Rape Culture on College Campuses

Overview

Rape culture is heavily prevalent around the world currently, and more specifically with our younger demographic on college campuses. There are studies that indicate college campuses foster rape culture by accepting sexual assault and rape on campus. Also, every two minutes a rape occurs in the United States, and the probability of being that victim increase four times for a female college student in comparison to any other age group.

Myths

There are many stereotypical responses to rape that have been heard readily. These responses or myths perpetuate rape culture, in which they shift the blame from the perpetrators to the victims. Examples of rape myths include that “no” really means “yes,” or that women have the power to resist rape if they “really wanted to.” Slut shaming also adds to the myths of rape culture, in which men are praised for their sexual exploits and women are shamed.

Statistics

There are several studies that suggest that rape is still an extensive problem faced one college campuses around the world. It is said that 3% of college women have been raped and that 20-25% of women in college have been victim to either rape or sexual assault during their 4-5 years in university.

A majority of sexual assaults are committed by a person familiar to the victim. Alcohol and other substances are involved in most assault cases, in which several bystanders are present, and they take place in populated areas, such as parties or in residence halls. As expected from college life, there is a huge presence of alcohol in social settings. In a study it was reported that nearly half of forced sexual encounters involved alcohol.

Why Victims Don't Report to the Police

Naturally, people who have not fallen victim to sexual assault believe the best course of action is to report the assault to the police. The victims disagree, however, in which there are several reasons that prevent the victim’s from willingly reporting their assault to the police. Amongst these reason are the fact that their university administration encourages against reporting anything to the police, so that they can handle the situations internally. The victims also believe that the perpetrator will retaliate when named as a rapist or the instigator of a sexual assault. The victims also have the fear that no one will believe their recount of the events, as well as becoming a social pariah and losing friends, as their attacker is most likely someone they know and are acquainted with.

Carry the Weight

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mattress_Performance_(Carry_That_Weight)

Starting in November 2014, there was a highly publicized work of endurance performance art, Carry the Weight, conducted by Columbia University student, Emma Sulkowicz. Sulkowicz began the project in response to how Columbia handled her allegations of rape. The university negated the allegations and allowed the accused rapist to continue his education without any action taken against him. Sulkowicz vowed to carry her dorm room mattress with her around campus as long as she had to attend university with her rapist. The project ended in May 2015 due to Solkowicz’s graduation.

#RapeHoax

Initially, when Sulkowicz went public with the performance art piece, she received extensive criticism from multiple journalists, news outlets, and her university. Most recently, following her graduation from Columbia, posters featuring Sulkowicz and her mattress with the words “pretty little liar” were plastered around the campus and city. Along with the slanderous posters, a Twitter account was made with the handle “Rape Hoax” as well as a trending hashtag.

Fraternity Life

It is a widely preconceived notion that members of Greek life, and particularly fraternities engage in more sexual activity and higher consumption levels of alcohol and other substances, allegedly leading to more sexual assaults.

Bystander Effect

As rape on college campuses continues to be a prevalent issue, one prevention tactic has stood out amongst most and is the focus on bystander prevention. In other words, the idea is based upon a shift from victim shaming, and suggest that individuals of the community have the ability to intervene in scenarios that involve sexual violence or rape. There is an argument that the bystanders are in a prime position during the “pre-assault phase” where they can prevent and interrupt when the markers for sexual violence or rape first appear. Although many bystanders may be present during the “pre-assault phase” of a sexual attack, there are many factors that contribute to whether the bystanders will intervene or not. Many of these factors involve the bystander’s opinion of the victim, and of sexual assault in general. There is research that suggests that a bystander’s willingness to intervene is decided by the bystander’s judgement of the victim’s “worthiness,” involvement in their assault, and ideas regarding rape.