Colleges and universities have come under attack in recent years regarding their policies on rape. Some college sports stars and their coaches got away with sexual assault, and are guilty of looking the other way when it came to the sexual abuse of others.
And it’s not just sports stars who are guilty of rape. Many college students have had to live with a kind of rape culture where rape was considered more a private matter. Victims were supposed to put up with these dangers on campuses throughout the country and not rock the boat.
Some victims were penalized for speaking out, especially if the perpetrator was a star athlete.
In an effort to improve on the “no means no” mindset, the California senate has approved a “yes means yes” law that changes the premise of consensual sex and forces administrators to adopt better medical, emotional and legal support for survivors of sexual abuse.
Gov. Jerry Brown (D) has until the end of September to decide whether or not he will sign the bill into law.
Other states may adopt similar policies.
Here’s what you need to know about rape on college campuses:
1) One in 20 women on college campuses in the United States will be raped or will have been subject to an attempt of rape every year. One in four college women report that they have been sexually abused at some point in their lives.
2) Sorority women are 74 percent more likely to be raped than non-sorority women. Sorority sisters who live in a sorority house are three times more likely to be raped than those not living in a sorority house. Two longitudinal studies found that men who join fraternities are three times more likely to rape than those who do not join a fraternity.
3) Over 50 colleges and universities are under scrutiny for possibly violating federal laws concerning policy and procedure regarding campus rape and sexual assault. They are accused of not providing the proper care, concern, legal and medical assistance for rape and sexual assault.
These universities include Harvard, Princeton, Dartmouth, Ohio State, Penn State, University of Michigan--Ann Arbor, Arizona State, and the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. The complete list can be found here.
4) Most college campuses, and society in general, have adopted a “no means no” attitude toward sexual assault. This means that any time a woman (or man) says no to sex, further sexual contact can be considered sexual assault.
5) California legislators did not feel the “no means no” policy worked, since drunk, drugged or unconscious women could not speak and were unable to communicate. Certain defenses of rapists included the fact that women didn’t say "no" (even if they were unable to due to being drugged), hence the sex must have been consensual.
6) The new policy in California will ensure that unless a woman verbally says "yes" to a sexual encounter, any kind of sexual activity can be considered assault. This law seeks to protect women who are unable to verbalize their intentions. This is different from the "no means no" policy where a verbalization was necessary.
7) While this new policy is embraced by many, especially those who have been or know those who have been too drugged or intoxicated to say yes, this new Californian law has its detractors. Some feel that this new law allows the government to intrude into the personal lives of others and control what is said and done with regard to sexual activity.
Time Magazine’s Cathy Young writes that rather than helping women or men who have been assaulted, “it is very unlikely to deter predators or protect victims. Instead, its effect will be to codify vague and capricious rules governing student conduct, to shift the burden of proof to (usually male) students accused of sexual offenses, and to create a disturbing precedent for government regulation of consensual sex.”
8) Denice Labertew, the director of advocacy services at the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault, disagrees. “The survivors [of sexual assault] are going to be positively affected because they are going to be going into a system that no longer asks them why they didn’t do something.”
The “rape culture” spoken about by one of the writers of this bill, California Sen. Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) is not limited to colleges.
Singer CeeLo Green recently pled no contest to drugging a woman and having sex with her. He did not plead guilty to rape and was not convicted of rape. The woman never said "no," since she was drugged at the time.
He wrote very troubling opinions on his Twitter feed (he removed them quickly) that included the note that “"if someone is passed out they're not even WITH you consciously, so WITH Implies consent."
He also wrote that “"Women who have really been raped REMEMBER!!!" As a result of his opinions of women and rape, he has been banned from several concerts and his reality show has been cancelled.
Sources:
Oneinfourusa.org. Sexual Assault Statistics. How Often Does Rape Happen? Web. Retrieved September 8th, 2014.
http://www.oneinfourusa.org/statistics.php
Time.com. Opinion. Feminism. “Campus Rape: The Problem With ‘Yes Means Yes’”, by Cathy Young. Web. Retrieved September 8th, 2014.
http://time.com/3222176/campus-rape-the-problem-with-yes-means-yes/
The Washington Post. “California bill defines what it means to say ‘yes’ to sex”, by Gail Sullivan. Web. Retrieved September 8th, 2014.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/08/29/california-...
CeeLo Green's TBS Show 'Good Life' Canceled After Tweet Rant. NBCnews.com. Retrieved September 8th, 2014.
http://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/celebrity/ceelo-greens-tbs-show-good-...
Reviewed September 11, 2014
by Michele Blacksberg RN
Edited by Jody Smith