A study conducted by The Association of American Universities in 2015 found that more than 27 percent of college seniors reported they experienced some form of unwanted sexual activity. Although many cases of unwanted sexual contact are not always reported by the victimized individual.
There are measures of prevention that college students may benefit from. Nonconsensual sexual contact can be described in four different categories according to AAU. The four categories are penetration, sexual touching, physical force and incapaci- tation meaning the victim is passed out or asleep.
Just because students are on a college campus but do not attend that school does not mean that an assault can not happen to them. According to U.S. Department of Justice the Bureau of Justice Statistics, collected information on assaults reported to the police, 33 percent of those reported assaults were from non-students, whereas only 20 percent of assaults were reported from students.
Mary Anders is in charge of all reports including sexual assault and anything to do with violations of Title IX at Cabrini. She’s dealt with hundreds of cases prior to coming to Cabrini from working in law enforcement for 26 years. During that time, she worked as a county detective in the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office, County Detective Bureau. From the cases that she has investigat- ed, most of the victims knew their abuser.
“This feeling is overwhelming,” Anders said in an email. “Children and teens trust their parents, caregivers, friends, etc. to protect them and sexual abuse is the ulti- mate betrayal of that trust.”
While working in law enforcement there were multiple projects Anders worked for. Mission Kids: Montgomery County Child Advocacy Center provides services to law enforcement for child victims or witnesses to be interviewed. In 2005 the Montgomery County Child Advocacy Project started to give victims an attorney at no cost and to be a voice for the victim. “They are a great source for people and I think it would be a great organization for an Cabrini student looking to do volunteer work on behalf of the victims,” Anders said
There are many different reasons why a person decides to sexually assault someone. None of these reasons however make it right or justify why they do what they did. But, the number one reason why people are assaulted is because they are under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. There are many different side effects to drugs and alcohol but poor decision making is the number one cause to poor decision making. Drugs and alcohol can cloud your judgement and will make you act out without even thinking twice. While making these poor decisions think about what the victim will have to go through in order to recover from an assault. “What most victims have told me their goal is to transition from victim to survivor,” Anders said.
It may be easy to think it’s hard to come back from an experience like this, there are cases where people recover from be assault. But, being sexually assaulted takes a toll on the body and mind. According to Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network after being assaulted people are three times more likely to suffer from depression, six times more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, 13 times more likely to abuse alcohol, 26 times more likely to abuse drugs and four times more likely to contemplate suicide. In order to not be apart of those statistics there are certain steps to take in order to recover from this.
Speaking up is way a to help cope with the assault according to Kristin Swanson. A 42 year old graduate from Drexel University was sexually assaulted at a young age. “Tell someone you are comfortable with and don’t keep it a secret. You shouldn’t have to live with that weight alone. If a chance comes to testify or help bring justice to the person who assaulted you get enough support from people around you and stand up to him/her. That moment will give you some power back, power that was originally taken from you,” Swanson said in an email.
It is important to remember that situations like this take time. The damage that happens to someone’s body after being sexually assault takes time to repair. But, that does mean it’s impossible to recover from this. “Only time will heal. You need years to go by before you can fully come to terms with what happened, be patient with that process,” Swanson said.
Your statistic of > 27% of college seniors having received “unwanted sexual activity” has less to it than meets the eye. First off, that’s much broader than sexual assault, let alone rape. It could be interpreted as anything down to and including kissing or holding hands without getting a notarized permission slip first.
Not to mention that “unwanted” is a slippery thing. Did the other person have reason to *know* that it was unwanted? If not, then he (or she) didn’t do anything wrong.
The very DOJ study you reference (to support your point about rape and sexaul assault being underreported) also found that — even given said underreporting — it’s more like 1 in 40 women who, during their time in college, are raped or sexually assaulted. You will look much more credible if you address that.