What does sex have to do with.. college student’s view on assault

For a final project, I was apart of a group of four girls, who happen to be curious Vanderbilt students. Not girls, women. Our blog is constructed by a strong group of women who want change. What is the change we want? Well, as of right now, we aren’t entirely sure. Thats why we are asking YOUR opinion. We want to look at the way that students on campus look at sexual assault. Currently on most college campus’, students are given and/or are practically forced into taking surveys given by administration required by law. Does this help? Yes and no: rape is still an ongoing issue. We want to find out how students define the term rape and interview select individuals. We want to circulate a blog full of facts, opinions and ideas regarding sexual assault and prevention of sexual assault. This blog most likely will not stop it, but small steps in the right direction is all that we are looking for.

We want the student’s voices to be heard in a concept that is open to opinions and not required by the law. We want to make college students’ stronger. We want to see the difference ourselves by creating change.

As a group, we interviewed and hopefully continue to interview, ask to define, and capture via photograph anonymous responses of college students:  students who have, and have not been through the experience of sexual assault. We post initial responses to the questions (aka mood/reaction to the proposed questions), responses, as well as a pictures taken of their feet the day the questions were asked in terms of anonymity.

During our final project, we found some interesting concepts. Older students typically gave very definite, almost deep answers in response to what their definition of sexual assault is. Younger students usually gave a more broad answer. Female students answering the questions typically felt uncomfortable answering the questions, meanwhile men seemed to be more comfortable. In the interviewing process, we also asked a few students outside of the Vanderbilt community. I was able to reach out to a few moms of college students, as well as students and student athletes at other colleges.

Answers typically said that students would in fact report the rape to the police if they had knowledge of one. However, this totally contradicts the studies and research done every year. Students usually leave rape cases unreported.

We hope you find interest in the blog and find it informative and inspiring for change not only on college campuses today, but in the generations to come.    www.wgs160group.tumblr.com <<<—- CLICK HERE

Now I ask you to please give your responses to the questions we asked students across the U.S.

-How would you define sexual assault?

-Would you be willing to report a sexual assault if seen/done?

-Do you know who you could report it to/or do you know who could guide you through the process (on campus)?

-Do you think women are seen as the victims and that they are not being taken as seriously as they should be?

-How large of a role do you think alcohol plays in campus rape culture?

-Do you know anyone who has been personally affected by rape culture? (On/off campus)

-Do you think that Vanderbilt’s system of preventing rape is effective?

 

 

Final Concept Analysis Post

For me, the most important topic that we covered in class this year was sexual objectification. I had no idea that so many different aspects and parts of society played such roles in how boys define girls, and vice versa. Sexual objectification’s meaning is different for everyone, especially men.

In the text, we learned that some men are afraid of looking homosexual, and therefore objectify woman. Certainly, most men would not agree with this statement. However, the way that society has been over the past few decades has certainly shaped this mentality without men realizing its impact. We red many interviews of men and learned that there is wide variety of sexual preferences, especially during intercourse that men prefer. Although not homosexual, men can have some strange preferences based on their desires.

In learning about sexual objectification, we also learned about sexual assault and rape. I think that sexual assault (in particular rape), and sexual objectification have a lot in common. To me, women who are raped are not viewed as wholesome to the offender, as he/she views him or herself.. They degrade the victim, and dehumanize them in the act of seeking sexual or mental pleasure. The pleasure involved in rape cases is something that is an ongoing, very serious problem. Rapists are all trying to fill some sort of void, and fill it by pushing their problems to someone else in one of the worst ways possible.

Learning about people living wholesome lives after experiencing sexual assault was very interesting to me. It brought joy to me knowing that some people experience such sadness, and though the darkness, they can see light at the end of the tunnel. I really enjoyed visiting the museum and photo collection held here at Vanderbilt. All of the pictures were very eye opening. Although no one in the class has undergone exactly what the woman photographed went through, I think that it all brought a deeper understanding to the long-term effects of domestic violence, sexual assault, and sexual objectification.

When we talked more about sexual objectification and rape, more windows opened when we learned about programs on campus, and were required to do an on campus group project. This way, all of the students were able to learn about different ways to stay safe on campus, and learn about the resources that we are offered. I think that this was helpful, but it also made me realize which programs seemed effective meanwhile others seemed to be put in place but didn’t make an impact.

Overall, I feel this class was extremely helpful in making conversations about sex and the many impacts it has on society today. I think that the class made this topic a lot easier to talk about. It made talking about very important and sensitive topics such as sexual assault something that I could talk about comfortably with my friends, in a way that made us all learn. Being able to learn about the sensitive and dark sides of being apart of the LGBTQIA community was incredibly eye opening, and made it easier to look at things with more background and understanding.

What’s Sex Have To Do With.. Final Reflection Post

Project Safe and the Power of Language

 

The power of language becomes very evident when trying to tackle issues that are very prevalent yet rarely discussed. With sexual assaults increasing at alarming rates throughout the nation, we are at a point wh

Football, Fraternities, and Rape

With students attending college now more than ever, the hookup scene and culture have grown in popularity. Whereas college was once a male dominated space, the presence of women on college campuses has surpassed that of men. In Hooking Up, author Kathleen Bogle writes that for every 100 women on campus, there are approximately 80 men. T

What’s Sex Got to do with Alcohol?

Alcohol is one of the most commonly consumed beverages in the world. I think that this statement makes sense when looking at and analy

Global and Transnational Sexualities

“Sexual Assault Crisis” through the lens of the “Rape Capital of America”

An article written by Eliza Gray was published in Time Magazine was assigned as reading for this class in October. This article, titled “The Sexual Assault Crisis on American Campuses.” The article focuses on the town of Missoula, Montana. Missoula was declared as “America’s Rape Capital” after Thomas Perez, the U.S. Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights stood before a press conference and announced that “in the past three years, there have been at least eightyreported rapes.” This article goes into detail in defining what is considered sexual assault and rape according to not only the school but also includes the definition provided by the FBI. The first part of this article addresses the problem at hand found at this college town. As we have mentioned in many classes this semester, it is found that one in five women will be the victim of an attempted or completed sexual assault while in college. With this finding and the declaration of reported rapes in Missoula, worry and confusion spread nationwide. These statistics created a dangerous and frightening public image of college campuses. The article proceeds to convince that these statistics shouldn’t be “taken to mean that young American men are a horde of violent rapists.” The author also notes that among those sampled, the reports of the worst offenses were committed by a small group of students and were committed by repeat offenders rather than a widespread of students.

Along with Missoula, the Obama Administration released a list of” 55 colleges under federal scrutiny over how they handle sexual-assault complaint.” Ivies such as Harvard and Princeton were only some of the colleges on this roster. The article proceeds to address how this type of college culture exists and thrives. In a re-enacted conversation between a University of Massachusetts researcher and an actor that is portraying a a study respondent, the audience is provided with some insight on the thought process and progression of events that instigate or result in sexual assault. He describes a setting of college guys in fraternities seeking out naive freshmen girls and using their inexperience of alcohol to create this type of “opportunity” for sexual assault. Although very despicable, this type of scenario seems realistic and possible in many college campuses. The article further explains steps that Missoula has taken to prevent and eliminate the sexual assault and rape issue that exists on their campus. This includes education for students about sexual assault and bystander-awareness programs. Years later, students report a better overall mood on campus and a decreasing reference to the campus as the “Rape Capital” of America. Many feel, however, that without intense federal interference, the issue of sexual assault and rape on college campuses in America will not slow down.

A beneficial aspect of this article was its thorough explanation of how complex the issue is and how many different things are involved in defining, reporting, and handling sexual assault on college campuses. A limitation that exists in this article is that the article might appear to include certain statements that seem to attempt to provide an excuse or reasoning behind sexual assault and rape or trying to provide some sort of reassurance that the campus is not as bad as it may seem according to statistics.

I connected this article to the Project Safe presentation that we witnessed in class regarding steps made to improve our campus issue of sexual assault at Vanderbilt. This presentation included similar statistics to this article about the prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses and aim to provide a resource for victims. I also can connect this article to the concept of “hook-up culture” that exists currently in college campuses and how that type of culture might be attributing to the prevalence of sexual assault as sexual encounters may beoccurring more often and/or casually.

 

An example that I found to relate to this article is this image from the Internet:

This image resonated with me because of the choice of object. As mentioned above in the re-enacted interview between a University of Massachusetts researcher and an actor that is portraying a a study respondent, the respondent describes a scene that involves partying and consumption of alcohol that is thought to contribute to the issue of sexual violence and rape on campuses. The red cup shown in this image with the title of “Sexual Assault at College” is clearly linking the two together associates both as occurring within the same setting or one being a result of another. Although this connection might seem like one that is well-known, it can be related to the new definition of sexual assault including the concept of “consent.” It is also made known in the article that while intoxicated with alcohol, consent can not be given. With a link between both sexual assault and alcohol consumption in college, this clearly poses a problem. This image connects to the “hook-up” culture that we have repeatedly discussed in class as it depicts a situation of being intoxicated and “hooking-up” with no relationship status and could contribute to opportunities for sexual assault or rape to occur. Although this article did not make any statement or provide any statistic that confirms a cause and effect or strong correlational relationship between alcohol consumption and sexual assault, it is to be considered that the type of atmosphere that includes a party and alcohol consumption may be related in college.

Do you think that attempts to prevent sexual assault on Vanderbilt campus have been effective?

Had you heard of Missoula as being named the “Rape Capital” of America before reading this article?

Do you think that sexual assault is linked to alcohol consumption on this campus and in general?

Fraternities have proven to be dangerous, so why are we not doing anything about it?

We’ve all probably been to at least one frat party in our lives. If anyone ever wanted to learn about hookup culture all they would have to do is visit Greek Row on a Friday night. Frats are the sixth worst insurance liability, behind asbestos companies, so why are college campuses not addressing frats when talking about sexual assault?

“Social Media Is Destroying Our Lives”

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To begin rapping up the final blog posts of the semester, I went back to the very first articles we read at the beginning of class to see if anything caught my eye. I was then taken back to the third week of classes to the Huffington Post article entitled “What I’m Reading: Sex, Teens, And Social Media.” After taking the class and reading this article again, so many new ideas are brought to mind especially in the first section. The first section is titled ‘Social Media Is Destroying Our Lives’ and relates significantly to our lives as college students.

Sasha Belenky, the author of the article, brings up many topics that are extremely relatable. First off, she talks about the obsession with sex throughout social media. She talks about how hookup culture is preferred over dating culture, and social media is the reason for a lot of this modern change in sexual scripts. Throughout this specific portion of the article, Belenky quotes Nancy Jo Sales’ article in Vanity Fair entitled “The Bling Ring” that looked at modern day teen relationships. A girl from L.A. described to Sales that “oral is, like, the new kissing” (Belenky). In addition to sex going much farther much quicker, boys pressure girls for nudes extremely often. Applications like snapchat make this incredibly easy for guys to get away with because, supposedly, the picture “disappears.” Of course the receiver can screenshot the snapchat, but the sender gets a notification if the receiver decides to screenshot. But even scarier and more problematic is that recent studies have come out saying that Snapchat has been keeping the photos this entire time. This entails that the photos that were once said to “disappear forever” haven’t at all.

In addition to social media making it easier to have sexual encounters, social media also makes it easier for boys to talk to girls rather than facing them straight up. We all know those people who will only talk to you on social media or text you and won’t confront you in person. Or, even better yet, we all know those people who won’t talk to you when they are sober, but when they are drunk they come up to you and talk to you like you two have been best friends your whole life. This is why social media is such a problem. It is because with the overuse of it, people forget how to have real, live, face-to-face friendships and conversations. This makes people socially awkward, and it makes people nervous talking in social settings. As a girl named Zoe stated concerning boys talking to girls, “They’re definitely more forward to us online than in person. Because they’re not saying it to our faces.” (Belenky).

Social media makes teens in today’s world socially awkward because social media is their life. A group of friends at the mall admitted to Sales that social media is ruining their lives, so Sales then asked why they don’t just get off of it. In return, a girl responded “Because then we would have no life” (Belenky).

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Social media is also a competition with whoever gets the most amount of “likes.” Whoever gets the most amount of likes is considered “more popular.” I agree that this idea is true in our society because I have many friends that will delete a post on Instagram if they aren’t getting a lot of likes in the first 5 minutes of the post. I also have friend who will say things like, “oh my gosh, how did she get that many likes on a picture?!” This statement agrees with the idea that likes on social media is a popularity contest because when you see a person with a lot of likes on an Instagram post, for example, you in turn consider them “popular.”

In addition to being a popularity contest, it becomes a sexual contest. A girl named Greta described to Sales that, “More provocative equals more likes” (Belenky). Her friend Padma agreed, stating, “It attracts more guys and then it makes other girls think about doing it just for the attention” (Belenky). I also agree with this ideology because there are many Instagram accounts that are created solely for the fact of posting sexual posts to get a lot of comments from guys. The girls that have accounts like this live off of guys comments to them, in turn making their self confidence solely based off of the male gender’s perception of them. In addition, the majority of boys who comment on these photos would not say their comments to a girl in person, in turn leading to girls obsession with what boys are solely thinking of them, nothing the guys would say to them in real life.

This article relates to ideas we have talked about in class because it relates to rape culture. Yes, social media is destroying our lives, but one limitation of the article is that it doesn’t talk about rape culture. Social media causes many issues with rape and human trafficking because people will start online relationships with each other. Throughout these relationships, they will form a trusting bond without ever meeting face-to-face. When they meet face-to-face, they often realize that the person they thought they were talking to the entire time wasn’t truly that person. In turn, this leads to many rape and human trafficking incidents.

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An example of this in our world today is the T.V. show entitled “Selfie”. This show follows the life of Eliza Doolittle, who lives a life with the goal of achieving fame on social media by only posting selfies. She is extremely awkward and struggles making friendships in real life. This show is a perfect example of how social media destroys us. It creates a life obsessed with talking to people over phone or computer, in turn creating teens who cannot interact with people in real life.

Some questions to consider include do you ever think our society will completely “drop” social media? Do you think our society will ever realize what a burden social media truly is and have it deleted? Also, do you think teens in the next generation will be more obsessed or less obsessed with social media than the current generation?