Campus rape

People in Bangalore protesting outside Bangalore Town Hall on 30 December 2012 demanding justice for the 23-year-old college student following her death on 29 December 2012. (Delhi gang rape)

Campus rape is the rape of a student attending an institute of higher learning such as a college or university. The term references the campus where these institutes are, although not all reported incidents occur on campus property. The issue affects women, men, and transgender people seeking higher education throughout the world, even including many Western nations with de jure laws against forms of violence against women and violence against men.

Estimates vary greatly as to the number of women who experience a sexual assault during college, with surveys focused on the United States placing it as low as 1 in 50 (2%)^[1] to as high as 1 in 4 (25%).^[2] The rate of male victims may be as high as 1 in 7, making campus rape of men also a major issue.^[3] The nature of the surveys and the wording of the questions appears to be the largest factor in the variance of figures, with other estimates being in between.^[4]

Campus rape is a social problem that spans different ethnic groups, different social classes, different places on the gender spectrum, and more.

Prevalence

In 1985, Ms. Magazine conducted a national rape survey on college campuses in the United States, directed by Mary Koss, a professor of psychology at Kent State University. The survey asked 3,187 college women, selected at random nationwide, a series of ten questions related to sexual violation. Koss concluded that 15.4 percent of respondents had been raped and that 12.1 percent had been victims of attempted rape.^[2] Her expanded research found that one in four women in college had experienced unwanted sexual assault, work that preceeded a public outcry and activism by feminists against what was regarded as a 'rape culture'.^[4]

According to Christina Hoff Sommers, the Koss study and the oft-quoted "one in four" statistic is based upon flawed data. The criteria for the study was based on the question, "Have you had sexual intercourse when you didn't want to because a man gave you alcohol or drugs?" According to Sommers and professor Neil Gilbert, this left the door open for anyone who regretted a sexual liaison to consider their partner a rapist, even if both partners did not think of the situation as abusive. In an article in The New York Times Magazine, writer Katie Roiphe also criticized Koss's figures, stating: "If 25 percent of my women friends were really being raped, wouldn't I know it?"^[4]

Other studies into the issue have found varying results, though still recognizing sexual assault of younger women as a significant social problem. Margaret Gordon, a feminist and a professor of the University of Washington, studied the issue in 1981 and found a one in fifty value for rape-related victimization. Dr. Linda George of Duke University found a one in seventeen value.^[4]

In 1997, a National College Women Sexual Victimization (NCWSV) survey was conducted in the U.S. of 4,446 women, chosen randomly, who were attending a 2- or 4-year college or university during the previous semester. The survey consisted of behavioral-specific questions that describe an incident in graphic language and cover the elements of a criminal offense, such as "Did someone make you have sexual intercourse by using force or threatening to harm you?" According to that survey, 1.7% of women had experienced a complete rape and another 1.1% had experienced an attempted rape. The National Institute of Justice pointed out in a report that this estimate does not take into account variation between semesters and calculated that it can climb to between one-fifth and one-quarter over the course of a school career.^[5][6]

Research of American college students suggests that white women, prior victims, first-year students, and more sexually active women are the most vulnerable to sexual assault. Another study shows that white women are more likely than non-white women to experience rape while intoxicated, but less likely to experience other forms of rape. This high rate of rape while intoxicated accounts for a white women reporting a higher overall rate of sexual assault than non-white women, although further research is needed into racial differences and college party organization.^[6] Regardless of race, the majority of victims know the assailant. Black women in America are more likely to report sexual assault that has been perpetrated by a stranger.^[7] Teenage girls are more likely to think that stranger rape is more serious than other forms of rape.^[8] Victims of rape are mostly between 10 and 29 years old, while perpetrators are generally between 15 and 29 years old.^[9]

The National Institute for Mental Health and Ms. Magazine study also found a 1 in 7 sexual assault rate for men, indicating that violence against men was also a significant problem.^[3]

Influence of alcohol

Alcohol consumption is known to have effects on sexual behavior and aggression. During social interactions, alcohol consumption also encourages biased appraisal of a partner’s sexual motives, impairs communication about sexual intentions, and enhances misperception of sexual intent, effects exacerbated by peer influence about how to act when drinking.^[10] The effects of alcohol at point of forced sex are likely to impair ability to rectify misperceptions, diminish ability to resist sexual advancements, and justifies aggressive behavior.^[10] Alcohol provides justification for engaging in behaviors that are usually considered inappropriate. Studies have shown consistent alcohol use in reported cases of sexual and non-sexual violence. The increase of assaults on college campuses can be attributed to the social expectation that students participate in alcohol consumption. The peer norms on American college campuses are to drink heavily, to act in an uninhibited manner and to engage in casual sex.^[11]

Various studies have concluded the following results:

• On average, at least 50% of college students’ sexual assaults are associated with alcohol use^[10]
• 74% of perpetrators and 55% of victims of rape of a nationally representative sample of college students had been drinking alcohol^[10]
• Women whose partners abuse alcohol are 3.6 times more likely than other women to be assaulted by their partners^[12]
• In 2002, more than 70,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 were victims of alcohol-related sexual assault in the U.S.^[13]
• In those violent incidents recorded by the police in which alcohol was a factor, about 9% of the offenders and nearly 14% of the victims were under age 21^[13]

However, the method for obtaining these numbers has come under criticism. Professor Neil Gilbert pointed out the ambiguity of the role of alcohol in answering whether or not a sexual encounter was consensual:

"What does having sex 'because' a man gives you drugs or alcohol signify? A positive response does not indicate whether duress, intoxication, force, or the threat of force were present; whether the woman's judgment or control were substantially impaired; or whether the man purposefully got the woman drunk in order to prevent her resistance to sexual advances.... While the item could have been clearly worded to denote "intentional incapacitation of the victim," as the question stands it would require a mind reader to detect whether any affirmative response corresponds to this legal definition of rape."^[14]

The Blade released a special report, "The Making of an Epidemic", criticizing the "Koss" study (which concluded that 55% of rape victims have been intoxicated). According to The Blade, Koss specifically ignored an Ohio statute that excluded "...situations where a person plies his intended partner with drink or drugs in hopes that lowered inhibition might lead to a liaison." Koss later admitted that the wording of the survey had been ambiguous.^[15]

Variation

Acquaintance rape

Acquaintance rape is the most common form of rape. Victims between 18 and 29 years old are the highest risk group for acquaintance rape. In half of acquaintance rape cases the victim and rapist are somewhat familiar with one another, while 40% accounts for casual acquaintances. Acquaintance rape, which includes date rape, may also include party and gang rape.^[9] Sexual assault has become a predictable outcome resulting from synergistic relationship of processes that operate at individual, organizational, and interactional levels.^[16]

Date rape

Date rape, a form of acquaintance rape, is a non-domestic rape committed by someone who knows the victim.^[17] This constitutes the vast majority of rapes reported. It can occur between two people who know one another usually in social situations, between people who are dating as a couple and have had consensual sex in the past, between two people who are starting to date, between people who are just friends, and between acquaintances. It includes rape of co-workers, schoolmates, friends, and other acquaintances, providing they are dating.^[18] Date rape is considered the most unreported crime on college campuses.^[19] The term date rape is often referred to as ‘acquaintance rape’ or ‘hidden rape’ and has been identified as a growing problem in western society.^[20] College and university campuses are prime locations for date rape to occur due to the high volume of students’ interest in romantic relationships. A college survey conducted by the National Victim Center reported that one in four college women have been raped or experienced attempted rape.^[21] This report indicates that young women are at considerable risk of becoming victims of date rape while in college.

Statistics (according to a National College Women Sexual Victimization study, related to American colleges):

• 1 in every 36 women will experience a complete or attempted rape by the end of a college school year
• 9 out of 10 women raped know their attacker
• The majority of students raped are proven to have been using alcohol or drugs
• Intimate partner violence is the leading cause of injury to women.^[5]

Gang rape

Gang rape is a rape perpetrated by multiple offenders at once. The Bureau of Justice Statistics report that 15% of all rape cases involve more than one offender.^[9] Between one and two percent of college women are victims of rape. "Overall on college campuses, 16 percent of all rapes and 10 percent of all attempted rapes engage multiple perpetrators" (Neaumann,398).^[22] Fifty-five to seventy percent of gang rape perpetrators belong to fraternities. Eighty-six percent of off-campus attempted rape or sexual assaults are at fraternity houses.^[22] College gang rape tends to be perpetrated by middle- to upper-class men.^[23]

There are higher incidents of gang rape within fraternities for many reasons: peer acceptance, alcohol use, the acceptance of rape myths and viewing women as sexualized objects, as well as the highly masculinized environment. The Neumann study found that fraternity members are more likely than other college students to engage in rape.^[22] Part of the prevalence of fraternity rape may be due to the fact that some colleges do not have complete control over the privately owned fraternity houses.^[6] Although gang rape on college campuses is an issue, however, date, acquaintance, and party rape are more likely to happen.^[23]

Perpetuation by college fraternities

Anthropologist Peggy Reeves Sanday attributes the perpetuation of rape culture to fraternity environments within North America.^[24] Sanday's article “Rape Prone versus Rape Free Campus Cultures” explains that young fraternity members who create their sense of belonging through homophobia and expressing their masculinity through sexual intercourse contribute to rape prone environments.^[24] Commodification of women is dominant in rape-prone discourses, as men share “ridiculously exaggerated sexual boasting” in order to feel accepted and included by their brothers.^[24] Exaggerated sexual boasting is also attributed by Sanday to obtaining information about sex and women through pornography. Men watching gang banging pornography together as male bonding, she illustrates, desensitizes aspects of rape culture as it becomes viewed as a normative sexual experience. As an example, Sanday explains the ritual of “beaching” or “whaling”.^[24] This refers to a practice where fraternity members target a woman at a party and have sex with her in an area that is visible to others, without her consent, so the viewers can have a live pornographic show.^[24]

College campus reactions

Some colleges have come under federal investigation for their handling of sexual assault cases, described by civil rights groups as discriminatory and inappropriate.^[25][26] College campuses can be described as either "rape-free" or "rape-prone". Rape-free campuses are those that seriously deal with incidents of rape, and do not condone alcohol use, while rape-prone campuses do neither.^[23]

According to sociologist Michael Kimmel, rape-prone campus environments exist throughout several university and college campuses in North America. Kimmel defines these environments as “…one in which the incidence of rape is reported by observers to be high, or rape is excused as a ceremonial expression of masculinity, or rape as an act by which men are allowed to punish or threaten women.”^[27]

Prevention

The Campus Sexual Assault Victims’ Bill of Rights was a 1992 amendment to the 1990 act. It requires that schools have prevention policies and provide care for victims.^[28] Some universities have taken additional steps to reduce the amount of rape on their campuses. Schools now celebrate Rape Awareness week, which is devoted to educating the students about the rape epidemic. There are also other educational opportunities, with experts on the subject speaking at mandatory dorm meetings where students get reading material about safety and information about people who work at the women’s center so that if something happens, a victim would know who to call and what to do. Other options to promote a safe campus environment are to sell pepper-spray at discounted prices and offer self-defense workshops. To truly change the cycle of violence, perpetrators needs to be educated on how to understand when sex is inappropriate.^[6]

Related activism

Campus Sexual Assault Victims’ Bill of Rights of 1992. This amendment to the 1990 act requires that schools develop prevention policies and pro­vide certain assurances to victims. The law was amended again in 1998 to expand requirements, including the crime categories that must be reported.

See also

• Bullying in academia
• Sexual harassment in education
• Rape culture
• Violence against men
• Violence against women

References

Further reading