Making College Campus Safe From Sexual Violence
It is not a new topic or one that makes the news as often as many other forms of violence in our culture, but sexual violence reaches across America with little resistance. It generally takes a scandal at a university for sexual violence on a college campus to make headlines. We know about Drunk college student breaks into business, eats half a box of Hot Pockets, passes out, iPhone 6 Looks Crazy Thin in New Leaked Photos, and Kim Kardashian Attacked By Elephant While Taking Selfie, but we rarely hear about sexual violence prevention programs or men stepping forward to support the stoppage of sexual violence on college campus across our country.
There is great debate around the possible connection between contact sports and sexual violence. As a former athlete, sort of, and sports fan, I cringe every time I read about another college athlete accused of raping or beating a woman on campus. I was brought up with the notion that athletes were role models, with guys like Roberto Clemente, Willie Mays, Willie Stargell, Steffi Graf, Mohammed Ali, Katarina Witt, and Walt Frazier as my heroes. They all added to their communities, not destroyed them.
“Athletes on a college campus stand on an even more unique intersection. They have both the power to help by using their celebrity to start the discussion on a touchy subject, and the power to harm by abusing their celebrity to earn unwarranted dispensation.
Right now both are happening. College athletes are both helping and hurting the crisis of domestic violence.
“To me, this is like cancer,” said Mississippi State offensive lineman D.J. Looney, the Southeastern Conference representative to the national Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. “Everybody has been affected by it or knows somebody who has. The difference is, nobody wants to talk about it. We, as athletes, hold ourselves to higher standards and so does the media. If something happens, the whole world hears about it. Is that fair? It doesn’t matter. That’s what we sign up for. So we need to decide if we want to fix the problem or be a part of the problem.”
“We do a horrible job of holding perpetrators accountable,” said Sarah McMahon, a Rutgers professor of social work who has done extensive research on athletes and violence. “And in high-profile cases, it sends a very clear message. The ‘boys will be boys’ mentality diminishes the issue dangerously.”” Athletes Part of Problem, Solution – ESPN College Sports
We know that sports may contribute to sexual violence, but it is not the real problem or source. We also know that wine alone cannot end sexual violence on college campus’ or anywhere, men must be the ones who choose to stand for safety and equality. Making efforts and legislation around women keeping themselves safe can only go so far; the responsibility sits firmly on the shoulders of men, where to belong. It begins with conversations and attitudes, followed by different choices and supporting equality and safety. This is outlined clearly in an article in Everyday Feminism with excerpts below from How We Can Address Sexual Violence on Campuses.
How We Can Address Sexual Violence on Campuses
1. Change How We Talk About Sexual Violence
The messages that are sent to women and men about sexual violence on college campuses tend to be misguided at best and downright dangerous at worst.
Whether the message is delivered formally through a New Student Orientation program or through norms and mores, the traditional wisdom for sexual violence prevention on college campuses can often be boiled down to:
“Ladies, be careful so you don’t get raped.”
Whether we tell women to go out in groups, watch their drinks, or never walk across campus alone at night, the conversation is the same – the responsibility for preventing sexual violence is on women.
But considering that the VAST majority of rapes are committed by men, we can’t afford to leave men out of the conversation!
To place the responsibility for sexual violence prevention on women not only completely ignores those who perpetrate the majority of sexual assaults, but it lends itself to victim blaming.
“You shouldn’t have been dressed that way.” “You shouldn’t have gone out alone.” “You shouldn’t have been drinking.”
Thus, in both our informal conversations and as we look to change how our institutions address sexual violence, we must shift the conversation to ones of positive sexuality, enthusiastic consent, healthy masculinity, and support for survivors.
First, if sex and sexuality is talked about openly and honestly, we can begin to have more accountable conversations regarding positive sexuality.
Secondly, we must also end the culture of male sexual entitlement, disrespect, cat calling, and objectification that protects perpetrators of sexual violence.
Men, women have been trying to tell us these things for ages. It’s time for us to be the leaders in ending sexual violence. We, as men, need to work with other men to change how we talk about and practice sex.
Third, we need to change how we talk about sexual violence so that it reflects reality and not myths about rape.
A good place to start is changing where we place the onus for prevention. The only person responsible for a sexual assault is the perpetrator. Plain and simple. From there, we can do a better job of supporting those who experience sexual assault.
Finally, we have to make sure that our conversations don’t accidentally silence survivors who don’t fit our understanding of “normal.” Any person of any gender or any sexual orientation can experience sexual violence.
Lastly, we need to expand the conversation around sexual violence beyond rape (forced sexual intercourse, including vaginal, anal, or oral penetration) to other types of unwanted sexual contact and coercive sexual activity (including forced kissing, groping, forced hand jobs, non-consensual kissing, etc). 
2. Transform Party Culture that supports Sexual Violence
A tremendous number of sexual assaults take place during or after college parties. Does this mean that parties are evil? Obviously no, but it does beg certain questions about how we can make our parties more sex positive and preventative of sexual violence.
4 in 5 college students drink, and about half of college drinkers engage in heavy binge drinking while attending college parties. While alcohol surely doesn’t cause sexual violence, alcohol consumption is a common factor that facilitates sexual violence.
Parties where there is a tolerance for jokes, conversations, and behavior that degrades women are of higher risk, but parties where there is a lot of conversation and respectful socialization between men and women are linked to lower rates of sexual violence.
In short, if we make our parties more sex positive and respectful while encouraging responsible drinking, we can throw parties that are not only tons of fun but that are preventative of sexual violence.
3. Believe and Support Survivors of Sexual Violence
One of the many roles of sexual assault survivors’ advocates is to listen to survivors, believe and affirm their story, and help them understand what they need to heal.
Unfortunately, whether they are seeking legal justice or a school disciplinary response, pressing any sort of charges is likely to be hell for the survivor. They will have to tell their story over and over, and they will be put on public trial, being accused of dressing or acting in a way that invited assault.
But we don’t need to stand for this. One of the most sustaining aspects of rape culture is its ability to silence survivors for fear of this type of treatment. In order to change this, we have to speak out in support of survivors, believe and affirm survivors when they share their stories, and hold people accountable to their words and actions.
4. Focus on Prevention of Sexual Violence Too
Most institutions do have some sort of sexual violence response protocol: counseling services, advertised hotlines, health services, peer advocates, and disciplinary actions (though it rarely gets that far).
The problem, though, is that they are limited. They quite necessarily focus on responding to sexual violence once it has happened. While this is important, it’s not enough.
We must continue to demand that our institutions invest resources and attention toward prevention.
In my work, I often reach out to colleges and universities in hopes of connecting with those on campus responsible for sexual violence prevention. Far too often, though, I am told, “We don’t really have someone responsible for that. Do you mean counseling services?”
With endless research-driven approaches, resources, programs, and trainings that focus on primary prevention, there are countless viable ways that we can be engaging in prevention work on our campuses.
5. Demand More Supportive and Responsive Institutions Regarding Sexual Violence
The other side of ending rape culture involves addressing how our institutions respond to sexual violence.
In 2012, Amherst College was rocked by a sexual assault scandal. Angie Epifano was raped by another student while attending Amherst. When she sought help through the college’s counseling services and her dean, she was told to simply get over it and move on.
We Must Rise
Ask any committed activist: transforming our institutions will not be easy.
It will take coalitions of people of every race, religion, ability, gender, sexual orientation, citizenship status, and level of wealth.
It will take coalitions of students, professors, parents, staff, administrators, and community members.
But the beauty is that we already have powerful leaders and models from every one of these areas of our communities.
Jamie Utt is a Contributing Writer for Everyday Feminism and a diversity and inclusion consultant and sexual violence prevention educator based in Minneapolis, MN. He lives with his loving partner and his funtastic dog, Chloe.
I think this is a tremendous article on sexual violence on college campuses. We need more male voices to speak out and become leaders. Unfortunately, it is very common for male leaders to rise out of a scandal or public reaction, like the quote from the Director of Student-Athlete Support Services at Michigan State University, Jim Pignataro. Better late than never, but we need to be more proactive and not wait until tragedy strikes before we act.
Athletes Against Sexual Violence
“In the adversity is a teaching moment. You can always look back and have 20/20 vision on what you should have done. The question is, what is the response? What can we do better? You can become reactionary and point fingers, or you can pull together, reduce the panic and figure out what you need to be doing.”
”— Jim Pignataro, director of student-athlete support services at Michigan StatE
I am interested in reading your comments and experiences on sexual violence on college campuses and what we need to do to move forward to a safer, more equal higher education system.
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