Dangers of Rape at Campus

Issue of Rape in Campus

Women, especially on college campuses should not have to live in fear about being raped. Rape is a crime known as, mala en se, which means wrong or evil in itself. In today’s society, rape is becoming more and more known throughout our country and is extremely prevalent in the scene of University Campuses.

In the Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment and Trauma they state that, one in every four women in college are victims of rape or attempted rape (Vance, Sutter, Perrin, & Heesacker, 2015).

This statistic, a quite frightening one at that, shows how important of a topic this is in today’s society. Not only is the problem just the act of rape, but also Rape Myths and the acceptance of these myths. Rape myths as described by Martha R. Burt are, “all points to the importance of stereotypes and myths denned as prejudicial, stereotyped, or false beliefs about rape, rape victims, and rapists in creating a climate hostile to rape victims (Burt, 1980).

The objective of this paper, is to dive into the topics on rape on college campuses, rape myths and the acceptance of rape myths, and lastly talk about how males can actually be the victim in a rape, not always the perpetrator.

College campuses are live, full of energy, as well as drugs and alcohol. Not only are drugs and alcohol typically used and abuse on college campuses, but knowing one in four women in college will eventually be raped, alcohol and drugs are associated with almost half of all of those rapes (Horvath & Brown, 2006).

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Being in college and knowing what goes down at parties, it is quite disturbing to know that you have probably been to a party in which a woman there was or had been sexually assaulted. It is very bothersome that there are guys out there so desperate, that they need to intoxicate and debilitate a woman in order to just hook up with her. Furthermore, it has been found that different students are more susceptible to experiencing a sexual assault than others, for example: black women are more likely than Asian women, bisexual women more than heterosexual women, and sorority women more than women not in a sorority (Worthen & Wallace, 2017).

As stated, part of the problem as stated in this Journal is that, “College campuses are full of advertisements for clubs, alcohol, bar promotions, and the like, which prominently feature images of sexualized women (Vance et al., 2015).” From a small Catholic university in the Middle of the United States, Kristine Chapleau and Debra Oswald examined 131 students (Chapleau & Oswald, 2010). They took these students and tried to figure their beliefs on power and sex (Chapleau & Oswald, 2010). They found that, “Previous studies have found that 15% to 25% of male college students report committing some form of sexual coercion and our sample was consistent with these studies. Of the 19 men who reported past sexual aggression, 16 reported committing one type of sexually aggressive act, and three reported committing two types of sexually aggressive act (Chapleau & Oswald, 2010).” These men are now even admitting to what they have done regarding coercing to get a female partner. Rape myth’s are things such as: the victim is lying, they were intoxicated, she’s a “whore”, she was asking for it by how she was dresses, etc. (Vitelli, 2017). Rape allows our society that we live in, to essentially degrade women whom have been raped and always blame them for the incident. Our society is so quick to judge women (and men) who have suffered from an attempt of or actually being raped, that it makes the victim stay quiet and not bring it up or press charges. By staying quiet, or even blaming the victim’s our society is contributing to the rise in rape cases. Rape is serious and happens far too often, in this paper we are going to dive into the rape myth’s and take a look at rape involved with Universities. In Sarah McMahon’s journal she noted, “For example, feminist scholars have conducted extensive research on fraternities on college campuses and have found some of them to be ‘rape-prone cultures’ whose group activities, language, rituals, and practices contribute to the creation of an atmosphere that tolerates or even promotes violence against women (McMahon, 2007).” In addition, it is agreed by many who study rapes, that gang rapes are typically committed by males whom are bonded closely, for example sports teams, frats, gangs, etc. (Melnick, 1992).

College campuses have just essentially turned into magnets for places for women to get raped. As stated before one in every four women in college has been raped, furthermore half of them due to drugs are alcohol being involved. It’s almost like women can’t have fun, like you’re supposed to when going to college instead they live having to watch every move they make.

Furthermore, not only is this issue just on college campuses, but in many cultures rape is viewed differently and these myths are widely accepted. Our culture today, is one that simply objectifies and sexualizes women, for example look at what 50 Shades of Grey did in showing sexual violence towards women (Burt, 1980). Our culture and many other cultures around the world widely accept Rape Myths. These rape myths are things like, ‘”only bad girls get raped’; ‘any healthy woman can resist a rapist if she really wants to’; ‘women ask for it’; ‘women ‘cry rape’ only when they’ve been jilted or have something to cover up’; ‘rapists are sex-starved, insane, or both (Burt, 1980).’” How is it, that people in our society can justify rape with, “oh well, did you see what she was wearing? She did not even have to say anything you can just tell she wanted it.” It’s disgusting and despicable that people in the world today actually JUSTIFY rape.

The stereotypes and myths of rape have somewhat normalized rape and have lessened the severity. Present day research focuses on three attitudinal variables: sexual conservatism, adversarial sexual beliefs, and acceptance of interpersonal violence. This research also focuses on personality variables based on the thought that if there was less victim rejection and blame, then these victims would be more confident and satisfied with themselves (Burt, 1980). Experiential and background correlations were also a part of this research and states that the more violent behavior one is exposed to, the more accepting of interpersonal violence and rape myths they would be (Burt, 1980). The author administered an interview to 598 random adults in Minnesota from February 1077 to April 1977 (Burt, 1980). Rape supported beliefs are related to cultural attitudes such as sex role stereotyping, adversarial sexual beliefs, and acceptance of interpersonal violence (Burt, 1980). The data presented in this research article shows that both pressures of sex role stereotyping and the psychological availability of violence is what has escalated the rate of rape in the U.S (Burt, 1980). Burt also brings to light that out of all industrialized countries in the entire world, the United States has the highest rape rate, it is unfathomable to realize that our country and society as a whole tolerates rape and rapists (Burt, 1980).

Finally, it should be known that, rape is not always man on woman, men can be raped by women and men as well. The percentages of men being raped is far lower than that of women, but it still happenes and it is not okay. “Russell and Oswald (2002) found that of college-aged men who reported using coercion to obtain sex, almost 63% reported having at least one experience of being sexually coerced themselves by a female partner (Chapleau, Oswald, & Russell, 2018).” Rape myths about female rape victims have been found to assume a focal part in the misperceptions and treatment of rape victims (Chapleau, Oswald, & Russell, 2018). So also, it is contended that there are myths about male casualties of rape that should be investigated and comprehended (Chapleau, Oswald, & Russell, 2018). Given the restricted research on male rape myths, Chapleau, Oswald and Russell initially analyzed the exploration on female rape victims to coordinate their investigation of inclinations toward male rape victims (Chapleau, Oswald, & Russell, 2018). Rape myths for men are much different than for women and these are: “Less is known about rape myths concerning male victims, but previous research has identified the following beliefs: (a) Being raped by a male attacker is synonymous with the loss of masculinity, (b) “men who are sexually assaulted by men must be gay”, (c) “men are incapable of functioning sexually unless they are sexually aroused, (d) “men cannot be forced to have sex against their will”, (e) “men are less affected by sexual assault than women”, (f) “men are in a constant state of readiness to accept any sexual opportunity”, and (g) “a man is expected to be able to defend himself against sexual assault (Chapleau, Oswald, & Russell, 2018).” These are facts and it shows that men do get raped and in these instances everyone is quick to dismiss deeming it impossible, when in fact it is quite possible.

Discussion

Throughout my research and all the journals read, I am very upset that our culture allows rape to happen and allows people to get away with it. Rape is a very important topic to me, as an athlete many people associate athletes as those who typically take advantage of women. The most moving speech I have ever heard, is that of Brenda Tracy (she spoke to our football team a few months ago) who told her story to us as a survivor of a brutal gang rape committed by Oregon State football players. What Ms. Tracy made sure to hammer through to us is that only ten percent of men commit rape, and us that don’t, we are the ninety percent. The ninety percent are the ones who need to stand up, watch out for women, and stop rape, because if women could stop rape from happening, they already would have.

Through rape myths being accepted by our culture causing the women on college campuses to fear going out, rape is an extremely important topic in today’s society. Universities and the students at these universities need more education and need more training on rape, we already get some, but I honestly do not think it’s enough. Online courses for people to click through don’t do much, maybe have Ms. Brenda Tracy speak to the entire school, because I know that changed how I will act at parties, as in watching out for the women. One head coach that had Brenda Tracy talk to his team perfectly stated it as: ““We haven’t been raised right. We’ve gotta change. Ourselves and our culture. How do we do this? We educate ourselves, day by day, myself included (Conn, 2017).” Rape is not something to take likely, it is something that needs to stop and as part of the ninety percent I will do my part and I ask for the rest of the ninety percent to help me too.