Literature Review #4

It's Her Fault: Student Acceptance of Rape Myths On Two College Campuses

Citation:
Hayes, R.M., et al. "It’s Her Fault: Student Acceptance of Rape Myths on Two College Campuses." Violence against Women, vol. 22, no. 13, 01 Nov. 2016, p. 1540-1555. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1177/1077801216630147.

Summary:
This article was written to show the acceptance of rape myths amongst college students. Men were more likely to accept the rape myths than women. They often blamed them for being the victim of a sexual assault. Additionally, a lot of the men proved that they had committed a sexual assault unknowingly, however, said that it was not a violent sexual encounter, therefore, it did not constitute a sexual assault.

Author:
Rebecca M. Hayes has a Ph. D. in Sociology and Criminology & Law. She focuses on victimization which is why she took to write this article and conduct the study about rape myths. She has researched about violence against women and has written various articles for prestigious journals to advocate for victims. Both Rebecca L. Abbot and Savannah Cook are graduates of Central Michigan University and assisted in the study with Hayes.

Key Terms:
Rape Myths: attitudes and false beliefs held about rape that deny or minimize victim injury and blame the victims for their assauly
Victim Blaming: blaming the victims for the cause of their own victimization

Quotes:
"With the age group of 16-24 experiencing the most sexual assault (Smith & Welchans, 2000), alcohol as the number one date rape drug, (Scott-Ham & Burton, 2006) and with the highest concentration of females, college campuses are graught with issues of sexual assault," (Hayes et al. 1541).

"In a study of both sexes, Anderson et al. (2005) found that males, not females, were more likely to report that they would take advantage of someone sexually after heavy episodic drinking," (Hayes et al. 1544).

"Lee et al. (2005) found that men are more likely than women to hold tolerant attitudes toward rape and attribute blame to the victim. Therefore, the blame indicates that women should be held responsible for th prevention of rape," (Hayes et al. 1543).

"In one study, 23% of college men surveyed admitted to committing acts that met the legal definition of rape, and most of them did not perceive that anything unusual or aggressive had taken place (Burgess, 2007).

Value:
This is an important article for my research paper because it highlights the problem of victim blaming and rape myths. Due to rape myths, victims often choose to not report their sexual assaults because they feel as though they were the cause. It is a society that blames them for being too drunk, or dressing a certian way, or say that "boys will be boys." This type of pass for the perpetrators should no longer be accepted. It is never the victims fault for being sexually assaulted. Many of the men were asked whether or not they considered a drunken sexual encounter as rape when their partner was too intoxicated to fully give consent and they denied it although it followed the legal definition of rape. Clearly there is a problem with people not fully knowing what consent is and how to ask.

Research Blog #6

I believe that this is a very strong picture depicting what my research paper is about. The No More campaign is main goal is to end sexual assault across college campuses. They hold many programs and incentives for people on campus and outside of colleges to learn more about sexual assault. I also believe that the quote on the photo, "Well, she was drunk," is extremely powerful in its meaning. Many people blame the victim on their sexual assault by saying that it would have never happened if they had not been drinking. However, that is not the case. Alcohol does prove to lower inhibitions and decision-making but it is not the reason why someone is sexually assaulted. If they are intoxicated, then they are not in the right mind to make any decision regarding if they want to have sex or not, therefore, no one should engage in sexual behavior. It is not because they were drunk, but it is because someone took advantage of the fact that they were.

Literature Review #3

Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town

Krakauer, Jon. Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town. New York: Doubleday, 2015. Print.

Several sexual assault cases were reported from Missoula, particularly from the Griz football team at the University of Montana. One case in particular was the sexual assault of Cecilia Washburn by Jordan Johnson. Washburn picked up Johnson from his friend's house because he was too intoxicated to drive. Washburn brought him back to her home because Johnson insisted on watching a movie with her. Eventually, they began to kiss and Johnson overpowered Washburn and held her down while having sex with her. Washburn then drove him home and told her housemates about the horrfic incident that she experienced. 

Jon Kraukner is the author of the national best selling novel, Into the Wild, which is about an Emory graduate who was found dead in the wilderness. Kraukner wrote Missoula to examine the sexual assault cases on college campuses and how they are handled by federal and college officials. He discussed the reasons why some vitcims do not report their sexual assaults to the police because of the previous vitcims stories with court trials and how the perpetrators are set free. 

"Duerk emphasized to the jury that according to Montana law, 'resistance by the victim is not required to show lack of consent. Force, fear, or threat is sufficient alone to show lack of consent,'" (Kraukner 231).

Key Terms:

Resist: withstand the action or effect of

Mixed Signals: a message that is uncertain because of multiple interpretations

"Pabst declared, 'Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, this is a case that's not about rape, but about a girl's regret.' Pabst argued that Cecelia Washburn's disappointment over a sexual encounter that hadn't lived up to her high expectations was transformed into an accusation of rape by the 'brewing storm' of the Missoula rape scandal,'" (Kraukner 238).

"Paoli asked yet again, 'So, Miss Washburn, you gave Jordan Johnson mixed signals; isn't that right?' 'It could be seen that way,' she answered. 'And you have told us you could have been clearer?...' 'Yes.' 'And you have told and expressed on several different occasions that you considered yourself responsible and you felt guilty for what happened; isn't that right?' 'Right.'..." (Kraukner 249).

This book is very useful for my final paper. I have been trying to find the ideal case to fram my final project around and this one fits the best. This book encompasses multiple sexual assault cases from the same football team that have let the perpetrator go free. There is a lot of victim blaming with the case against Jordan Johnson which is a very important point to notice because that is one of the reasons why sexual assault cases are underreported. The victims are scared and blame themselves for being raped due to the views on sexual assault in our societ. Instead of teaching not to take advantage of others, we are taught to not "dress" or "lead people on" to think that its okay to have sex with each other. 

Extra Credit

Starving the Beast was about privatization and the cut of state aid for higher education. Many of the key players in this film had different points of view about privatization and its effect on colleges and college students. There are 7 solutions to lead to privatization and all of the solutions would mean seismic shifts in college funding. State policy networks are free market think tanks funded by public organizations around the globe. They believed that the most difficult solution to work with was to split the budget between teaching and research. There were various controversies and scandals that were discussed in the film. One of which included Wallace Hall, who gained illegal access to private documents of students which revealed that there was favoritism for students who were admitted to University of Texas that had close relations with politicians. Clearly, this proved that privatization helped those who were already in the top 1% and left the less privileged applicants at a disadvantage. The supporters of privatization felt no remorse at leaving the minorities and economically disadvantaged at the bottom of the totem pole if it meant keeping the elite at the top.

Literature Review #2

Some Types of Hookups May Be Riskier Than Others for Campus Sexual Assault

Flack, W.F., et al. "Some Types of Hookups May Be Riskier Than Others for Campus Sexual Assault." Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, vol. 8, no. 4, 01 July 2016, p. 413-420. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1037/tra0000090.

This article discusses the hook up culture at college and how it contributes to the higher chance of sexual assault to students. College is an independent experience and the freedom of not having a monogamous partner is liberating for some. They like having the sexual intimacy while also having the freedom of choosing from more than one partner. However, this opens the door to the possibility of unwanted sexual behavior. When adding alcohol to this equation, boundaries are crossed and what seems to have been a random hookup leads to a sexual assault. 

Monogamous: having only one mate at a time
Hook Up Culture: the cultural sexual intimacy that people find themselves surrounded by; hooking up have several different meanings

Mon

Research Blog #5

Bibliography

Anderson, Nick, and Peyton M. Craighill. "College Students Remain Deeply Divided over What

Consent Actually Means." The Washington Post. WP Company, 14 June 2015. Web. 28

Feb. 2017.

Brown, Emma, Steve Hendrix, and Susan Svrluga. "Drinking Is Central to College Culture – and

to Sexual Assault." The Washington Post. WP Company, 14 June 2015. Web. 28 Feb.

2017.

Flack, W.F., et al. "Some Types of Hookups May Be Riskier Than Others for Campus Sexual

Assault." Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, vol. 8, no. 4, 01 July 2016, p. 413-420. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1037/tra0000090.

Germain, Lauren J. Campus Sexual Assault : College Women Respond. Baltimore: Johns

Hopkins University Press, 2016. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 21 Feb. 2017.

Streng, Tara K. and Akiko Kamimura. "Sexual Assault Prevention and Reporting on College

Campuses in the US: A Review of Policies and Recommendations." Journal of Education

and Practice, vol. 6, no. 3, 01 Jan. 2015, pp. 65-71. EBSCOhost,

login.proxy.libraries.rutgers.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1083737&site=eds-live.

Veidlinger, Rebecca Leitman. "Feature Article: Title IX: Role of Sexual Assault Nurse

Examiners in Campus Sexual Assault Proceedings." The Journal for Nurse Practitioners,

vol. 12, no. Legal and Policy, 01 Feb. 2016, pp. 113-119. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1016/j.nurpra.2015.09.002.

Literature Review #1

Germain, Lauren J. Campus Sexual Assault : College Women Respond. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 21 Feb. 2017.

This book discusses sexual assault on campus from a women's perspective. Many sexual assaults go unreported and this book was meant for the silent victims to have their voice heard through 26 college women. These are stories from sexual assault survivors and how they transitioned back into the real world. This book discusses how they dealt with their assault and how family and friends reacted. 

Lauren J. Germain is is the director of evaluation, assessment and research at SUNY Upstate Medical University. She examined these women's experiences and put their stories into this book to highlight the trauma that these women have to endure for the rest of their lives. The point of this book was to empower women to speak out against violence and to stand strong together. 

Key Concept: "campus sexual assault is prevalent, institutional responses have not been effective, and campus cultures are fraught with dangerous social norms related to sexual violence," (Germain 2). 

Quotes:

"Three common rape scripts were identified among participants' responses and 30 percent or more of the sample described each type of script: (1) violent stranger rape; (2) drug- or alcohol-facilitated rape; (3) date rape," (Germain 6).

"Title IX was part of the Education Amendments passed in 1972 and is a federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in all educational programs or activities that receive federal funding," (Germain 9). 

"I know people who did [press charges though the institution] and nothing happened... like i guess I should have tried myself, but...there are still a lot of people who were like, 'yeah, that doesn't work, my friend tried that and the person doesn't get kicked out,'"(Germain 34).

The material in this book is very helpful in narrowing down my research topic. This book holds the real experiences of women and what they did after they were sexually assaulted. They also discussed how the assailant was not always a stranger but sometimes the people who were closest to you. I want to use this book to connect to the Stanford rape case because I believe a lot of the misconceptions of rape victims are explained directly by the victims in both situations.