harass and intimidate another student, and they fear for their safety.

  • Sexual Assault

Sexual assault is a particular type of harassment that involves actual or attempted sexual contact with another person without their consent. It includes rape, fondling, and statutory rape.

  • Violence Based on Racism

Racism shows disregard for human life and can cause the other party emotional anguish. Violence based on racism can result in bodily harm, injury, and sometimes even death. This type of violence is considered a hate crime.

  • Violence Based on Homophobia

Homophobia is the hatred or fear of gays. It can sometimes lead to acts of violence and other expressions of hostility.

  • Never take your safety for granted. Always be aware of your surroundings. For most institutions of higher learning, safety is a priority, but even with that, there are some additional ways to improve your safety.
  • Become Familiarized with the school’s campus safety office all schools have one. Get all the information you can get about their office hours, telephone numbers and the services they offer.
  • Take extra caution at night. On average, crimes such as sexual assault usually take place at night. Even though you should not be paranoid, you should not walk alone at night. You can call campus security to give you a ride.
  • On social media, maintain privacy. Social media is a great way to connect with people but with everything you post, be aware of who can view it. Avoid geotagging on photos as it reveals locations to strangers.
  • Learn to defend yourself. Physically knowing how to protect yourself can be very empowering. You feel safer and more confident, especially when you are alone. You can sign up for self-defense classes from a professional instructor.

The U.S. Department of Justice defines sexual assault as “any sexual behavior or contact occurring without the recipient’s explicit consent.” The U.S. DOJ further clarifies sexual assault as forced intercourse, incest, forced sodomy, fondling, attempted rape, and child molestation.

Although violent crime rates against U.S. college students have declined over the past 20 years, rates of sexual assault have stayed the same for both male and female victims. According to the U. S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, about one in 170 female college students are victimized by a sexual assault on campus every year. Other research surveying over 100,000 college students attending 27 schools found that 20 percent of female undergrads were victims of at least one sexual assault during their four years at college.

According to The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIH), “Researchers consistently have found that men who have been drinking alcohol commit approximately one-half of all sexual assaults. The estimates for alcohol use among perpetrators have ranged from 34 to 74 percent. Similarly, approximately one-half of all sexual assault victims report that they were drinking alcohol at the time of the assault, with estimates ranging from 30 to 79 percent”.

According to The Huffington Post, “someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted every 98 seconds. That means every single day more than 570 people experience sexual violence in this country.”

So, the annual number of sexual assaults is approximately 208,050. Using 50% as a reasonable average (above), the approximate number of alcohol-related sexual assaults is at least 104,025.

Although being drunk should never be used or thought of as an excuse for sexual assault, alcohol promotes a biased perception of someone’s sexual motives, interferes with understanding communication regarding sexual consent, and aggrandizes misperceptions about another person’s sexual motives. Increasing rates of sexual assault among undergraduates are due to students engage in weekend binge drinking.

Previous research regarding who is more likely to commit sexual assault on campus suggests that male students belonging to fraternities may be more likely to condone rape/sexual assault than non-fraternity male students. In addition, fraternities influence universities and colleges’ “party” culture. Psychologists believe that fraternity brothers embracing token resistance (believing women say no but mean yes) and rape myth acceptance could increase unacceptably high campus sexual assault rates.

The sociological term “rape myth acceptance” defines a group of disturbing beliefs about rape that allow perpetrators (and many times, their male friends or family members) to justify their behavior. Examples of rape myth acceptance include drunk women, wear revealing clothes, or act “slutty” who are partially responsible for being sexually assaulted, and men who are drunk and rape a girl didn’t mean it.

Also, men of all ages who victimize women sexually tend to be narcissistic, un-empathetic, hold a sense of entitlement when it comes to having sex, and harbor feelings of hostility and anger towards women.

Established in 2014 by President Barack Obama, the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault re-defined Title IX’s meaning. They proposed numerous measures to better respond to and prevent sexual assault on campus. Following the passage of the WHTFPSSA, the U. S. Department of Education listed over 50 universities and colleges that they planned on investigating for possible violations of Title IX. Additionally, the Dept. of Education is also strongly encouraging colleges and universities to begin improving existing protocols for handling reported cases of sexual assault.

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