Campus sexual assault is the sexual assault, including rape, of a student while attending an institution of higher learning, such as a college or university. The victims of such assaults are more likely to be female, but any gender can be victimized. Estimates of sexual assault, which vary based on definitions and methodology, generally find that somewhere between 19 and 27% of college women and 6–8% of college men are sexually assaulted during their time in college.
A 2007 survey by the National Institute of Justice found that 19.0% of college women and 6.1% of college men experienced either sexual assault or attempted sexual assault since entering college. In the University of Pennsylvania Law Review in 2017, D. Tuerkheimer reviewed the literature on rape allegations, and reported on the problems surrounding the credibility of rape victims, and how that relates to false rape accusations. She pointed to national survey data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that indicates 1 in every 5 women and 1 in 71 men will be raped during their lifetime at some point. Despite the prevalence of rape and the fact that false rape allegations are rare, Tuerkheimer reported that law enforcement officers often default to disbelief about an alleged rape. This documented prejudice leads to reduced investigation and criminal justice outcomes that are faulty compared to other crimes. Tuerkheimer says that women face "credibility discounts" at all stages of the justice system, including from police, jurors, judges, and prosecutors. These credibility discounts are especially pronounced when the accuser is acquainted with the accused, and the vast majority of rapes fall into this category. The U.S. Department of Justice estimated from 2005 to 2007 that about 2% of victims who were raped while incapacitated (from drugs, alcohol, or other reasons) reported the rape to the police, compared to 13% of victims who experienced physically forced sexual assault.
In response to charges that schools have poorly supported women who have reported sexual assaults, in 2011 the United States Department of Education issued a "Dear Colleague" letter to universities advising academic institutions on various methods intended to reduce incidents of sexual assault on campuses. Some legal experts have raised concerns about risks of abuses against the accused. Following changes to disciplinary processes, lawsuits have been filed by men alleging bias and/or violations of their rights.
Measures
There is currently no evidence that women who attend college are at a higher risk of being sexually assaulted than women of the same age who do not attend college. A review of the published research in 2017 found that about 1 in 5 women was "a reasonably accurate average across women and campuses" for the percentage of women who are sexually assaulted during their time in college.
Studies that have examined sexual assault experiences among college students in western countries other than the U.S. have found results similar to those found by American researchers. A 1993 study of a nationally representative sample of Canadian College students found that 28% of women had experienced some form of sexual assault in the preceding year, and 45% of women had experienced some form of sexual assault since entering college. A 1991 study of 347 undergraduates in New Zealand found that 25.3% had experienced rape or attempted rape, and 51.6% had experienced some form of sexual victimization. A 2011 study of students in the United Kingdom found that 25% of women had experienced some type of sexual assault while attending university and 7% of women had experienced rape or attempted rape as college students.
Reporting Research consistently shows that the majority of rape and other sexual assault victims do not report their attacks to law enforcement. The majority of women who are sexually assaulted do not report because of various reasons surrounding embarrassment and shame. As a result of non-reporting, researchers generally rely on surveys to measure sexual assault. Research estimates that between 10% and 29% of women are a victim of rape or attempted rape since starting college. The National Crime Victimization Survey estimates that 6.1 sexual assaults occur per 1,000 students per year. However, this source is generally believed by researchers to be a significant underestimate of the number of sexual assaults. Methodological differences, such as the method of survey administration, the definition of rape or sexual assault used, the wording of questions, and the time period studied contribute to these disparities. There is currently no consensus on the best way to measure rape and sexual assault.
On campuses, it has been found that alcohol is a prevalent issue in regards to sexual assault. It has been estimated that 1 in 5 women experience an assault, and of those women, 50–75% have had either the attacker, the woman, or both, consume alcohol prior to the assault. Not only has it been a factor in the rates of sexual assault on campus, but because of the prevalence, assaults are also being affected specifically by the inability to give consent when intoxicated and bystanders not knowing when to intervene due to their own intoxication or the intoxication of the victim.
In 1995, the CDC replicated part of this study with 8,810 students on 138 college campuses. They examined rape only and did not look at attempted rape. They found that 20% of women and 4% of men had experienced rape in the course of her or his lifetime.
College campuses are required to provide support to any students who have experienced sexual assault under Title IX laws. "The Women's Rights Project, in collaboration with Students Active For Ending Rape (SAFER) a national nonprofit that empowers students to hold colleges accountable for sexual assault in their communities has put together the fact sheet, podcast series, and other resources on this page to get the word out to student activists about how they can use Title IX as an effective tool for change." Because of this students can not be turned away from support services provided by their college or university. This allows survivors to receive the required support following their assault.
Criticism
Some popular commentators, such as Stuart Taylor Jr., have argued that many of the surveys used to measure sexual assault are invalid because they are more likely to be taken by sexual assault victims. He also said that extrapolating the number of people who said that they had reported their rape to their school in the past year resulted in 44,000 annual reports of rape when in reality there are only 5,000 reports of sexual assault of all types (including rape) per year to universities. He also pointed out that the definition of sexual assault used in the surveys was broader than the one defined by the law and that the term "sexual assault" or "rape" was not used in the survey.
Explanations There are three broad approaches used to explain sexual assault. Pdf.
The first approach, "individual determinants", stems from the psychological perspective of rape. This approach views campus sexual assault as primarily the result of individual characteristics possessed by either the perpetrator and/or the victim. For example, Malamuth & Colleagues identified individual characteristics of hostile masculinity and impersonal sexual behavior as critical predictors of sexual aggression against women. Their psychological model states that men who display hostile masculinity traits (e.g. a desire to control/dominate women and an insecure, hypersensitive, and distrustful orientation toward women) and impersonal sexual behavior (e.g. an emotionally detached, promiscuous, and non-committal orientation towards sexual relations) are more likely to support the use of violence against women and engage in sexual assault. Their findings have been replicated in college student samples and non-student adult samples (Malamuth et al., 1991; Malamuth et al., 1993). Further, narcissistic entitlement and trait aggression have been identified as major individual risk factors for rape (LeBreton et al., 2013). The General desire or need for sex, contrary to popular opinion, is not significantly associated with sexual assault, indicating that sexual assault is an act of dominance rather than sexual gratification (Abbey & McAuslan, 2004). In regards to victims, white women, first-year students, non-students on college campuses, prior victims, and women who are more sexually active are more vulnerable to being sexually assaulted.
The rape culture approach stems from second-wave feminism and focuses on how rape is pervasive and normalized due to societal attitudes about gender and sexuality.
The third approach to explaining rape identifies the contexts in which that rape and sexual assault occur. This approach suggests that, although rape culture is a factor to why sexual assault occurs, it is also the characteristics of its setting that can increase vulnerability. For instance, practices, rules, distribution or resources, and the ideologies of the university or college can promote unhealthy beliefs about gender and can in turn contribute to campus sexual assault. Fraternities are known for hosting parties in which binge drinking and casual sex are encouraged, which increase the risk of sexual assault.
Characteristics
Perpetrator demographics Research by David Lisak found that serial rapists account for 90% of all campus rapes Original pdf. with an average of six rapes each. Pdf. A 2015 study of male students led by Kevin Swartout at Georgia State University found that four out of five perpetrators did not fit the profile of serial predators.
Of the 1,084 respondents to a 1998 survey at Liberty University, 8.1% of males and 1.8% of females reported perpetrating unwanted sexual assault. Pdf. Also available as: Faculty Publications and Presentations. Paper 8. According to Carol Bohmer and Andrea Parrot in "Sexual Assault on Campus" males are more likely to commit a sexual assault if they choose to live in an all-male residency when co-ed housing is available.
Both athletic males and fraternities have higher rates of sexual assault. Student-athletes commit one-third of all campus sexual assaults at a rate six times higher than non-athletes. A study conducted by the NASPA in 2007 and 2009 suggests, "that fraternity members are more likely than non-fraternity members to commit rape".
In another article by Antonia Abby, she found that there are certain characteristics that male perpetrators that put them at risk of committing sexual assault. As she stresses perpetrators vary "but many show a lack of concern for other people, scoring high on narcissism and low on empathy. Many have high levels of anger in general well as hostility toward women; they are suspicious of women's motives, believe common rape myths, and have a sense of entitlement about sex". Also, males on athletic teams are more likely to commit an assault after a game. The commonality between the two instances is the involvement of alcohol. Assailants are not limited to these two situations however there can also be a connection made in regards to their status in school.
Victim demographics