Rape on U.S. College Campuses: Causes, Effects, and What’s Being Done to Stop It
Rape culture on college campuses is pervasive and blatant, but universities, as well as fellow students, politicians, law enforcement officials, media messages, and gender roles in a culture where men dominate and women are not taken as seriously, endorse the bias that sexual assault is the victim’s fault or “unavoidable” in a culture where X, instead of focusing on preventing rape by changing the behavior of perpetrators. Rape culture on campus is perpetuated by the media, U.S. laws, and universities trying to protect their name. The continued emphasis on the actions of sexual assault victims, instead of aggressors, is a real problem in U.S. colleges today and …show more content…
Sexual assault has a severe impact on survivors. These often include such drastic psychological reactions as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Depression, Dissociative Identity Disorder, and Stockholm syndrome (“Effects of Sexual Assault”). This can lead to an intense fear of social ostracization, which is not unwarranted. A large majority of rapes or sexual assaults happen with someone who a close friend, or at least an acquaintance of, the victim. At a smaller or midsize campus, the rapist is likely to be part of the victim’s social circle. “‘I’ve seen this in every single case. The victim lose friends or becomes a social pariah. If you report on a really small campus, it’s really difficult to re-integrate after you report,’ says Bruno” (Gray, “Why Don 't Campus…”). Often, survivors of rape are thought of less of victims then the rapists are – and the actual victims are blamed because friends and peers sympathize more with the man than the woman. “I’ve lost friends because some people just don’t understand what it means to be raped,” says Emma Sulkowicz, a junior at Columbia University who was brutally attacked on campus - and whose case was diminuated not only by school board officials, but by fellow students. “One friend asked me if I thought that my rapist would be expelled from school. I said, ‘I really hope so.’ And he said, ‘Poor guy’, because I think many men see rape as …show more content…
In a vast majority of cases where a woman reports sexual assault, the first questions that are asked come along the lines of “Were you drinking? What were you wearing? Was it really non-consensual?” There is a cultural belief and standard way of thought that if a woman “provokes” it, by, for example, dressing provocatively, being open about her sexuality, or even “leading a man on”, that she is asking for sex and that it’s not “really rape” or “legitimate rape” because she implied “yes” with her actions. This culture is perpetuated blatantly and with great magnitude on college campuses by the Greek system – specifically, Fraternities. “On Tuesday, Tech 's Phi Delta Theta fraternity was suspended indefinitely from campus after photos leaked online of a weekend party featuring a banner with the words ‘No Means Yes, Yes Means Anal.’” This unsettling example of rape culture casually turns sexual consent into a joke, and unabashedly condones sexual assault and the dehumanization of a woman’s body as a “funny” thing to joke about (Ursch). However, rape culture is not just extreme examples of degradation of women by young men, nor is it uncommon. In fact, rape culture pervades our daily lives, from catcalling – and
Rape culture on college campuses is pervasive and blatant, but universities, as well as fellow students, politicians, law enforcement officials, media messages, and gender roles in a culture where men dominate and women are not taken as seriously, endorse the bias that sexual assault is the victim’s fault or “unavoidable” in a culture where X, instead of focusing on preventing rape by changing the behavior of perpetrators. Rape culture on campus is perpetuated by the media, U.S. laws, and universities trying to protect their name. The continued emphasis on the actions of sexual assault victims, instead of aggressors, is a real problem in U.S. colleges today and …show more content…
Sexual assault has a severe impact on survivors. These often include such drastic psychological reactions as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Depression, Dissociative Identity Disorder, and Stockholm syndrome (“Effects of Sexual Assault”). This can lead to an intense fear of social ostracization, which is not unwarranted. A large majority of rapes or sexual assaults happen with someone who a close friend, or at least an acquaintance of, the victim. At a smaller or midsize campus, the rapist is likely to be part of the victim’s social circle. “‘I’ve seen this in every single case. The victim lose friends or becomes a social pariah. If you report on a really small campus, it’s really difficult to re-integrate after you report,’ says Bruno” (Gray, “Why Don 't Campus…”). Often, survivors of rape are thought of less of victims then the rapists are – and the actual victims are blamed because friends and peers sympathize more with the man than the woman. “I’ve lost friends because some people just don’t understand what it means to be raped,” says Emma Sulkowicz, a junior at Columbia University who was brutally attacked on campus - and whose case was diminuated not only by school board officials, but by fellow students. “One friend asked me if I thought that my rapist would be expelled from school. I said, ‘I really hope so.’ And he said, ‘Poor guy’, because I think many men see rape as …show more content…
In a vast majority of cases where a woman reports sexual assault, the first questions that are asked come along the lines of “Were you drinking? What were you wearing? Was it really non-consensual?” There is a cultural belief and standard way of thought that if a woman “provokes” it, by, for example, dressing provocatively, being open about her sexuality, or even “leading a man on”, that she is asking for sex and that it’s not “really rape” or “legitimate rape” because she implied “yes” with her actions. This culture is perpetuated blatantly and with great magnitude on college campuses by the Greek system – specifically, Fraternities. “On Tuesday, Tech 's Phi Delta Theta fraternity was suspended indefinitely from campus after photos leaked online of a weekend party featuring a banner with the words ‘No Means Yes, Yes Means Anal.’” This unsettling example of rape culture casually turns sexual consent into a joke, and unabashedly condones sexual assault and the dehumanization of a woman’s body as a “funny” thing to joke about (Ursch). However, rape culture is not just extreme examples of degradation of women by young men, nor is it uncommon. In fact, rape culture pervades our daily lives, from catcalling – and