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

“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?

Why Do We Tolerate and Excuse Sexual Harassment?

On my flight home over Thanksgiving break, I sat down at a randomly-selected seat next to a window on the plane. Since it was a Southwest flight, I ended up sitting next to a couple of strangers who were behind me in line. Both seemed to be in their 60’s, and were unrelated. They seemed perfectly nice, but it was clear that the man had stopped by the airport bar before boarding the flight from PHX to SEA. About 2 hours into flight, both the woman in the middle and I had to get out of our seats. All was well, until I came back to the seat and was ushered back into my seat by the man on the aisle. Was that what I think it was? I sat down uncomfortably. The woman next to me leaned over and told me that the man had also groped her as she came back into our row. I didn’t leave my seat for the rest of the flight, I didn’t tell the flight attendant what had happened, and I avoided any contact with the man.

Alcohol, Casual Sex, and Victim-Blaming

http://www.buzzfeed.com/franciswhittaker/college-president-blames-sex-assaults-on-too-much-alcohol-an

Eckerd College is a private college of the liberal arts and sciences. The college currently has 1,850 students on its 188 acres along the water. Around 40% of Eckerd’s students pursue advanced degrees, and it is one of the nation’s leaders in the percentage of graduates that earn doctoral degrees. As of 2012 the school was even listed as one of forty colleges that change lives according to Loren Pope’s well-regarded guide. Doesn’t that all sound pretty ideal? Who wouldn’t like a fairly well-regarded school, with beach access, and a high-likelihood of earning a more advanced degree in the future? Eckerd’s President Donald Eastman III shattered Eckerd’s idyllic image on Monday, when he sent an email out to the student body briefly explaining the college’s new sexual assault education and awareness program and more extensively asking the students to do their part towards ending sexual assaults on campus. Actually, that still doesn’t sound too bad. Education and awareness are necessary steps towards ending rape culture and sexual violence on college campuses, and student involvement is a necessity as the administration can only do so much. So why did I say that Eastman shattered the image of a fairly idyllic sounding college? To understand that, we need to look at how he suggested students assist the administration in their goal of ending sexual assault on campus. President Eastman gave his students two ways he believed they can help end sexual assault on campus, drink less alcohol and refrain from casual sex.

How We Can Make College Campuses Safer

What’s Sex Got to do With… Superbad?

If you asked me to describe college in three general words I would probably say Academics, Activities, and Alcohol.  I call these the three A’s of college, and although they constitute a huge aspect of many people’s college experience, I would like to focus on alcohol in particular.  More specifically I want to address the role that alcohol plays in hooking up.  I’m sure we are all aware of alcohol’s role as a social drink or “social lubricant”.  Certain students get drunk to fit in with the crowd while others use this distorted state of mind to give them the confidence pursue a hookup.  Some men also encourage girls to drink lots of alcohol so that they are more likely to want to engage in intimate activity due to their drunken state of mind.  This concept of alcohol as a sexual tool is the theme for the popular comedy, “Superbad”.

What’s Sex Got to do With… Halloween?

October 31^st is a day looked forward to from the time one is in elementary school to high school and even college and beyond, though for very different reasons. Although Halloween is the second most awaited “holiday” after Christmas, according to the Huffington Post, 67% of people don’t even know how it originated. Halloween started as “All Saints’ Eve” or “Allhalloween” as a celebration dedicated to remembering the dead including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the faithful departed believers. However, it is a contested day because Christianity believes it to have pagan roots. In college, though, every weekend may seem like “Halloweekend” with slutty costumes, drinking alcohol to forget the “tough” week, and the hookup culture; along with its expectations, the weekend of October 31^st is especially built up. These few nights where girls and guys get to dress up in whatever costume they want is often taken as an excuse to act however they want.

This week, I saw a yik yak stating, “I’m excited to not remember this weekend,” and because of all the hookup and rape culture we have been talking about in class, this yak really stuck with me. In the ambiguous definition of rape, there are blurred lines in what constitutes as consent when both parties have consumed alcohol and or drugs. Additionally with all the costumes, fun, and scariness associated with Halloween, also comes the expectations. For some reason which I have yet to comprehend, many girls and boys base the quality of their weekend on who or the “many who’s” they have hooked up with during the course of the three days. In terms of every holiday, I often hear girls say, “I have to find a super cute boy to hook up with because it’s Halloween (or ‘because it’s Christmastime’ or ‘because it’s Valentine’s day’).” Especially in terms of Halloween, the walk of shame Saturday or Sunday morning is one to remember due to the costumes worn from the night before and knowing with certainty what the individual was up to the night before. But my question is why is that considered something positive for the world to know you were sleeping or “not sleeping” at some guy or girls dorm?