Running head: NO MEANS NO 1

No Means No

Sonoma Gioscia

Arizona State University

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Abstract

This paper explores the depths of sexual assault on college campuses and how everyone involved

is treated and affected. This essay will question the reoccurrence of sexual assault on college

campuses. Sexual assaults on college campuses are frightening because the campus is supposed

to be a home away from home, it is supposed to be your safe haven. So, what’s being done to

protect this sacred place? What are the statistics behind sexual assault on college campuses? As a

college freshman, I wonder often what measures are being taken to prevent these heinous crimes

and if they are enough. Should the university be doing more? What are they doing to help the

victims? What are they doing to punish the perpetrators? It’s important to research this because

it’s a problem that hasn’t been properly handled and probably won’t ever be until someone says

“enough is enough.”

Keywords: s​ exual assault, college campuses, university

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No Means No

When I was a little girl, my mother would give me advice on how to be safe. Instilling in

me at a young age that I should always be aware of my surroundings and ready to protect myself,

whether it be with keys between my fingers or screaming at the top of my lungs. She would tell

me to always park my car by a light pole, to never walk alone, to never park by a van, to always

carry pepper spray, etc. And as I got closer and closer to the day I would move into my new

dorm as a college freshman, the conversations would become more serious. They would involve

topics of sexual assault, date rape drugs, alcohol consumption, drug use, and parties. As a young

girl, hearing my mother talk about this stuff scared me because it would mean that I would

constantly have to be aware of everything around me while being in college, a place that is

supposed to be a home away from home; somewhere that is supposed to be safe. It’s exhausting

to put so much effort into protecting myself when the male specimen usually don’t have to do the

same.

Women shouldn’t have to take these precautions to ensure their safety because of their

gender. Consent should be taught throughout the entirety of education, not just in college. It

should be implemented into their curriculum because this issue is never ending and won’t stop

until something is done about it, so by teaching young children consistently about consent it will

affect how they approach sexual interaction with others when they are older. And some might

argue that this would just introduce young children to sex, but I believe it would bring beneficial

information that will be good in the long run because I would rather have children learn about

consent now than one of them turn into a rapist later in their life.
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Of the women that attend college, 1 in 5 experience sexual assault (Sexual assault, 2018).

Some of the risk factors that can increase a college woman’s likelihood of experiencing sexual

assault include “​being a racial/ethnic minority student (although there are mixed findings on

race/ethnicity), low financial status, and prior history of sexual assault” (Mellins et al., 2017).

Although women experience sexual assault more often than men, there are male victims and

their stories should have just as much attention as their female counterparts. Of the male species,

gay and bisexual men are in more danger of being sexually assaulted because of their sexuality.

About 26% of gay men and 37.3% of bisexual men, compared to 29.0% of heterosexual men,

experienced lifetime rape, physical violence, and stalking (Hequembourg, Parks, Collins, &

Hughes, 2014). These rates are closer to reported straight women’s sexual assault. Other risk

factors that are related to sexual assault includes​ being a freshman, participating in greek life,

and “hooking-up” with other people (Mellins et al., 2017).

A young woman, Abby Honold, wrote a moving piece for Good Morning America

about her sexual assault in college. She explains that the university and criminal justice system

handled the situation poorly because of the excruciating amount of time it took to put her

assailant behind bars. ​ She “had difficulty recalling a lot of details about [her] sexual assault”

giving them incomplete information” and “was nearly harassed off [her] college campus” while

waiting two years to “put a fellow student and serial rapist behind bars” (Good morning, 2018)

When a forensic nurse interviewed her, she used the FETI technique to help Abby remember the

significant information about her sexual assault (Good morning, 2018). By handling the situation

with empathy and kindness, the nurse was able to coax the minute details out of Abby’s memory.
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Reporting sexual assault is very uncommon for women who experience it and “​only 20%

of female student victims, age 18-24, report to law enforcement” because they are scared of what

might come afterwards. They are scared of recounting the horrific event over and over again to

complete strangers. Most of all, they are scared of being blamed or not getting the justice that

they deserve. When being told by someone of their own history with sexual assault, it is essential

that you never blame them for what happened because it never was and never will be their fault.

Victim blaming is a huge issue within the rape culture of society and this atrocity can be avoided

by simply implementing consent teachings within sexual education that is given throughout a

child’s educational career. So ask that you please just listen to the people who come forward

with their own stories because they are being so brave in speaking about their sexual assault.

After all of this information, I want you to imagine being a woman for a day. Whenever

we go somewhere, we usually bring someone with us. We always have some type of protection

that could be used as a weapon, albeit our heels, pepper spray, keys, purse, or water bottle. When

we’re walking down the street, we have to be aware of all the corners or allies someone can hide

in and if we see someone walking behind us we’ll start to walk faster. All of these things are

required of us because we fear of being physically and emotionally damaged. We fear that

something so special and personal will be taken away from us within a matter of seconds. Think

of what the women in your life has to do every single day just to insure her own safety and well

being. So I ask, what are you going to do about it? Are you willing to help?
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References

Campus sexual violence: statistics. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.rainn.org/statistics/campus-sexual-violence

Good Morning America. (2018, April 6). Sexual assault survivor shares 3 things she wants

victims to know. Retrieved from

https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/news/story/sexual-assault-survivor-shares-thingsv

ictims-54217063

Hequembourg, A. L., Parks, K. A., Collins, R. L., & Hughes, T. L. (2014). Sexual assault risks

among gay and bisexual men. The Journal of Sex Research, 52(3), 282-295.

doi:10.1080/00224499.2013.856836

Mellins, C. A., Walsh, K., Sarvet, A. L., Wall, M., Gilbert, L., Santelli, J. S., . . . Hirsch, J. S.

(2017, November 8). Sexual assault incidents among college undergraduates: prevalence

and factors associated with risk. Retrieved from

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0186471

Sexual assault on college campuses is common. (2018, September 13). Retrieved from

https://www.womenshealth.gov/relationships-and-safety/sexual-assault-and-rape/college-

sexual-assault