As college move in day approaches, incoming freshmen become more and more excited. Two old friends take on this journey of college together, and are thrown into a world of unlimited freedom. They try to find a place in this culture that college has become. They go out to parties, consume alcohol and begin to exercise this new found freedom. After a night of drinking, the two go back to his room. They both are intoxicated, her more so than he, but despite this, they begin to engage in sexual activity.

Was consent really given? She did drunkenly nod her head. Does that count?She never said “no” either. But did she say yes? Could a bystander have stopped this before situation before it even started

The next day she woke up, and feeling vulnerable, and taken advantage of. She left in a hurry, called the police and told them she had been sexually assaulted. The next time these two “old friends” saw each other was in the court room.

Sexual assault is a common occurrence on campuses across the US. No one thinks it will ever happen to them however, one in four college females have experienced a rape or an attempted rape. No one is insusceptible when it comes to this issue, therefore the best way to prevent these situations must be evaluated.

The number of people sexually assaulted continues to rise, even as people scramble to find better options of what to do. Some researchers claim that bystander intervention education is the best option. This contradicts the idea that clarification of consent would be most beneficial. There are also those who wish to keep teaching basic prevention techniques to women, which places all of the responsibility on them.

It is so difficult to measure the usefulness of each technique because statistics on sexual assault are not concrete. An estimated 68% of assaults are still left unreported. One reason that many victims do not come forward is because they are too worried that no one will believe them, or that their family and friends will put them at fault. This mindset hinders reports of assault, as victims themselves start to believe they are responsible for what happened to them. In a study about 50% of women claim to believe that a victim is partially responsible for their attack.

There are many movements that aim to remove this mindset from society, for example Sexual Assault Awareness Month. These movements can be extremely useful in helping victims feel more comfortable reporting their attacks. With more reports, statistics will soon become more accurate, which can contribute in more depth, the detail of their assaults, including if it was violent or not, whether the victim knew the perpetrator, or if alcohol was involved. This provides a step in the right direction in terms of prevention and intervention methods. The more knowledge available about the problem, the better the solution will be.

Other reasons why sexual assault is so under reported have to do with evidence. Some victims do not report because they fear there is inadequate evidence to prove someone guilty. As always there are two sides to each story and this is especially true when it comes to assault and rape. It is hard to come to a solid conclusion in an assault or rape case because there is not always substantial evidence. Usually there are no witnesses, so it is one word against the other.

Because of the lack of evidence only about 2 out of 100 rapists will be incarcerated.

This inhibits many victims from coming forward because they believe that nothing will be done about their incident so it will not help any. This is untrue, as coming forward can aid in the enhancement of prevention methods.

How can the mindset that sexual assault has too much hype and “is the next red scare” be accurate when 95 schools are under investigation for violating Title IX? Colleges and universities need to get on the same page about this issue, and handle each case in a universal manner. All schools should follow the same protocol from preventative education, to actually handling accusations of assault.

Consent

One of the most prevalent ways that colleges and universities have attempted to lower sexual assaults on college campuses is through the clarification of consent. The people who are in support of this view strongly focus in on the fact that many sexual assaults happen among two people who know each other. By clarifying consent, it would stop assaults and rapes among non-violent offenders. A study discovered that each gender interprets social cues of consent differently. Males on one hand took a played out conversation to mean more of a “yes” to sexual activity whereas females on the other hand thought the conversation to mean “no”. This miscommunication clearly is an issue in nonviolent assault situations, however acts of assault on college campus can also happen in other ways as well.

Alcohol is a very big proponent in sexual assault as well, however when a person is under the influence of alcohol, they are legally unable to give consent. Many schools use education methods to promote this idea that consent cannot be given under the influence. They wish to spread awareness in the hopes to stop sexual assaults that involve alcohol. While this is the law, it is very unlikely that people will refrain from sex just because they have consumed alcohol. About half sexual assault cases that happen do include alcohol.

Experts discuss how affirmative consent may be an extremely viable option. If affirmative consent laws were put into play, any and all cases brought to court would be found guilty if the victim did not give a verbal and explicit yes. There are downsides to what some may think is the end all be all of sexual assault education. While taking a class on sexual assault, one can see how easy and well affirmative action works. On the contrary, many argue that this is unrealistic. It is different to read about a scenario on paper than actually going through a situation. Because every sexual experience is unique, some believe it is uncomfortable and awkward for their partner to continuously ask if what is happening is okay, as well as permission to go further. Because many fear they will come off as unattractive, they will not follow this idea of affirmative consent. Not to mention that it will still be difficult for court to tell if there was affirmative consent without witnesses.

Affirmative consent, education on a clear definition of consent, as well as advertising that consent under the influence is illegal, are all used by many colleges and universities, yet sexual assault continues to be on the rise. This may be evidence that this sexual assault prevention method has flaws and is not the best option to teach. This could conclude that the way colleges and universities promote consent is not a clear and universal manner.

Bystander Intervention

A second method used by many is the bystander prevention method. When I think of this method I picture a bar scene with two complete strangers in conversation. The man turns on his charm and acts like a true gentlemen. He continues to buy the girl drink after drink. Pretty soon the women is drunk, and when they go to leave, she stumbles to the door. Instead of letting the pair leave together, either the bartender, or another witness stops the two, and goes on to accompany the women back to who she arrived with.

With this prevention method, sexual assault becomes everybody’s issue, and there are many different perceptions about it. It is no longer a female issue as thought to be in years past. Many activist groups push for this method of reducing sexual assault because they are tired of it being only a women’s issue. They dislike the idea that women need to watch what they wear, look after their drink, not walk alone, and take many other precautionary steps. In their eyes everyone is responsible for each other and sexual assault and rape on campus can prevented before two people are even close to becoming the next court case.

By training students, the belief is that they will allegedly be prepared to jump into situations that seem like they could be headed down a dark path. Students will learn different techniques to diffuse the situation, and handle the potential rapist/assaulter if they get aggravated. The question is will these educated students practice their knowledge in the real situations? Answering a “what-if” exam question that evaluates intervention skills is immensely different than walking up to a complete stranger in person and to tell him what he is doing is wrong. There are old sayings that claim if you are getting assaulted in a city ally you are to yell “fire” instead rape or assault. It is believed that more people will come to your rescue in this case. The reason for this is because many people are selfish. If they believe that their own safety is in danger it is likely that they will not help. If this is the case then teaching bystander intervention tactics would not work that well. When thrown into actual scenario these trained students may not act if it is going to harm them in any way. Teaching bystander education methods could possibly be altered by teaching safer intervention practices such as getting yourself and a buddy to intervene.

Prevention Techniques

The last method is probably the oldest. It is basic prevention techniques. This method indicates assault as a women’s issue, arguing it best for females to be prepared at all times. It does not teach ways to stop other people from getting assaulted, nor does it teach both men and women to be aware of consent. This method teaches girls from a young age to watch what they wear, carry pepper spray, not get too intoxicated, cover their drink, travel with pairs, not be too flirty, and the list goes on and on. These people believe that the little tidbits of advice each young girl gets while growing up should be reiterated again and again as they go away to college.

When a man goes out to a party what does he do to prevent sexual assault? Close to nothing, but for a women, the list goes on and on.

Plenty of people have gotten pepper-spray as a high school graduation gift, and some girls have even taken personal defense classes. This method may be the most controversial, as it opposes the prior two, and makes many victims possibly feel that they are in control of what happens to them. While much of this advice can be somewhat helpful, this is an issue that should not be so heavily placed on only a female’s back

The Solution

Overall each current idea has many benefits but also many flaws. One main issue that can be seen in an attempt to solve this issue, is that none of these methods are universal. College students across America are all over the place in regards to this issue which makes it even more complex and difficult to find a solution that works. The first idea to be proposed is a universal education program. It is important that each incoming freshmen across the nation receives the same education but instead, for example, the University of Delaware and JMU use a program called Haven, whereas Oklahoma State University uses a program called 1 is too many. This part of the solvency plan is crucial because if each university were to get on the same page, follow the same protocol, and teach both of the two most effective methods, all campuses would be better off

A study showed that students who got a presentation on different methods of prevention along with also practicing scenarios in class were better off on a written evaluation than those who exclusively received a presentation. If we combine teachings of consent and the legalities of it regarding alcohol, along with promoting safer bystander intervention techniques, we will be able to lower sexual assault on campus.

The more knowledge of the subject that is taught to students, the better off the results will be.