On August 2012 Emma Sulkowicz reported to being raped in her college dorm, this sparked her senior thesis project called Carry That Weight ,where she would be carrying the mattress on which the assault had occurred and would be continuously doing so until Columbia either expelled the rapist or she graduated (Izadi, Elahe) . This case adds to the one third percentage of women who are assaulted by their senior year in college (Streng, Tara). Another unrelated case that occurred in Stanford was that of Brock Turner whom instead of being the victim was the alleged rapist, he was accused of assaulting an unconscious woman behind a dumpster and then being sentenced to only a six month jail sentences versus the maximum of fourteen years (Stack, Liam). …show more content…
Drugs and alcohol seen to coexist on college campuses since colleges are major targets for dealers and are well known for parties. In a survey of women, fifty one percent of them had stated to being raped since coming to the campus (Hollis, Michael).When a women has experienced a sexual assault they tend to avoid telling the police or officials because of self blame and or fear of the case going to court and being looked down upon. Sexual assault is a difficult topic to speak about and more so when the officials are not very understanding. Women are sometimes even terrified to speak up about their assault because of what people might think of them and what people might ask such as “What were you wearing?” “Were you drinking last night?” and probably one of the worst is “You were asking for it” all of this reduces the likelihood that they will speak up. And the ones that do, speak up very rarely get the justice that they deserve.This is a huge problem because along with these overwhelming statistics women are more likely to experience psychological disorders such as Depression and PTSD, which then causes them to drop out of schooling (Streng, Tara). This being the case colleges should offer more methods of help to those that have experience with sexual assault and provide accessible prevention methods or
In the article “Die Trying”, Katie J.M. Baker points out the difficulties of being a rape victim in Alabama and nationwide. The article “Die Trying” talks about a student named Megan Rondini who attended the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa who accused T.J. Bunn Jr. of rape. The events that led to sexual assault happened in July 1, 2015 at night where Megan Rondini went to Innisfree Irish Pub with a couple of her sorority sisters and drank five cups of beer. After drinking the beer Megan Rondini blacked out and found herself in T.J. Bunn’s car with his friend going back to his house.
Eyewitness Bennett Barbour was a 22 year old, black male who was charged and convicted of rape in the state of Virginia. Barbour fought for over thirty years o clear his good name. Barbour was sentenced on for the alleged rape on April 15 of the same year. Bennett received a ten-year sentence for which he served four and a half years in prison. Barbour was exonerated on May 24, 2012.
“...he said he was in the process of establishing a program for high school and college students so that he could ‘speak out against the college campus drinking culture and the sexual promiscuity that goes along with that,’”("20 minutes”). The assault that Brock Turner took place in, is not defined because of the level of their intoxication, it is explained through basic moral and knowingness that rape is wrong. Because the victim was unresponsive, the act is directly considered unacceptable. Even more so, the act of rape should not be undermined to something as under-represented as sexual promiscuity. Turner and his attorney’s claim that he only committed the assault because he was under the influence of alcohol and that he should personally participate in programs that enforce the effects of binge drinking.
On January 18, 2015, two graduate students were biking at Stanford University when they saw a man raping an unconscious, half-naked woman behind a dumpster. The man saw the bikers and attempted to run away, but the bikers chased him down and tackled him. They called the police and the man was arrested. The man was Brock Turner, a freshman swimmer at Stanford University. He was intoxicated but told police he remembered everything.
An estimated one in four women are sexually victimized during their college years. (Schwarz, Jill, et al., 1). Turner getting a light sentence just makes this statistic more real, the victim will be looked at in the future as just another statistic because of the little that was done about it. The victim was intoxicated at the time of the assault, Turner was also. This often makes the case much more difficult, “A common stereotype of sexual assault on college campuses is that the victim could have partial responsibility if they had consumed drugs or alcohol prior to the assault” (Schwarz, Jill, et al., 2).
Brock Turner: A name that society hates, a man who people scold, and a rapist who escaped justice. Brock Turner’s case sparked national outcry as the Stanford rapist was released from jail after a mere three months. Though his escape from justice is infuriating and unfair, it is much more beneficial to look at the situation from retrospect to prevent similar future instances from happening in college. While the news heavily focuses on Turner’s behavior, the cause of his actions may partially lie in his environment. On the night of the incident, Brock Turner and his victim attended fraternity Kappa Alpha, and the two drank to the point of extreme intoxication and unconsciousness (Sanchez 4).
Sexual assault remains the most underreported crime for teens as well as adults, (Why Don’t They Tell? In the award-winning novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson writes about a character named Melinda Sorinado who was raped in the summer of freshman year and during freshman year we read about her dealing with the trauma she experienced. “Its choppy, nonlinear narrative gradually reveals that shortly before the first day of school, Melinda went to a party, where she was raped by a handsome, popular senior… But also, I had been sexually assaulted a month before ninth grade started,” (Interview with Author). Due to him being so popular, she didn’t tell anyone, some of the reasons that may have happened could be.
A book that I recently read that showed a reflection of my self-understanding was Missoula by Jon Krakauer because it extended my perspective on women’s safety on college campuses. The book Missoula shares stories of five women who were sexually assaulted at the University of Montana, Missoula and follows their cases all the way to trial. As a girl who has always been told that a college education is necessary to succeed in life, the idea that colleges arent safe for me felt like a secret that I wasnt allowed to know until I experienced it for myself. Reading the statistics and seeing how all of the rapists walked away unpunished strengthened my understanding of the fact that sexual assault is a normal occurance on college campuses.
They tend to seek help in their campus administrators and they do not provide resources, support that will help the victims, instead, they ask blaming questions. The administrator is more interested in what the victim was wearing and how drunk they were. Victim blaming is when a victim of a crime is held responsible or blamed for the harm being committed. These victims are quickly blamed for their offender's actions and live in fear of running into their offender again on campus. Approximately about 88% of women do not report; victim blaming has caused a silent effect in which women are embarrassed by reporting.
The documentary called The Hunting Grounds, had multiple concepts that relate to sociology. Using a sociological perspective, it was very prevalent to see the ways college campuses use patriarchy and gender stratification to keep women who have been sexually assaulted on campus from disclosing information or even getting help about these issues. Through the discrimination against women at these gender institutions the women formed a Feminist movement to bring awareness and help to the victims on campuses all around the world and to stop the assaults from reoccurring. The Hunting Grounds is a documentary that reveals the untold stories of women on college campuses and how these women have fought to have their voice heard about sexual assault on campuses. Sexual assault and rape on campuses has always been a major problem for colleges all over the world yet very little has been done to protect the students.
In society and college campuses, sexual assault occurs quite frequently. According to an estimation one third of women experience a forced sexual experience at least once in their life and most of the time it occurs in colleges. Men have also been reported to be victim of sexual assaults mostly by other men. Most of the time the sexual assault is planned and perpetrated by a third person, who is known to the victim of incident. Drug and alcohol use play role in this issue and contribute to the problem as most of the time the victim and perpetrators are under the effect of alcohol or any other drug during the incident.
In Zoë Heller’s Rape on the Campus, She advocates how sexual assault happens often on campuses, and that it needs to be significantly more addressed; as it is scarce for women to bring the college’s attention to the assault. Heller asserts that, “20 percent of women are sexually assaulted during their time at college and as few as 5 percent of these assaults are ever reported to police” (185). Noting that ninety-five percent of sexual assault cases are dealt by the college, colleges can take advantage and handle its reputation by outputting false information to cover any potential negative reputation. While colleges are forced to obey the rules of title IX, I believe this is an inadequate effort to remove bias teachers and workers from colleges.
I hope that during my undergraduate years at George Mason University I will be able to investigate the problem affecting many colleges that is date rape drugs. Rape on college campuses is a horrifying epidemic that our country is facing. According to healthresearchfunding.org “Up to 90% of college campus rapes occur through date rape incidents.” Almost every day on the news there is a new story about a woman who was a victim of rape or sexual assault, and most of the time the perpetrator gets away hands free. A major reason why date rape drugs are commonly used is because they are easily slipped in to drinks at college parties and are undetectable by the victim.
According to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network, another person endures sexual assault every 98 seconds. This information may have been shocking ten years ago, but for many, this news is a basic fact of life. Sexual assault cases have continued to become more and more common as time goes on. What is causing this surge in unwanted physical contact? The cause of sexual assault is one hundred percent of the time, the assaulter’s fault.
Sexual assault is a form of forced sexual violence. The term sexual assault can be defined as an act in which a person sexually violates a victim without the victims consent. This is one of the most common problems faced by many schools in South Africa, the problem of sexual assault amongst learners in South African school. Sexual assault is an unlawful act, which the perpetrator can be sentenced to jail for practicing it. Sexual assault can be in a form of fondling of unwanted sexual touching, forcing a victim to perform sexual acts such as oral sex or penetrating the victim’s body and torturing a person in a sexual manner.