Rape Culture On College Campus

Rape Culture is a society or environment whose prevailing social attitudes have the effect of normalizing or trivializing sexual assault and abuse. Posit a culture that advocates and normalizes rape, which is blatantly not true of the Western world and why people obviously deny it (because it doesn’t exit). “ Urban Dictionary

Have you ever been raped? Or thought of raping someone? This is to inform you on the process of rape culture on college campus, who it targets the consequences they face and how serious schools(Lincoln University) take it. The rape culture targets based on statistics 1 in 3 (33%) women are survivors of sexual violence or intimate partner violence. 1 in 6 (17%) men are victims of sexual violence. The numbers would appear higher but some people don’t think anyone will believe them or sometimes don’t know how to open up about this to make a case. Rape culture is affecting college campuses in many different ways the article “8 appalling examples of how rape culture shows up on college campuses” by Sian Ferguson Suggest

1.     Orientation, Traditions, and Initiation

Describe raping others; to initiation ceremonies where students are expected to have sex, a number of traditions rituals during university orientation are demonstrative of rape culture.

“ Initiation also brings into question of the idea of force? Where someone is forced to do something against his or her will for no good reason, we’re perpetuating rape culture. When we make them do things despite them saying no, we’re saying their consent doesn’t matter.”

S/he also said that sometimes we need to force people to do things to prevent them from hurting themselves and others. But initiation ceremonies and traditions are a far cry from those emergency situations. Based on the survey on survey monkey most Lincoln University students had responded to when does it become ok to force someone into having sex? https://www.surveymonkey.com/analyze/EC1mfL0yAWjLFAZhx6g_2FrfIBkT8C_2FYZ_2B5tkz7z26Gyg_3D#  That it is never ok to force someone into having sex and the other 2% out of the 55 responses said that when they say no it becomes ok to force someone into sex. The confusing part about this question is that it should never be ok because when someone says no you are to respect their wishes, the same way you would want them to respect yours.

2.     A lack of adequate disciplinary measures powerful examples of anti-rape activism on campuses, I often think of Emma Sulkowics  

In 2014, Sulkowics became well known for carrying her dorm mattress around Columbia University’s campus, as a visual form of protest against her university’s refusal to expel her rapist.

“One took incomplete notes of her story, writing that she was tipsy that night. Adjunctions, kept asking her to explain the position she was in, and she said at one point want me to draw it out for you? So she drew a stick drawing. She says one of the three judges even asked whether Paul used lubricant, commenting, ‘I don’t how it is possible to have anal sex without lubricant first.’ This is one of many cases that women go through, she is not alone but is one of the many students that faced a system that was skewed against victims and in the favor of perpetrators. The mishandling of rape cases is one of many reasons why people are questioning whether universities should handle rape cases at all. I did another survey with Lincoln Students on what is considered rape? And 53 responded when the person forces you into sex, and the other people wrote in responses saying sex without consent, when someone forces any type of sexual activity on you, when a person says no & you still decide to carry on with the act, and whenever no is being said and the person still insist on doing what they please. Many girls at Lincoln University feel as though if they was to report an case people wouldn’t believe them and ask why you wanted so long to tell someone or just the opposite of what they hoped. Then I asked what consequences should someone face if they rape someone face if they rape someone? 1.82% response was suspension for 2 weeks, 58.18% was expelled, 3.64% counseling and 36.36% had other response.  10 people wrote in jail, 3 people put expulsion and arrest, 1 put counseling, 1 said it’s up to the discretion of the victim, Rape is jail time; you not only assaulted this individual but you also took their dignity as well as their innocence and turn them in to your personal toy thing. Yea rape is jail time. I agree with the CPU selling option but Lincoln needs an actual program that is geared towards reshaping men and women's mindsets about what rape is and how they view what it is. Also, it should not only address the symptoms of rape but try to instill things in them that will irradiate the source of rape behavior and behaviors that can lead to rape for both genders--even if it's accidental. This is what the students responded to the question.

3.     Secrecy Around Rape Statistic and Policies

Done a great deal of work around campus rape, and I’m used to skeptics asking the same question: But what are the statistics?

This is hard to answer because the statistics on campus rape are often really difficult to find. Some universities don’t release rape statistics to protect the anonymity of victims despite the fact that nobody asked for names.  The lack of statistics is often intentional: Many Universities sweep the issue of campus rape effectively denying the problem of rape on campus, in certain countries, universities are legally obliged to make their statistics public. But even in cases like that the statistics can still be disported. Not everyone who experience sexual violence will report it, especially when they are afraid of being disbelieved, or when they are unsure of how to report it. I did another survey question asking Do you think Lincoln University takes rape culture serious? 10.9% said yes, 43.64% said No, and 45.45% said somewhat. But we haven’t figured out why the percentage for students saying yes is so low or who actually is answering the questions to the survey if its all males or all females, because once you do the survey your name is not exposed just what you think is.

4.     Victim- Blaming by staff

A campus security official referred to a rape case as  ‘another girl getting herself into trouble’. In another, a residence warden tried to punish a rape victim for having her rapist in her dorm past visiting hours, saying it ‘would not have happened if she adhered to the rules. When people in positions of authority demonstrate victim blaming, two scary things can happen: 1. Those who have been sexually violated might internalize the victim blaming (Blame themselves) and begin to feel unsafe which usually discourages us from speaking out, and finding support. 2. It comforts rapist the more we suggest that rape is justified by what the victim wears or how they act, the more rapist with these attitudes are espoused by university officials, lectures, staff members, security personnel counselors and disciplinary bodies, we alienate victims and comfort rapists.

This goes into the Women Convocation that former President of Lincoln University had in 2014 trying to speak on rape on college campus. He went on to believe that he was letting us in on a little secret that ‘Men treat you, treat women the way women allow us to threat them’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtddnI4dUHE this made a lot of us feel like ok he has a point right here but after that 0:04-0:18 the video went downhill. He started saying ‘We will use you up, if you allow us to use you up,’ and that when it comes time for us to make that final decision, we’re going to go down the hall and marry that girl with the long dress on.’ Like how does this have any point on what type of Women are going to get married, say if my grandma was the total opposite so does that mean she is fast because she wore skirts above her knee? He says that those are the type of girls you take home to mom because they carry themselves with respect, so because someone strips to make money they respect themselves because that’s the only way they can get money.

Lastly to my favorite part of this whole video 1:29 if you want to fast forward pass the non sense he goes to talk about three cases of young women, who after having done whatever they did with the young men, and then it did not turn out the way they wanted it to turn out go and tell Public Safety he raped me. So then we have to do an investigation, and start pulling back the layers and asking all kinds of questions. And when we start trying to collect the data and ask the questions…and why do we do that? Because we know that possibly somebody’s life is getting ready to change for the rest of his or her life. Because there’s no more serious accusation, and within the last 30 days, the United States federal government has now issued a new set of regulations that deal with sexual misconduct on college and university campuses, and the penalty is jail time. I understand that him sharing this case with us was suppose to show how important Lincoln University takes rape on college campus but it did the opposite for me and other ladies. He goes more into what happens, when you allege that somebody did something of that nature to you, you go to jail. I don’t care how close they are to finishing the degree; their whole life changes overnight because once you get a record it stays with you for the rest of your life. They’re going to be expelled from the university, it’s going to be very difficult for them to get into any other school because they will have to explain at the receiving institution, why they were expelled from the institution they expelled them.

How does someone put themselves into situations into being raped? Because he went on to say he is saying this so we don’t put ourselves in a situation, that would cause us to be trying to explain something that really needs no explanation had you not put ourselves in that situation. So basically most rape victims just woke up one morning to say hmmm today seems like a good day to get raped that doesn’t make any sense at all on how we can put ourselves in situations.

5.     Toxic Hook Up Culture

“ Hook Up culture” is often prevalent in universities. Hook Up culture, referring to a culture where it’s socially acceptable to have casual sexual encounters-often with multiple people. This sort of openness and sexual liberation can be great in certain circumstances. When patriarchal thinking inserts itself into hook up culture, it becomes toxic and harmful. It’s a problem when people promote casual sex, or any kind of sex without understanding and promoting consent and respect.

Lincoln University students responded to this question When someone goes to a party does that better the chances of hooking up, 45.45 % said yes which is 25 people and 54.55% said no which was 30 people who said responded to hooking up after a party. Which means if someone is under the influence. 

6.     Not Prioritizing Education on Consent

Some colleges attempt to educate their students on consent, they’re too few and far between. In a world where primary schools and even high schools seldom focus on consent education, it’s shameful when institutions of higher education don’t even attempt to fill the gaps in our knowledge its not like colleges and universities don’t have the capacity to educate people. This is true that we are warned about Plagiarism to the point where ignorance isn’t an excuse for plagiarizing. We can apply a similar approach when it comes to teaching people about consent: just as we show people how to avoid committing plagiarism, we can show them how to practice consent.

Should it be the college job to talk about rape culture like they do “Plagiarism?” 94.55% said yes which is 52 of the students, 5.45% said no which was only 3 so this is something the University can reflect on with having mandatory events that Women and Men should be required to go to and answer questions if they are put into the situations of being raped or someone saying that they raped them. This workshop should be less judgmental because we have to take it serious with serious cases people might have questions on. If the University thought this to us I feel like the percentage for rape would be lower, no one would be afraid to speak up or seek support.

7.     Stifling Protest Action and Student Organization

The consequences for speaking out against rape were worse than the consequences for raping. “Universities have immense power over students and staff, which can intimidate protestors, many students fear a record would lead to them losing funding, or being expelled.”

So who do you think are victims of rape more? Females 50.91% 28, Males 0, and Anybody 49.09% 27, during this survey I was wondering why nobody put males and only females, anybody because I’m pretty sure it is high for males also but because males are usually scared to say it happens to them because they will feel less masculine if they say they are raped since they are suppose to be the dominant one in the bedroom. Which this is not always true

8.     A Denial that rape culture exists

Admitting that a problem exists is one of the first steps in solving that problem.

We took it to survey one last time to find out if students have read the Title IX in the student handbook 32.73%(18) said yes, 54.55%(30) said no, and 12.73%(7) they don’t care to read the student handbook. Lincoln University Sexual Misconduct Policy, Policy Number: HRM 122 Effective Date: February 21, 2015 Next Review: February 21, 2016. Reviewing Department: Human Resources and Vice President for Student Affairs. Status: Approved by the Acting President and Board of Trustees http://www.lincoln.edu/departments/office-president/title-ix Lincoln University is committed to providing a work and learning environment that is free from all forms of unlawful discrimination, including sexual harassment, sexual assault, stalking, dating violence, domestic violence, and other forms of sexual misconduct.

This has me wondering why hasn’t the Title IX been updated when we are two months almost three months into the 2017-year. Is it because Lincoln University just switched coordinators or because no one is asking the school to update the Title IX? Questions remain but they won’t stay untold. Stay tuned for the videos I have provided on asking students, dean of students and Title IX coordinator.

The Book Journal of Black Sexuality and Relationships http://muse.jhu.edu/journal/671  in the library talks about black Sexuality and Relationships is devoted to addressing the epistemological, ontological, and social construction of sexual expression and relationships of persons within the African diaspora. The journal seeks to take into account the trans-historical substrates that subsume behavioral, affective, and cognitive functioning of persons of African descent as well as those who educate or clinically serve this important population.  Muting Dating Rape: A Co-Theoretical Analysis of Communication Factors Related to Rape Culture on a College Campus http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=3&sid=224280f2-3ed6-4de9-97a9-cd61507fcffa%40sessionmgr103&hid=102&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=44620401&db=ufh Previous studies suggest that college campuses foster a rape culture in which date rape (most commonly, rape of women) is an accepted part of campus activity (Buchwald, Fletcher, & Roth, 1993; Sanday, 2007). In focus groups at a Midwestern university, researchers asked students about rape as they experienced it or knew about it on campus. The study revealed attitudes and perspectives about rape communicated from cultural, social, and individual levels. Co-researchers' comments indicated such attitudes exist in relation to and are expressed through behaviors preceding potential incidences of rape, during rape itself, and in response after rape occurs. Throughout this process, college students, especially females, were muted, potentially contributing to the creation and perpetuation of a campus rape culture. With the articles on Ebsco host I plan to invest rape more and with the help of Lincoln University faculty and staff. Just after my blog post  was releases February 28, 2017 the Title IX was sent on the student wire as mandatory course that the students have to do, I plan on seeing how many students actually did it.