In today’s culture, women are constantly hypersexualized in the media and beyond. Unfortunately, this leads to an overabundance of sexual violence against them. This issue is only becoming more relevant, especially on college campuses. Because o this, it is important to recognize how this hypersexualized view of women may be fueling this violent culture.
Sexual assault, formally defined as “any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient” is a forceful and violent act. In fact, an article published by Newsweek shows that roughly 25 percent of college women have been “forced or threatened with force into unwanted sexual contact, according to the Association of American Universities’ Campus Climate Survey.”
Furthermore, according to an online resource entitled RAINN (Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network) “women 18-24 who are enrolled in college are 3 times more likely than women in general to suffer from sexual violence.”
In a study done by the University of Minnesota it is shown that “When presented with nine specific scenarios, 76% of the males and 56% of the females responded that force was acceptable in at least one of those scenarios. The scenarios included ‘when a girl gets a guy sexually excited,’ ‘when she says she’s going to have sex, then changes her mind,’ and ‘when she’s led him on.’”
Living in a world where three fourths of the male population and more than half of the female population believe it is acceptable for a male to use force in any sexual scenario regardless of the circumstances is unacceptable.
It is important to recognize the ways in which the hyper sexualization of women is fueling these acts and viewpoints as “sexual violence disproportionately affects college women and impedes their ability to participate fully in campus life.” Of course women are not the only victims of these horrific crimes. However, the framework of our society allows for women to be targeted more often. This calls for a necessary look into the structure of our society and what about that structure is cultivating a culture that victimizes women.
Furthermore, there is a serious lack of resources provided to women who fall victim to sexual violence. This could be contributing to the growing problem. According to an article discussing the impacts of sexual violence against women, victims can experience posttraumatic stress disorder and develop crippling depression and anxiety among a slew of other physically damaging consequences. Also, victims are “13 times more likely to abuse alcohol, 26 times more likely to abuse drugs and four times more likely to contemplate suicide.”
More immediately following an attack is the reporting process, which is just as lacking. According to RAINN, 98 out of 100 offenders will never spend a day in jail. Also, reporting a rape, for example, “can lead to a months-long process that might threaten a victim’s confidentiality.” Even more troubling is “how difficult it can be to pursue criminal action when [the police] don’t collect evidence from the victim early in the process,” which can be very challenging.
This list of downsides coupled with the fact that many victims never find justice causes many women are to become afraid or discouraged to file a report, contributing to the 68% of assaults that are never reported, according to RAINN.
With such a low percentage of victims who receive justice it brings about the question of how this could also be contributing to the problem. If men are not being prosecuted for these crimes, it creates an image that these crimes are acceptable. Once again, proving that women are not being properly taken care of when it comes to matters of sexual violence.
Marginalization once again rears its ugly head, leaving women with only a small list of outlets to reach out for help. Without the proper resources for women to receive the necessary physical and mental help after such a traumatic event, it leaves them with little to work with when trying to put their lives back together.
We must ask ourselves, why is our society so ambiguous to crimes of a violent and sexual nature towards women?
In a study done on Seventeen Magazine’s advertisements and articles it can be seen “that the average number of sexualizing characteristics almost tripled over three decades.” Also, the University of Buffalo did a study going through more than one thousand Rolling Stone covers revealing “In the 1960’s 11 percent of men and 44 percent of women on the covers were sexualized while in the 2000’s, 17 percent of men and 83 percent of women were sexualized.” Finally they came to the conclusion “that women were much more likely to be ‘hypersexualized.’”
With hypersexualized images being portrayed to the public constantly, society is bound to attach those images to reality, regardless of how realistic they may actually be. This, paired with the historical connection women have had to their bodies and sex, could be the reason that violence against women has become such a problem. Because our society is bombarded with these images essentially everywhere we go, it has developed a bit of sensory adaption. This fosters the already ambiguous and nonchalant attitude people have towards sexual violence against women.
When discussing the issue of sexual violence on college campuses, the larger picture needs to be taken into consideration. Would this violent culture be different without the constant sexualized images society connects with women’s bodies? How does the representation of women in today’s society fuel this degrading culture? Before we as a society can take care of these issues, we must understand the dangers of the overarching structure cultivating this violence.