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Isabella Achim

Professor Pinkerton

English 1510

March 19, 2018

Sexual Assault on College Campuses

One in five female college students are sexually assaulted, according to

Womenshealth.gov, and it’s most likely to happen within their first few months at college in

their first and second year (Basile). Sexual assault is a very scary thing for women all over the

world, but it’s especially prominent on college campuses. Girls are afraid to walk alone, to walk

in the dark, or to go out with their friends because they don’t know what might happen to them.

As a woman in college myself, I can attest to these fears. I have researched other opinions and

statistics, and this is not just a problem, but it is an epidemic. Female students all over the world

are afraid to be alone. Some women don’t even know that it’s considered assault until after it

happens—they refuse to take help offered to them because they weren’t taught what to look out

for. Alice Dreger, a woman who lives very close to Michigan State University, wrote an article

about being woken up by the sound of a girl screaming for help. When she went outside to offer

her aid and asked the girl if she was okay, the girl responded, “It's cool. I know him” (Dreger 1).

Why is this happening? Why do people think it’s okay to take advantage of others when they

aren’t in a sober state, or simply because they have no one around them as a witness? Sexual

assault doesn’t only pertain to women—it happens to men, too. Sexual assault is a common

theme among college campuses across not only the nation, but the world. “Assault” isn’t a very
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broad term—it means to hurt someone. “Sexual assault” can be a very expansive topic; it can

mean different things to different people.

What is Sexual Assault?

Sexual assault is a broad category; it can pertain to anything. It can range from unwanted,

forced kissing, to rape. The majority of sexual assaults come from rape or attempted rape, but it

should be noted that there are such things as “lesser assaults,” such as the forced kissing

mentioned earlier. The “1 in 5” statistic is a widely known fact, and the assault comes in many

different kinds of ways. Is there a way to lower these horrendous statistics? Prevention is the first

step a college campus, and students themselves, should take when dealing with sexual assault.

Prevention

The first step in prevention of sexual assault on campus is to do some research before you

pick a school. Steve Kardian, author of The New Superpower for Women, suggests that simply

typing “[college or university name] sexual assault” (44) into a search engine and seeing what

you find could really open your eyes to what has and could happen, and if the school you’re

interested in really is the school you should be going to. Prevention also comes from the

government—September has been named “Campus Safety Awareness Month” because, as

mentioned earlier, the majority of sexual assaults happen within the first few months of the

school year: “…in 2008, Congress voted unanimously to designate September as National

Campus Safety Awareness Month” (Kardian 44). Prevention is the biggest thing a school can

work with to ensure that these assaults stop happening, and the government agrees and has taken

measures to ensure that there are things actually being don’t to make the campus a safer place.

Candance Christensen, an assistant professor with a PhD at Idaho State University, completed a
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research study on how one method of prevention of sexual assault could be using theater to talk

to students about assault, and about how to intervene: “Using theater of the oppressed as a

practice method in sexual assault prevention interventions with college students is gaining in

popularity. Theater of the oppressed interventions aims to change values and norms that

perpetuate the acceptability of sexual assault and teach college students how to intervene in

situations where sexual violence may occur” (282). Schools all over the nation have flyers,

speakers, and mandatory classes, but theater seems like a better way to relate to the students; it

makes assault easier to understand and relatable. Another way of prevention could be to begin

teaching about it earlier. Students don’t learn about the dangers about sexual assault until they

are in high school, or sometimes even in college. Maybe, if students were taught at a younger age

that this is happening, and this is a bad thing, then more people would know not to do it. After all

of the different ways discussed of preventing sexual assault, what happens if they fail?

What If It Fails?

Schools work hard to prevent scenarios of sexual assault from playing out, but no matter

how hard they work, sadly, it still happens. So, what if the methods of prevention don’t work?

People don’t always read flyers, listen to the speakers, or pay attention in the classes they are

mandated to take. Even if they do, some students get drunk and act impulsively around other

drunk students who are unable to defend themselves or unaware of what’s going on. According

to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, specifically Women’s Health, alcohol

and drugs are one of the main reasons that sexual assault happens on campus: “One study found

that 15% of young women experienced incapacitated rape during their first year of college”

(Basile). Another study, conducted by Heidi DeLoveh and Lauren Bennett Cattaneo, staff

members of the Psychology Department of George Mason University, found that 70% of
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university sexual assaults include drugs or alcohol (67). What could be considered even worse is

that friends go out drinking with friends, and that 90% of rapes happen by someone the victim

knew (Kardian 44). Now, there still are times when the assault happens when the perpetrator and

victim aren’t drinking. What happens then? Why does this happen? Peer pressure is another

reason that sexual assault happens. Either it’s a “friend” pressuring another friend to commit the

act, or it’s a female being given too many drinks, or simply being persuaded: “Being forced into

unwanted sexual activity for social acceptance is a type of sexual coercion” (Basile). There are

many reasons why this crime is committed, and a lot of them don’t make sense to anyone.

Sometimes, the perpetrator simply does it for their enjoyment. Surprisingly, schools also

purchase sexual assault insurance for when a victim decides to sue because they believe it’s the

schools fault, or for when a perpetrator believes they are wrongfully being charged. This fact

seems off-putting because schools buy this insurance because they don’t have faith in their

prevention methods. Universities know that prevention activities do not always work, so they

need to have a safe-space, and a program implemented for when an act of sexual assault does

happen.

After the Fact

When a woman has been sexually assaulted, she has been violated. She may not want to

tell anyone. According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, “more than 90% of

sexual assault victims on college campuses do not report the assault.” If she does choose to tell

someone, “Studies have found that between 64 and 92 percent of sexual assault survivors

disclose to family and/or friends” (DeLoveh and Cattaneo 67), and this can help with getting

professional help. Sometimes, women don’t want to tell anyone because they are afraid of being

blamed for what happened. “Campus Rape Crisis,” an article published in The Nation, begins by
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telling the story of Audrey Logan, a freshman living on campus in 2010. She was raped two

separate times by the same person—a boy she had thought of as a friend: “Because she knew

him and had been very drunk both times, it took a while for her to identify what had happened as

an assault” (Goldberg 12). It took her a while to realize she had been assaulted, as it does for

many girls, but when she was finally able to talk to her friend about it, that’s when she had

started her slow healing process. She went to her school’s administration while her perpetrator

was studying abroad, one year and a half later, to report him. The process was overall

unprofessional and demeaning. When she went to trial with the school administrators, key parts

of her statement and description were missing. During breaks, the administrators were joking

around with the boy and were telling him that this kind of situation could look bad on his record:

“‘The adjudication board was one of the worst things I had to experience outside of the actual

assault, and in some ways it was worse.’ — survivor Audrey Logan, student at Occidental

College” (Goldberg 13). If Logan hadn’t told her friend, she wouldn’t have even realized that

this was assault, and she wouldn’t have had the courage to tell the authorities. Even when she did

tell the authorities, and won her case, she claims it almost felt worse than the actual assault

because of how the situation was handled, and how she was treated. This is just one example, of

many, that exhibits how schools and the law don’t take women’s cry for help seriously. It is a

common fact that sexual assault happens to women, but it does happen to men too.

Not Just Women

It isn’t as known of a fact that men are sexually assaulted, and maybe that’s because it

isn’t as common. I want to touch on the fact that, according to DeLoveh and Cattaneo, seven

percent of men experience rape or attempt of rape while in college. This is too high of a number;

it may not be as high as the percent women experience, but it is nonetheless too high for anyone.
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While reading an article on global sexual assault, written by Alexandra Phanor-Faury, I read that,

“Men and boys are also the victims of physical and sexual violence, and are statistically less

probable to report an assault to authorities.” The number of sexual assaults in males, and females

too, would surely rise if people felt that they could talk to authorities. Though the focus of this

paper is mostly on women, it needs to be noted that men are also a part of this—everyone is.

This is a problem that everyone faces all over the world.

Worldwide Issue

When people see an issue, they tend to only focus on how it affects them. What some

people don’t know is that sexual assault is an issue that takes place all over the world: “One in

three women worldwide is known to experience some form of physical or sexual violence in

their lifetime. Many more victims remain silent due to shame, guilt, or fear” (Phanor-Faury). If

victims felt they could speak out against their perpetrators without backlash or fear, this crisis

might be able to come to an end.

Conclusion

I did some personal research and based off of Protecting Ohio’s Families: Offender

Search, there are 4 registered sexual offenders within a 2 mile radius of my college home in

Athens, Ohio. Now if you really think about it, these are only offenses that have been reported

and have won in a court of law. Imagine how many more there are out there that haven’t been

reported, or that women, or men, haven’t even realized that happened? Sexual assault is a

frightening and common theme along college campuses across world, for men and for women.

The statistics are scary, but they need to be known. Sexual assault is a worldwide epidemic, and
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more students need to be informed on the topic because it might just save someone; themselves,

their friend, or a total stranger.

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Works Cited

Christensen, M. Candace. "Using Theater of the Oppressed to Prevent Sexual Violence on

College Campuses." Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, vol. 14, no. 4, 2013, pp. 282-294.

OhioLINK Electronic Journal Center, doi:10.1177/1524838013495983.

DeLoveh, Heidi L. M., and Lauren Bennett Cattaneo. "Deciding Where to Turn: A Qualitative

Investigation of College Students’ Helpseeking Decisions After Sexual Assault."

American Journal of Community Psychology, vol. 59, no. 1-2, 2017, pp. 65-79.

Dreger, Alice. "Step In, or Look Away?." Chronicle of Higher Education, vol. 63, no. 15, 02

Dec. 2016, p. B16. EBSCOhost,

www.library.ohio.edu/ezpauth/redir/athens.php?http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%

2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3df5h%26AN%3d119770064%26site%3deds-

live%26scope%3dsite.

Goldberg, Michelle. "CAMPUS RAPE CRISIS. (Cover Story)." The Nation, vol. 298, no. 26, 23

June 2014, pp. 12-16. EBSCOhost,

www.library.ohio.edu/ezpauth/redir/athens.php?http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%

2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3daph%26AN%3d96327577%26site%3deds-

live%26scope%3dsite.

Kardian, Steve. "Six Tips for Selecting a Safe College." USA Today Magazine, vol. 146, no.

2868, Sept. 2017, p. 44. EBSCOhost,

www.library.ohio.edu/ezpauth/redir/athens.php?http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%

2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dulh%26AN%3d124946294%26site%3deds-

live%26scope%3dsite.
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Phanor-Faury, Alexandra. “UN Partners with Universities across the Globe to End Sexual

Assault on Campuses.” Konbini United States, Konbini, 21 Sept. 2016,

www.konbini.com/us/lifestyle/un-tackles-sexual-assault-on-campuses/.

“Protecting Ohio's Families: Offender Search.” Icrimewatch,

www.icrimewatch.net/results.php?AgencyID=55149&whichaddr=home_addr|temp_addr|

school_addr&SubmitAddrSearch=1&AddrStreet=97+west+green+dr&AddrCity=athens

&AddrState=36&AddrZip=45701&AddrZipPlus=&excludeIncarcerated=.