Sexual Assault on College Campuses
Sexual assault on college campuses is defined as any sexual contact that occurs without the student's explicit consent while attending a higher learning institution. Rape, coercive sodomy, fondling, and forced sexual intercourse are all sexual actions that are classified as sexual assault. Sexual assault has been claimed to be more common against women, despite the fact that all genders are at danger. This is an investigation of sexual assault on college campuses.
Explanation of Sexual Assault
To explain sexual assault, researchers have utilized three primary techniques. The first is the use of individual psychological factors, which describes sexual assault as an act that emerges from both the victims' and offenders' unique characteristics. Malamuth & Colleagues psychological model claims that personal characteristics of hostile masculinity and impersonal sexual desires are the main traits that can be used for the predictability of sexual assault, (Krebs et al, 2007). Their research confirmed that most perpetrators exhibit the desire to control the potential victims, a distrustful orientation against the victims and a promiscuous orientation towards sex. They went further to describe sexual assault as an act of dominance as opposed to sexual gratification.
The second approach is through the use of the rape culture, which describes the link between sexual violence, rape, and sexual assault. According to second-wave feminism, the three are greatly related to the culture of the society. A culture which places less respect for women is more likely to experience higher levels of sexual assault.
Last, sexual assault is described to be as a result of unwanted sexual attention, which is a common practice in most colleges and bars. This approach explains sexual assault as an effect of increased vulnerability through unwanted sexual attention. For instance, campus rules, ideologies, resources, and practices can lead to the adoption of unhealthy beliefs about gender, which has the potential of promoting sexual assault on campuses. The most common practice is the hosting of parties in which casual sex is encouraged, hence increasing the probability of sexual assault occurrence, (Karjane et al., 2005).
Prevalence and Incidence of Sexual Assault
Failure to Report Sexual Assault Cases
Research consistently shows that there are standard practices that increase the prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses. One of them is the failure of the victims to report the occurrence of the vice. In most cases, the victims fear to suffer shame and humiliation, lose privacy and have to testify in a police hearing, and in most cases, the victims are not sure of whether a crime was committed. Most sexual assault cases on campuses occur when both the victim and the perpetrator are under the influence of drugs and alcohol. This raises uncertainty of whether the act happened without the consent of the victim, hence opting not to report the case. Failure to report sexual assault cases increases the probability of the perpetrator engaging in other incidences, and also deprives other potential perpetrators the chance to be warned against such behavior, (Krebs et al, 2009).
2015 Campus Climate Surveys
Some practices foster a climate in which sexual assault cases can readily occur. The 2015 Association of American Universities (AAU) Campus Survey on Sexual Assault attracted 150,000 participants who were from 27 campuses. The survey found out that 5% of male and 20% of female students were victims of sexual assault. The survey considered sexual assault to be any non-consensual sexual contact, unwanted touching, kissing and penetration which the students experienced since they joined campus, (Cantor et al, 2015). The survey also found out that more than half of the respondents did not report the case to the police or school authorities since they did not consider the incident that serious, even when it involved penetration.
The University of Kentucky conducted an independent sexual assault survey, whereby the student response was made mandatory, unlike in the normal voluntary response. The study involved 24,300 respondents and found out that 5% of the students reported involvement in non-consensual sexual activities. These results were similar to other campus sexual assault surveys that were conducted in 2015, (Cantor et al, 2015).
The fact that the studies showed at least 5% involvement of the campus students in sexual assaults shows that the climate in college campuses support such incidents. Although most of the sexual assault does not take place on the school premises, most of the occurrences can be attributed to the involvement of students in activities that promote the vulnerability of the students. The most significant number of cases were found out to have occurred during night parties, which is reduced to only a few and well-monitored parties with less or no involvement of the use of drugs and alcohol can help in reducing the cases.
Semester and Class Rank
Most studies have confirmed that the risk of sexual assault usually is higher for students in their first year and second year of college. The studies also reported that most sexual assaults take place during the periods between August and November, which is the period when most campuses conduct their intake. Sexual assault researchers have described this season as a "red zone" which requires more sexual assault prevention attention. The period is also characterized as one that has most fraternity events, which might have led to the high number of sexual assault incidents, (Armstrong et al, 2006).
Researchers have also explained the fact that fresh students are more vulnerable to sexual assaults because they do not have a lot of close friends who can intervene in case they are in danger. Such students are also less aware of the informal strategies that can be used to prevent unwanted sexual attention.
Influence of Alcohol
As pointed out earlier, surveys had consistently shown that most victims and perpetrators of sexual assault were under the influence of alcohol when the assault took place. 47% of the women who were reported to have suffered sexual assault confirmed that they were drinking alcohol when the act took place. The 2007 Campus Assault Survey also shows that more than half of the victims of sexual assault were under the influence of alcohol and other drugs when the assault occurred, (Yung, 2015). Studies have confirmed that during fraternity events, alcohol consumption impairs communication about sexual intentions, encourages biased appraisal of a student's sexual motives and encourages misperception of sexual intentions. These effects are dependent on peer beliefs of how students are expected to behave while drinking. The influence of alcohol is also likely to reduce the ability to resist sexual advancements and also increases the possibility of aggressive behavior. In most cases, the students engage in inappropriate behaviors and casual sex after alcohol consumption.
Attitudes
Studies have consistently shown that peer group and individual attitudes increase the vulnerability of campus students towards sexual assault. Psychologists have confirmed that both the individual proclivity to engage in sexual assault and the general sexual aggressiveness thrive in a case where the perpetrator endorse sexual assault tolerant attitudes. For instance, the acceptance of rape myths such as the belief that it is only promiscuous women who get raped or the idea that rape only occurs when women ask for it, are correlated with self-reported willingness to commit sexual assault in future among male students, (Abbey & McAuslan, 2004). A campus sexual assault survey conducted in 2007 found out that college men who had previously exhibited sexual aggression held negative beliefs towards women and gender roles, whereby most of them viewed women as sex objects. Psychologists have shown that such men are more likely to justify sexual assault under some circumstances, and they hence use drugs and alcohol to obtain sex. They are also more likely to blame women for their victimization and use sexual assault as an expression of masculinity or as an act of punishment to women.
Preventive Efforts
Sexual assault is prohibited on college campuses, whereby schools are required by the law to implement policies that protect students from the same. Sexual violence can limit higher education accessible to the vulnerable parties and genders, making it the responsibility of campus administration to put in place all the necessary efforts in prevention of sexual harassment. Under Title IX, the campuses have the responsibility of informing the victims of their right to report sexual assault incidences to the police, although this action remains voluntary, (Senn et al., 2015). However, the campuses are required to hold independent investigations in case of the occurrence and impose disciplinary actions on the perpetrators, whether the case is reported or not.
The following are preventive measures put in place to discourage sexual assault on campuses:
Affirmative Consent Policies
Some states such as New York have put consent policies in place, which requires students to receive active consent throughout any sexual encounter. The policies state that silence and lack of resistance during any sexual encounter should not be used as a display of consent. For sex to be consensual, both parties must agree to it. The policies also allow schools to consider a drunken student as one who cannot give consent. However, students find these policies to be challenging since nonverbal cues are interpreted differently, and the legal definitions of affirmative consent conflict with students understanding. The American Law Institute rejected a proposal to endorse affirmative consent in the penal codes. The American Law Institute claimed that requiring the accused to prove that the sexual encounter was vocally agreed upon is a near-impossible requirement, which denies the accused due process rights.
Government Efforts
In 2011, the United State Department of Education wrote to all campus presidents reiterating the need to investigate all sexual assault cases and impose punishment on the perpetrators. The schools were required to consider a preponderance of the evidence before making the judgment. President Obama's administration launched the "It's On Us" campaign against sexual assault on campuses in 2014, (Anderson, 2015). The campaign required students to take a pledge to contribute to the termination of sexual assault on college campuses. On September 22, 2017, President Donald Trump's administration rescinded some President Obama's guidelines on the campaign against sexual assault. The guidelines included: having a considerably low standard of proof for guilt establishment, and total elimination of mediation between the accused and the accuser, (Mouilso et al., 2017).
Conclusion
Sexual assault among college students is a vice that should be eliminated at all costs. Its results on the victims cause permanent psychological harm, which negatively affects their future sex life. It is therefore essential for campus administrations to raise awareness, especially among the first and second year students on how they can prevent sexual assault incidences. Disciplinary measures should be taken on perpetrators as a way of warning potential perpetrators against conducting sexual assault acts.
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