Sexual Assault On College Campuses Essay

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Whenever sexual assault on college campuses is discussed especially by politicians the fact common fact stating “one in every five women are sexually assaulted while in college” is proclaimed (Department of Justice). While that statistic is very startling and is a call to action for finding a solution to sexual assault on college campuses, the statistic that is even more shocking is that “70 percent of college rapes go unreported, colleges still have the highest statistics for the number of rapes being reported” (Editorial). One of the main reasons why so many sexual assaults go unreported is because of the stigma and negative connotation after the assault occurs. The treatment of sexual assault victims after the assault is often described …show more content…
Victim blaming is often used as a way to move the fault of the assault from the perpetrator to the victim. Some examples of victim blaming include telling the victims that the way she dressed meant she was “asking” for it or the victim was leading the perpetrator on by unclear signals. In January 2011, Canadian police officer, Michael Sanguinetti, told a group of law students at York University, “I've been told I'm not supposed to say this – however, women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized” (Jessica Ringrose). This is an example of how our culture puts the blame onto sexual assault victims instead of the assaulter. This connects to Beverly Tatum’s essay “The Complexity of Identity: Who am I?” because Tatum describes how people are defined by traits such as gender, ethnicity, or religion and how this affects cultural norms, “In each case, there is a group considered dominant (systematically advantaged by the society because of group membership) and a group considered subordinate or targeted (systematically disadvantaged)”. In this instance men are considered dominant and women are targeted and systematically disadvantaged due to their