How many people do you think, on average are sexually
harassed on a college campus? Is there actually a way to get an accurate
number? We all know how traumatic these experiences can be, but you will never
actually know what it is truly like until you experience it yourself. Chances
are, you know a woman or a man who has been sexually assaulted or abused in
some way; whether they’ve admitted it or not. These experiences are considered
to be unwanted sexual experiences, or UWS. According to the author Alexandra
Robbins in her article published in The
Washington Post called “How Sorority Culture Contributes to the Campus Rape
Problem,” the Greek life culture assists in encouraging this kind of inappropriate
behavior. As if college rape isn’t an issue without the Greek life to begin
with, right?
There are numerous colleges and universities all across the
United States of America. Nowadays, media glorifies the stereotypical college
life’s activities, flaws, mishaps, and Greek life itself-- partying, bullying,
sexual violence, drinking, drug use, dating, recruitment, racism, hazing,
hookups, secrecy, sexuality, pranks, and many more. Due to this glorification,
women are encouraged to be in sororities, to be more popular, well-known, and
to interact more with the opposite sex. A larger significance is placed on
social status. This unfortunately can lead to situations where a woman finds
herself in a situation where she feels pressured.
Robbins begs the question--does the
emphasis that is placed on fraternities shape the goals and morals that a
sorority has? Most definitely. What is extremely unfortunate is while rape is a
traumatic experience, women are constantly discouraged for many reasons not to
report an incident like this. Everyone around them may start putting other
ideas in their heads—thoughts like, “Was it even rape? Is this my fault? I did
something wrong. And now I’m doing something wrong by not telling anyone.” School
administrators and police officials are very intimidating and belittling to supposed
victims of rape or unwanted sexual experiences.
It’s important to understand that
there are many factors in a woman reporting rape. The Journal of American College Health published a study called “Reporting
Rape in a National Sample of College Women.” 2,000 women who attended college
were interviewed, and were asked about unwanted sexual experiences. Apparently,
1 in 7 women in the US are raped, but only a small amount of women report being
raped to officials. 11.5 percent of them reported their most recent or only
rape experience to authorities, and 2.7 percent of them involved alcohol and/or
drugs.
Speaking of intoxication, women are
more likely to not report an unwanted sexual experience due to intoxication
during the incident. On page 582 of the report, “being raped by a stranger and
sustaining injuries have even consistently associated with increased likelihood
of reporting. In contrast, victim use of alcohol and/or drugs at the time of
the assault has found to be associated with lower likelihood in reporting”
(Wolitzky-Taylor). This makes sense. A woman would be less likely to report one
who is not an acquaintance, yet this kind of rape happens more often than
stranger rape. Date-rape is even more troubling, because the date-rape drug
impairs memory, control, and consciousness.
Al Jazeera America posted a very
strongly written article by Claire Gordon titled "Why College Rape Victims Don’t
Go to the Police." A woman named Emma Sulkowicz, a victim of rape two years
prior. Sulkowicz underwent a painful hearing with three administrators, one of
which was confused as to how she was penetrated anally without lubricant.
Sulkowicz then had to draw a diagram. She claimed to have been “hit across the
face, choked and pinned down” (Gordon). Her best friend was supposed to be at
the meeting as her supporter, but that role got taken away from her for talking
about the case; it was considered a violation of their confidentiality policy.
To punish her friend, she was put on probation and was required to write two
reflection papers; one from her best friend’s perspective as well as one from
the accused rapist. Seven months later, she decided to call 911 after her
finals had finished. Once the cops arrived, they thought she was making it up.
They exclaimed, “‘You didn’t call the police? Most women would have called the
police… You don’t even remember the color of his eyes? You invited him into
your room. That’s not the legal definition of rape’ ” (Gordon). Questions like
these are intimidating. While dealing with a person who has gone through trauma
and has been discouraged to tell the police should not be spoken to in this
type of manner. When the officer was driving, the friend asked the police to
please put his cigarette out because her throat was hurting. The officer
replied with “’you’re in my office now, alright?” (Gordon). The friend had also
mentioned that the questioning of the officer was making her uncomfortable. He
responded with “’Well, it’s supposed to be uncomfortable. If it goes to trial,
this is what’s going to happen…You think that was bad? Nah’” (Gordon). This
right here, illustrates why girls feel like they cannot go to police for issues
like these. They are personal, painful, gory, and upsetting. Rape is difficult
to speak about, not only because it is traumatizing, but also because due to
the disrespect of officials as well as the number of cases without enough
evidence to prove it was rape, which can also be a cause of the disrespect
coming from the officials.
Rape is not funny. It is a touchy topic, and when a woman is suspected to be a victim of rape, she should be taken seriously. We are surrounded by so much media and so many "jokes" that truly are not jokes. This desensitizes our society to the fact that women are undergoing such unwanted experiences and harassment for a fault not of their own. The woman is never to blame. We should think more about how we treat this issue; the change comes from our people of the United States of America.
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