Sexual Assault On College Campuses
According to National Sexual Violence Resource Center, “27% of college women have experienced some form of unwanted sexual contact”(Get Statistics). It is evident, now more than ever, that women are exposed to sexual assault and rape on a daily basis during something as simple as attending classes. Due to these circumstances, many students are left questioning if colleges are safe enough. College students should only have to worry about focusing on their studies, and not fearing that they can be victims of sexual harassment at any moment. There isn’t an easy solution to stop attackers from initiating an assault, but there’s plenty of ways to raise awareness, teach women to look out for themselves, and provide a special inviolable community ment for women.
Sexual violence on college campuses is a dilemma that many Americans don't realize happens. The issue is that majority of attackers aren't held accountable for their actions.For this reason, attackers are lead to believe that what they are doing is not wrong. The article ‘The History of Campus Sexual Assault’, supports this by claiming,” 7.7 percent of male students volunteered anonymously that they had engaged in or attempted forced sex… Almost none considered it to be a crime.” (Kamenetz, Anya). Numerous of men are unaware of what sexual assault is, they continue believing that inappropriately touching, or violating a woman is not sexual assault. Continuing, Universities all across the United States since the 1950s have been susceptible to sexual assault. Sociologist Eugene Kanin proves that forcing women to have sex has been happening for many decades with a model he shared in 1957 that shows,”men used secrecy and stigma to pressure and exploit women.”(Kamentz, Anya). Times have drastically changed since the 1950s yet women have had to deal with rape and assault in schools to this day. Now, it’s understood that everyone including men, women, and members of the LGBTQ community are also vulnerable to sexual harassment, yet there is still no change. These students are not educated on how to protect themselves in harmful situations, and colleges almost never handle sexual assault cases properly.
Concluding sentence- The need for a solution to this widespread problem is urgent, the number of victims is far too high and very concerning.
One great way to decrease rape within colleges is with an educational program created just for women know as Enhanced Assess, Acknowledge, Act, or EAAA. Those who take part in the EAAA program are taught more about sexual assault, generating a deeper understanding for the issue and learning how to detect these situations before they occur. Charlene Senn states,”The EAAA program focuses on sexual assault by acquaintances and adds to women’s existing strength, knowledge and skills” (Senn, Charlene). Women are taught all the signs that could lead up to an assault, allowing women to prepare themselves to either escape or fight back against their attackers. Using verbal and physical strength is key to outsmarting an attacker. The program not only teaches women self defense, but shows them that their views on sex matter too.
Senn comments,”Less widely recognized is the importance of empowering women to talk about desire. This is a vital part of any comprehensive solution to campus sexual assault” (Senn, Charlene). Women need to know that they can step away from any situation as soon as they feel uncomfortable. Saying No is okay and if they feel as if they are being pushed to do something they do not want, to flee immediately. The program goes much deeper into the concept, showing women that they have more power than they realize. A program like EAAA could certainly make a substantial difference in the number of victims. The article, Rape at Universities: One Program Is Proven to Reduce It, shares that,”study results show that attending women were 46 percent less likely to experience rape and 63 percent less likely to experience attempted rape or other forms of sexual assault in the next year” (Senn, Charlene).
With such positive results, a program like EAAA would be worth integrating into universities as it has demonstrated to make a change. The only downside to the EAAA program is that not every university is open to putting in the time and energy it takes to run this program. Alongside, It's not a solution that will end sexual assault, just teach women how self defense tactics. Teaching women how to avoid sexual assault and empowering them with the program is a great step in the right direction.
Another solution is getting college faculty to join the fight against sexual assault. Universities need to ensure that students have someone to go to when they have been victims of assault or rape. In an article, ’6 Ways Faculty and Staff Can Fight Sexual Violence on Campus’, it is shown that,“This person is sometimes referred to as a Title IX coordinator, and she or he is responsible for overseeing all complaints of sex discrimination. The coordinator also identifies and addresses any patterns or systemic problems”(6 Ways). A designated IX coordinator would be a major benefit for the students if the job is well done. Giving a trained worker the title of IX coordinator would help students feel more protected and encourage women to talk about any occurrences they have ran into. Adding on, Universities need their faculty to be more aware of sexual harassment, and how frequently it occurs. The article explains that there are ‘sexual assault response team tool kit’ available, along with a ‘assistance in the development, enhancement, and sustainability of a campus team’(6 Ways). These are resources have been created to help victims, and faculty needs to take advantage of them to help their students who have faced sexual assault or rape. Faculty has the ability to teach their students the importance of consent and why sexual assault is a huge problem.
‘6 Ways Faculty and Staff Can Fight Sexual Violence on Campus’ Suggests,”Faculty can also incorporate the issue of sexual assault into their curriculum whenever possible and whenever relevant to course content. Faculty and staff can also offer student workshops facilitated by trained faculty, staff, and students on campus”(6 ways). Encouraging students to learn more about rape culture, and teaching them why sexual assault is not okay, will incredibly reduce the chances of one of these inappropriate advances. Often times, faculty is very limited to what they can do to help students in such personal situations,which may vary depending on the university. However, this can still be a viable solution for some colleges.
The final and optimal solution is to raise awareness about rape culture and sexual violence on campuses with bystander programs. Similar to the EAAA program, bystander programs share why sexual assault is wrong to everyone, not just women.
The article,’Preventing Sexual Assault on College Campuses: What Works?’, states,”Growing national attention to sexual violence on college campuses has also helped refocus efforts away from teaching women to defend themselves and toward educating male students on what consent looks like and how both male and female upperclassmen can step in when they see predatory behavior”(Preventing Sexual). A bystander program can incorporate more of the public which in theory should be effective to an extent. With such a well thought out program, students will be brought closer together. This is supported by the same article which claims,”One of the benefits of bystander intervention programs is that they treat other students as allies who are empowered to help other students — especially freshman students”(Preventing Sexual). Female freshmen are more commonly affected by sexual assault, with this program upperclassmen will be able to give a helping hand to end the harassment. The issue with bystander programs is that they might not be as effective as other programs if it is not done correctly. Senn supports this by commenting,”bystander programs weren’t designed to, and do not, decrease sexual assault perpetration or victimization in the short term”(Senn, Charlene). It takes painstaking time to organize a solid bystander program that will ensure positive results. By far, awareness with bystander programs is the best solution to ending the fight against sexual violence.
In conclusion, it's clear that a quick fix to sexual assault is not possible. Although time consuming, Ending sexual assault starts by raising awareness, teaching women to look out for themselves, and providing a special inviolable community just for women.These solutions take time and effort, but the results can have a great impact if they are done correctly. It is important to provide a solution for this threatening issue, so that students can feel safe and the outrageous number of female rape victims minimizes. Without a solution, women will continue to be harassed and raped on college campuses regularly.
Works Cited
“6 Ways Faculty and Staff Can Fight Sexual Violence on Campus.” AAUW: Empowering Women Since 1881, www.aauw.org/2014/04/14/fight-campus-sexual-violence/.
Kamenetz, Anya. “The History of Campus Sexual Assault.” NPR, NPR, 30 Nov. 2014, www.npr.org/sections/ed/2014/11/30/366348383/the-history-of-campus-sexual-assault.
“Preventing Sexual Assault on College Campuses: What Works?” Our Bodies Ourselves, 2 Oct. 2018, www.ourbodiesourselves.org/2017/09/preventing-sexual-assault-on-college-campuses/.
Senn, Charlene. “Rape at Universities: One Program Is Proven to Reduce It.” The Conversation, The Conversation, 30 Oct. 2018, theconversation.com/rape-at-universities-one-program-is-proven-to-reduce-it-82636.
“Get Statistics.” Sexual Assault Statistics | National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC), www.nsvrc.org/statistics.