Cantalupo, N. (2011).

Burying our heads in the sand: lack of knowledge, knowledge avoidance,

and the persistent problem of campus peer sexual violence. Loyola University Chicago
Law Journal, 43(1), 205-266.

This article takes a deep dive at Title IX as well as the Clery Act, and why they haven’t helped to
protect people from being sexually assaulted. One of the reasons why schools are hesitant to
report information is because an accurate number will reflect poorly on their school, regardless
of the fact that the numbers are similar across the nation. These acts also aren’t helped by the
fact that the myth that violence is committed by strangers is still pertinent. School officials have
a low level of education about this topic, especially what their job is legally. There is extensive
and expensive education and training that would need to be poured into the schools to truly
help address this issue. Putting an end to this vicious cycle requires drastic measures within
college campuses, as well as tweaks to these two laws.

Khan, S. R., Hirsch, J. S., Wamboldt, A., & Mellins, C. A. (2018). “I Didn’t Want To Be ‘That Girl'”:
The Social Risks of Labeling, Telling, and Reporting Sexual Assault. Sociological Science, 5,
432-460. https://doi.org/10.15195/v5.a19

The authors of this article conducted research to identify main factors of why students do not
label their sexual assault as such, and why they choose not to report. Over 150 interviews later,
they identified three different categorizations of social risks that students face when dealing
with the aftermath of a sexual assault. Identity risks are negative impact on self that come with
labeling an experience as sexual assault. Interpersonal risks are related to relationships such as
friendships, significant others, that could be impacted, especially if the perpetrator was in
similar circles or held good standings. When students choose to make a report, or face their
trauma head on, it can negatively affect their school work, and college goals, which is called
college project-related risks.

McQueen, K., Murphy-Oikonen, J., Miller, A., & Chambers, L. (2021). Sexual assault: women’s
voices on the health impacts of not being believed by police. BMC Women's Health, 21,
1-10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-021-01358-6
This article attacked the aftermath of women’s mental health when they report. They are often
not believed by police, or treated well by police. This results in a secondary trauma, the first
being the assault itself. This research interviewed 23 sexual assault survivors who were not
believed by police during the reporting process. Three main themes were found as the
aftermath of this. There were expectations, of police in general, as well as a lost of trust and
second victimization. A loss of self came too, including a loss of self-worth, self-esteem, self-
image, and self-confidence. The third theme was the cumulative health and social effects, which
included PTSD, depression, higher usage of drugs and alcohol, and other mental struggles.

Mellins, C. A., Walsh, K., Sarvet, A. L., Wall, M., Gilbert, L., Santelli, J. S., Thompson, M., Wilson,
P. A., Khan, S., Benson, S., Bah, K., Kaufman, K. A., Reardon, L., & Hirsch, J. S. (2017).
Sexual assault incidents among college undergraduates: Prevalence and factors
associated with risk. PLoS One, 12(11)https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0186471

This article looks into why college students are at such a higher risk of being sexually assaulted.
It compared the numbers across different demographics to see who was more at risk, among
various types of college students. For example, men and women who engaged in one or more
hookups were more likely to experience sexual assault. Alcohol plays a big part in sexual assault.
Around 2/3 of penetrative assaults involved incapacitation. Reasons for college students being
at such a great risk for being sexually assaulted includes hookup culture, Greek life, and
excessive drinking and partying.

Murphy-Oikonen, J., Chambers, L., Miller, A., & McQueen, K. (2022). Sexual Assault Case
Attrition: The Voices of Survivors. SAGE Open, 12(4).
https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440221144612

This article looked closely into why female survivors withdrew their charges. It highlighted that
sexual assault is the most underreported crime to law enforcement, and looked into why that is.
There is an extremely overwhelming police process that comes with reporting. Often times
women do not feel supported by police throughout the process, but rather judged. There is
typically poor police communication from police about the process, which intimidates women
from continuing their trial. A large piece of misinformation is being told they have to testify with
the perpetrator in the room. Women are left with no hope and/or a loss of faith in the justice
system.

RAINN. (n.d.). Sexual violence on campuses is rising, but you can protect students. RAINN: The
World’s Largest Anti-Sexual Violence Organization. https://www.rainn.org/

This entire website is focused on helping survivors, educating the public, improving public
policy, and training others. It does an entire breakdown on sexual violence, from warning signs
to safety for parents and students, from understanding the types of sexual violence to survivor
stories. RAINN provides lots of ways to help, whether it is donating, volunteering, or taking
political action. It does a deep dive into public policy, including laws in every state, and issues
that RAINN specifically works on. It is also home to the National Sexual Assault Hotline, which is
a free, confidential, and 24/7 phone line and chat box to help anyone in crisis.

SHAW, L. E. (2016). Title IX, Sexual Assault, and the Issue of Effective Consent: Blurred Lines--
When Should “Yes” Mean “No”? Indiana Law Journal, 91(4), 1363–1423.

This looks into the complicated issues of consent and how college campuses fail to properly
educate their students on boundaries and consent, which enables a culture of assault. Most
cases are difficult for Title IX Coordinators to work on because most assaults take place during a
hookup, where no one else is in the room and alcohol is involved. People often rely on
nonverbal communication which can get tricky and difficult to read. Binge drinking is a common
practice among college students, and makes it even more difficult. These authors recommend
that the DOE looks at voluntary intoxication and decides what kind of role it plays with consent.
The DOE also needs to define consent so it’s consistent with the criminal law.

Sikweyiya, Y., Machisa, M., Mahlangu, P., Nunze, N., Dartnall, E., Pillay, M., & Jewkes, R. (2023).
“I Don’t Want to Be Known as a Weak Man”: Insights and Rationalizations by Male
Students on Men’s Sexual Violence Perpetration against Female Students on Campus.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(5), 4550.
https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20054550
This research took place in South Africa, at the University of the Witwatersrand. It closely
examined how male students internally rationalize sexual assault. In order to prevent rape, it’s
imperative to enter the mind of the perpetrator. A lot of male perpetrators were victims of
sexual violence when they were younger. While this doesn’t excuse their actions, it provides
some insights behind it. Additionally, toxic masculinity and the history of the patriarchy plays a
huge role in this problem. Men are more likely to be able to handle rejection, and think of sex as
a competition.

Ullman, S. E. (2010). Talking about sexual assault : society's response to survivors (1st ed., Ser.
Psychology of women book series). American Psychological Association.

This is a book that looks closely at women’s rape disclosure, along with issues that come from
people responding poorly when they are told. Telling someone about a sexual assault takes
bravery, and a bad reaction often results in a “second assault”. Because trust is abused during
assault, when someone responds in a negative manner, that trust is broken again. A high
percentage of victims experience reactions with blaming and disbelief, which leads to negative
health effects. There are several reasons why don’t people respond well, and it takes education
to help alleviate that. There are so many misconceptions behind sexual assault that haven’t
been widely denounced yet, and those misconceptions creep into the responders mind.

University of Washington. (n.d.). How to Help a Friend. Sexual Assault Resources.

https://www.washington.edu/sexualassault/support/how-to-help-a-friend/

This article looks closely at the job of the person who a survivor confides in. It is their job to
make the survivor feel supported and safe. As expressed in the article above, the trust has been
broken, and it can be extremely intimidating or difficult trying to share with someone. There are
four keys to keep in mind when listening. Being a good listener is the first step. Keeping it
confidential is also essential. It should be in the power of the survivor to tell who they want, and
to tell what they want. It’s also important to allow the survivor to make their own decisions,
whether you agree with them or not. Finally, the confidant needs to take care of themselves,
because it can be emotional and trying being a support.
 Research Reflection

Research has always been something that I enjoy, especially when it is a topic that I am

passionate about. That being said, it can be challenging to narrow down a topic so that the

research aspect is not overwhelming. In this case however, my research actually helped me to

narrow down my topic. I was still a little broad in my overarching topic of sexual assault, and

after seeing how much research has been done recently about the reporting process helped

narrow my process down. I will continue to refine as I work on this website.

The challenges came with how to properly find articles. I had too broad of a search at

the beginning, and it was including articles from all around the country, from all sorts of years. I

had to leaf through a lot of articles and then figure out exactly what I wanted to talk about.

Once I narrowed down my search, I was able to find more relevant research. The next challenge

was then, quite frankly, reading through each piece of research. Some of the verbiage and

science was complicated, and took a while to read through.

There was more than enough relevant research. As I said, it took a while to get to the

point of having relevant research, but once I got there, the articles were really interesting. I like

how they interviewed a lot of people in most of them, as it helped to give me various

perspectives. It is interesting because sexual assault is still not talked enough about, and there is

not enough done to fix this problem, but I could still find a lot of research. It all echoed my

concerns, that there isn’t enough about it.

A huge theme I saw within the research was the issue with the reporting process. This is

why I decided to add it as a part of my website. A lot of my research touched on survivors not
being believed by/having good experiences with police officers during the reporting process, as

well as feared associated with choosing if or not to report. I think this will give people a new

sense of empathy, as they learn why it is so truly difficult for someone to decide whether or not

to report. Another theme I saw was the role that alcohol plays in sexual assault. While I already

knew it, it was interesting to see different sides of things. People sometimes use alcohol as an

excuse to make a poor decision, and it makes it very difficult to determine if a case was legally

assault or not.

I will use my research all over my project. For the “debunking the myths” section, I plan

on using a lot of different statistics from my research. The RAINN website also has a lot of

testimonials that I might include in my website. Additionally, some of my resources touched on

how to support a survivor, which is one of my main topics. I don’t want my website to be

opinionated at all, or just based on my experiences. The more research I have to back it up, the

better.

Now that I have conducted all of this research, the challenge is picking out the most

important pieces to use for the website. I created a very detailed outline, so I can determine

what pieces are the most relevant and match well with each other.