Any sexual activity or contact that takes place without the recipient's express permission is referred to as sexual violence. There has been a noticeable increase in the number of sexual assault instances that have been reported to the authorities on college campuses across the country. However, because so few of the instances are prosecuted, there is room for the offenders to roam freely. Fewer instances than one in ten receive the necessary investigations, and only a handful of those result in the conviction of the offenders. (Anderson, 1945). Reports indicate the frequent use of both alcohol and other drugs as means of coercing the women into having sex while some employ force against their victims. The paper intends to discuss the menace of sexual assault in colleges with the aim of identifying its causes, the necessary interventions, and some of the appropriate ways of ensuring its prevention.
Potential causes of sexual assault
Despite the majority of the incidences of rape being acts of men, the women are frequently blamed for the occurrences. The blame on women usually arises out of either their actions or the way that they dress while the men tend to face little reprimand for their actions. Numerous efforts towards prevention and awareness regarding sexual assault tend to focus on the women defending themselves. Despite the necessity for the women to ensure that they act in their defense against sexual assaults, the men require adequate education and sensitization on the prevention of any attempts towards aggression. Furthermore, there is the need for the change of attitudes of male college students in their actions towards the women.
Despite the emergence of some claims that the women tend to bear the responsibility for their rape, there need stringent measures on punishing the offenders to prevent reoccurrence of the vice. Some of the researchers assert that the way that the women act or behave tend to play a crucial role in invoking evil thoughts amongst men. The action and dressing of the women in such case are comparable to a man flashing out his money carelessly and leaving it lying around. Robbery of the money in such case is justifiable. Despite the morality of the robber being questionable, the man needs to bear responsibility for his part of the incidence.
The high prevalence of sexual assault in colleges is attributable to the presence of alcohol, and increase in exposure to others having sex and close proximities between the men and women. The analysis of the trends on sexual assault indicates that the women tend to exhibit less likelihood of reporting the instances of sexual assaults if they know the assailants. Reports indicate that 15 percent of the sexual assaults are attributable to strangers thus indicating that there are a small number of reported sexual assaults (Sutton and Leslie, 2827). Furthermore, numerous cases of sexual assault are attributable to intoxication that tends to cloud the judgments of individuals thus resulting in uncertainties regarding the occurrences. There is also notable variance in ideas relating to the implication of consent between women and men (Napolitano, 388). The lack of knowledge on sexual assaults and its prevalence in the campuses play a crucial role in increasing its prevalence in the colleges.
Alcohol
There exists a link between sexual assaults and alcohol use. About 80 percent of the reported sexual assaults are attributable to alcohol consumption with the amounts of alcohol consumed in these instances being sufficient to result in memory loss, disorientation, and the loss of consciousness (Krebs, et al., 639). The voluntary use of alcohol is attributable to a notable increase in the risk of victimization of an individual by sexual assault due to the reduction in some of the inhibitions that are crucial for the judgment decisions hence putting the victims at higher risks of sexual assault. Alcohol and other drugs common in the college setting play an important role in increasing the extent to which an individual is vulnerable to sexual assaults.
Additionally, the drugs tend to inhibit the reporting capabilities of the victims due to their impairment effects. The drugs tend to result in notable memory loss amongst individuals that play a critical role in delaying reporting of the assault hence hampering the collection of the evidence besides making confirmation and prosecution of the crimes challenging.
Intervention for sexual assault in campuses
Every college in the country is presently aware of the sexual assault issues plaguing our schools, and many have adopted bystander intervention programs, such as Green Dot, to teach students how to intervene and stop attacks from happening. The program ensures that the students learn how to interrupt a bad situation and then stop the potential assailant’s momentum. The appeal of the bystander program is on equal treatment of every individual as allies, who are empowered to step in, rather than a potential rapist or rape victim. Bystander interventions are as well have had lots of success and are a move in the right direction. However, there are still limitations, as not every sexual assault has a clear warning sign, and there is not a bystander in every room, and more needs to be done if colleges are interested in reducing the number of sexual assaults on their campuses (Maiuro, eds, 81).
Besides the bystander intervention programs, I believe we need revamp our sexual edification programs in both the high and middle schools, as well as parents taking a more active approach in educating our children about consensual sex because the institution play crucial role in raining awareness on the expectations regarding gender roles and courtship.
Few parents engage their kids on sexual assault before heading off to college. More parents’ talk with their daughters but petite talk to their sons and this is a big problem. Education on campus sexual assault tends to concentrate on educating young women, but that is not helping young men. The male students tend to exhibit the lack of adequate information on the constituents of sex. Many young men fail to comprehend the fact that sex while under influence of drugs without the consent of the other party makes one liable to punishment. There is necessity for informing both boys and men on how to act rather than focusing on warning the women on what they should avoid. Instead of focusing on education to reduce risk, which has proved ineffective in changing student’s behaviors, we need to focus on increasing awareness regarding the necessity for obtaining consent, and it needs to begin in high school. I also feel a mandatory class for seniors in high school addressing rape culture, personal boundaries, and the differences between consensual and forced sex is a necessity and it should focus on promoting a culture of consent and respect.
The actions of men are guided by the seemingly unspoken set of rules passed down from one generation to another, and if we want to change, we must address this issue. The American Society teaches men to value strength, power, and attach fighting and aggressive behavior to masculinity. Society and the media also show college men that hooking up with many women is expected during college years and this sets the stage for date rape because the men expect the girls to consent to their sexual advances. The information made available to the men over the media need scrutiny to avoid the occurrence of date rapes due to misinformation and wrong mentality on women.
The reduction in the number of sexual assaults in the learning institutions necessitates attitude adjustment amongst the students. There is the need for ensuring cultural shift towards embracing the victims by offering adequate support. Therefore, instead of asking the victim what she was wearing, why she was out so late, or how much she had to drink that night, we should be asking the contributing factors to the increase in sexual assault while focusing on its mitigation. We need more conversation on college campuses, so that individuals have a clearer understanding of what entails rape besides ensuring provision of information regarding the constituents of consensual sex. There needs stiffer penalties for the perpetrators besides ensuring establishment of more compassionate administration in the learning institutions that reaches out to sexual assault victims. The “no means no” lectures are a waste of time and energy. Every college should be required to offer programs aimed at raising awareness and lowering risks.
In addition, Colleges need to have effective processes for ensuring justice to the students who want to pursue the perpetrators through organized disciplinary hearings. All colleges should have skilled teams of professionals that handle all sexual assault allegations brought by students, and all cases should be required to go to that particular team, so the consideration and processing of the cases involve competent people in a consistent and fair way. It is imperative to have policies in place that hold perpetrators accountable to deter sexual assaults and unfortunately, this is something that not all colleges require or deem as necessary.
The management of the universities can ensure the establishment of policies against sexual harassment and violence. The creation of such systems plays crucial role in the provision of necessary support besides offering appropriate training for the students and staff. Additionally, making public the reports on the responsiveness of the adopted approaches in the prevention of sexual assaults in the colleges is crucial in ensuring that numerous individuals obtain the necessary assistance by reporting their cases. The reports are also critical in sending warning messages to the perpetrators. Organizing rehabilitation sessions is crucial to ensure that the perpetrators reform accordingly thus resulting in the reduction in instances of sexual assault in the colleges.
Conclusion
The prevalence of sexual assault in the universities and other learning institutions is questionable. The increased cases of sexual assaults on the campuses are substantially attributable to the increase in the level of exposure of the students to alcohol and drugs that tend to impair their judgments. The reduction in the cases of sexual assault amongst the college students can be ensured through educating both the men and women on the appropriate ways of acting to prevent the instances of invoking evil thoughts amongst other persons. For example, education on the appropriate modes of dressing is crucial.
Works cited
ANDERSON, MICHELLE J. "Campus Sexual Assault Adjudication and Resistance to Reform." Yale Law Journal, vol. 125, no. 7, May 2016, pp. 1940-2005. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=115922653&site=ehost-live.
Krebs, Christopher P., et al. "College Women's Experiences with Physically Forced, Alcohol- or Other Drug-Enabled, and Drug-Facilitated Sexual Assault Before and since Entering College." Journal of American College Health, vol. 57, no. 6, May/Jun2009, pp. 639-649. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=39347605&site=ehost-live.
Maiuro, Roland D.,eds. Perspectives On College Sexual Assault: Perpetrator, Victim, And Bystander. New York, NY : Springer Publishing Company., [2015. Print.
Napolitano, Janet. "Only Yes Means Yes": An Essay on University Policies Regarding Sexual Violence and Sexual Assault." Yale Law & Policy Review, vol. 33, no. 2, Spring2015, pp. 387-402. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=109169039&site=ehost-live.
Sutton, Tara and Leslie Simons. "Sexual Assault among College Students: Family of Origin Hostility, Attachment, and the Hook-Up Culture as Risk Factors." Journal of Child & Family Studies, vol. 24, no. 10, Oct. 2015, pp. 2827-2840. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s10826-014-0087-1.
