Question

Briefly discuss the gendered expectations of partying on college campuses. How does this lead to campus rape? What suggestions do you have for decreasing campus sexual assault on campus?

Answer 1

• College – the golden years, the time to truly enjoy your youth, and unlimited access to alcohol. Living on college campuses is appealing to many students for these reasons. However, dormitories, apartments, and off-campus houses all provide a private space for sexual assaults to occur.
• Living on a college campus can be an exciting time for eighteen year olds. There are parties, newfound freedom from parents, and so many people of the same age in the same vicinity. However, all of these opportunities help to promote a gendered environment. With media applications such as, Instagram accounts that feature strangers making out, and fraternity parties that only charge males to enter, college environments consistently separate and exploit women.
• The structure of party life, particularly fraternities, at colleges also generates an enhanced gendered culture. Women are treated differently at parties even before they enter the door. Males are usually charged money to enter parties and women are usually let in for free. The expectation is that these women will hopefully continue to come back, binge drink, and sleep with them. By not charging women to drink, males believe women are indebted to them.
• There is an expectation of sexual favors and advances from the girls that these males ‘let into parties for free.’ Guys that have to pay to get into the party are paying not only for the alcohol, but also for the opportunity and expectation of talking to and hooking up with the girls inside.
• This type of interaction and sexual expectation between college males and females at parties constructs a gendered environment. The women are seen as prey and the men as hunters. The party structure enhances rape culture by assuming that women who drink automatically want to have sex.
• Open parties generate space for the victim-blaming mindset to be put into action. Many college males accept the false notion that women are at parties solely to please them.
• One reason college sexual assault is extremely underreported may be due to a lack of proper knowledge of the definition. Women may think that because an act was not completed or because alcohol was involved, it does not constitute sexual assault. Any sort of unwanted or unsolicited sexual conduct is defined as sexual assault and should be treated as such.
• While most victims of rape know their perpetrators, the party culture of college generates a higher chance of ‘party rape.’ Although party rape may be classified as acquaintance rape in some circumstances, it is not uncommon for the woman to have had no prior interaction with the assailant, that is, for the assailant to be an in-network stranger .
• Fraternities are also fixated on loyalty to their organization and each other. Members are expected to be eternally devoted to their brothers. This type of projected secrecy and protection generates a separation from brothers and non-brothers. Guaranteed group protection creates an easier opportunity to get away with sexual assault. Fraternity men often use alcohol as a weapon against sexual reluctance.
• Colleges have the responsibility,to take immediate and necessary steps to prevent and eliminate sex discrimination. Once a victim decides to step forward, they have the choice to take their complaint straight to the police and have the criminal justice system handle their case, or file a complaint within the school and have their school administration take charge.
• These two entities will handle the complaint very differently and will generate different outcomes. School officials do not have the authority to arrest and imprison anyone. Those that are found guilty and expelled from the university are still free citizens and have the ability to rape again. While the criminal justice system has its flaws, it still provides the ability to imprison a perpetrator.
• For those who decide to report their sexual assault to law enforcement, there are different options. Victims may call 911, contact their local police department directly, or visit a medical center. In most areas there are specific law enforcement officers who are trained to interact with survivors of sexual assault. Most agencies participate in Sexual Assault Response Teams (SARTs), which provide a survivor-centered and coordinated response to sexual assault (RAINN, 2009).
• Growing national attention to sexual violence on college campuses has also helped refocus efforts away from teaching women to defend themselves and toward educating male students on what consent looks like and how both male and female upperclassmen can step in when they see predatory behavior.
• Hundreds of colleges are now using “bystander intervention” training as a sexual assault prevention method. These programs place the burden on fellow students to intervene or get involved when they see a potentially dangerous scenario. One of the benefits of bystander intervention programs is that they treat other students as allies who are empowered to help other students — especially freshman students.
• One effective way to address campus assault (and create change generally) is to begin in the lower grades, where sexual harassment and assault are also an epidemic. Tragically, these underreported behaviors have been normalized both by students and schools, even though schools are required to proactively address sexual harassment and assault.