The recent cases in the news about college women who have come forward with rape accusations has shed light not just on the high rates of sexual assault on college campuses, but also on how rarely it is reported.
So, let’s take a look at the stats. In 2014, the Association of American Universities conducted one of the largest surveys of college students on sexual assault statistics, surveying over 150,000 students from 27 universities. They found that 11.7 percent of students have experienced “nonconsensual sexual contact by physical force, threats of physical force, or incapacitation.” Among women, the rate was 23.1 percent for sexual assault or misconduct and 10.8 percent for rape.
Now, how often were these reported? Turns out, only 28 percent of even the most serious incidents were reported to an organization or agency. And more than half of all victims (again, even those of serious crimes) said that they didn’t report it because they didn’t consider it “serious enough”. This has to make you wonder – why would a college girl (or guy) who was assaulted or raped not think it was serious? I can’t help but think that maybe what these respondents meant was that they didn’t think others would consider it serious enough.
A significant amount of students said they didn’t report the crime because they were “…embarrassed, ashamed or that it would be too emotionally difficult” or “…did not think anything would be done about it.” It’s shocking that even today, women (and men) are ashamed to admit they were raped.
There have been too many cases lately where the schools refused to look into claims of sexual assault or rape. The fact of the matter is, there are laws on this topic. Title IX clearly states that every school “must have an established procedure for handling complaints of sex discrimination, sexual harassment or sexual violence.” Not only that, but they also must ensure that the victims can continue with their education without being discriminated, harassed, or facing further sexual violence. And if a victim has trouble getting the university to follow through, they can always file a formal Title IX complaint with the Department of Education.
It’s just as important to know your rights as a victim as it is for society to understand why so many victims have trouble coming forward. Through conversation, education, rape prevention, and surveys such as this one, maybe we can start to solve the issue of rape in our society.