Audience

My audience for this paper is the University of Arizona students that read the Daily Wildcat. Due to this

audience, I will be writing about something that a lot of the population should know about, and may have

past knowledge in. In addition, I will also be able to use more academic language and talk about a

sensitive subject such as sexual assault.

Sexual Assault on College Campuses

Brooklyn Swearingen

“I really didn’t want to, but he kept asking so we did anyway.”

This is one of countless conversations I have heard being casually discussed by my peers

surrounding this topic. This time, it was in the gym locker room, as two women talked about one of their

experiences of coercion, and I think, when did this become so normalized? I am not innocent of it either,

as I have spoken about such topics in public casually, however hearing it at 8 am before a workout struck

something in me-- When did this become such a normal topic?

My mom gave me a protective keychain when I came to college, and when asked about it

recently, I said it was for protection. I was greeted with confusion, and a look that called me dramatic.

Nobody is questioned when they lock their car doors, with fear of getting stolen from, so why are women

shamed when it comes to their safety? Women in college are twice as likely to get sexually assaulted

than they are to get robbed. (RAINN, 2023)

Sexual assault is not talked about in a serious matter enough on college campuses, with how

prevalent the issue actually is. It needs to be discussed in a more official way because students are being

led to feel that this is a normal occurrence, and the perpetrators are not being made aware of the

boundaries of consent, and the punishments that follow breaking it.

A person is sexually assaulted every 68 seconds, while only 2.5% will go to prison. (RAINN,

2023) Although most universities follow Title IX and claim to be a safe space, the issue of sexual violence

and harassment is still a high issue that is not discussed as it should be. While the statistics surrounding

this abuse seem to say how common it is, it should be addressed more often. 68% of sexual assaults, as
of 2015, go unreported. This can be because many victims do not feel that their experience was bad

enough to report. This happens in 35% of the unreported cases. (Weiss, 2015)

In a survey in Violence and Gender, 32% of college men admitted that they would have

“intentions to force a woman to sexual intercourse” if nobody would know, however this statistic dropped

to 13.6% when the term ‘rape’ was used. (Weiss, 2015) This statistic drops down when this terminology

is changed to a more incriminating word. If people were taught what was classified as rape, such as when

people seem hesitant, than the amount of people committing these violent acts would drop, rather than

the perpetrators hiding behind the idea that ‘they didn’t say no,’ which is a belief held by 18% of college

students.

Margaux J. reported an assault to her school, Indiana University, in 2006. In this case, the

administrators believed her. The rapist was suspended for a semester--the summer semester, where

most students take off anyway. After a push from her parents, and she’d already moved, the penalty was

increased. (Lombardi, 2010) As stated before, assaults are under reported, and under punished, as only a

small minority of perpetrators end up going to prison. With the knowledge that this act will go without

consequences, these individuals do not have the fear of getting caught, nor do they have the morals to

stop them from wanting to commit this act.

To be sure, there are many things that go into the legal system when determining an assault, as

well as lots of pieces that would go into educating the public on this matter, and some may say that it is

too late, however I feel that it is never too late.

With the girls I heard speaking earlier, I wonder if the boy that committed this act had known the

boundaries of consent, if he would have thought twice. In addition, if the woman had known that this act

was as serious as an act of sexual violence, rather than a bad sex story, would she be able to recover in

present time, rather than inevitably processing it a later time?

Word count: 686

References:

Lombardi, K. (2022, January 28). A lack of consequences for sexual assault. Center for Public

Integrity. Retrieved March 3, 2023, from

https://publicintegrity.org/education/a-lack-of-consequences-for-sexual-assault/

Statistics. RAINN. (n.d.). Retrieved March 3, 2023, from https://www.rainn.org/statistics

Weiss, S. (2015, October 20). 4 statistics that prove we need to teach people about consent.

Bustle. Retrieved March 3, 2023, from

https://www.bustle.com/articles/118139-4-statistics-that-prove-we-need-to-teach-people-about-cons

ent