Sexual assault within the boundaries of university campuses is a subject that has drawn widespread attention from both scholars, researchers, government agencies and non-governmental organizations (Gunraj 4). It has also elicited a strong reaction from various public forums including online encyclopedia writing platforms such as Wikipedia. For example, the article “Campus sexual assault” on Wikipedia is an example of a reaction from the public in regards to the topic. The article is accessible online on the Wikipedia website through the link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campus_sexual_assault#Explanations.Unfortunately, public opinions expressed in articles on online encyclopedias such as Wikipedia are not peer reviewed. Therefore, they are not reliable sources of information for scholarly purposes. In this study, the author reviews the article “Campus sexual assault” that was written on Wikipedia with support from peer-reviewed scholarly sources to grant the article a scholarly appeal.
The article starts by defining what sexual assault on campuses is and goes forward to reveal that a majority of campus sexual assault victims never report their ordeals to the authorities. The article further me briefly outlines some of the surveys and studies that different groups and individuals have undertaken on the topic over the years. The article provides the demographic factors that may lead to the predisposing of victims to sexual assault on campuses. It also shows some of the features that a perpetrator of campus sexual assault may exhibit. The article identifies perpetrators and victims features as individual factors and mentions in one line the slackened roles of the police and possibly the campus administration in fighting the vice. It further links the propulsion of individual factors to cases of alcohol abuse and individuals, and groups’ personal attitudes as predisposing elements of incidences of sexual assault.
Within the precincts of legal definition, sexual assault refers to the engagement of an individual in sexual activities without his or her consent (Krebs, Lindquist, and Warner ix). Sexual assault activities may include pedophilia, sexual molestation, incest, rape, and sexual harassment (Gunraj 4). A perpetrator of sexual assault may achieve this through force or incapacitation of the victim by use of substances such as alcohol (Krebs, Lindquist, and Warner ix). Similarly, incidences of sexual rape may take place where the victim is incapacitated through their voluntary use of the incapacitating substance. Secondly, they may have been coerced or thirdly; they may be unconscious that such substances have been administered to them (Krebs, Lindquist, and Warner ix). Sexual assault has had several repercussions on the victims. Some of the notable negative effects of sexual assault include sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies, depression, physical injuries, and post-traumatic stress disorder (Senn et al. 1). Krebs, Lindquist, and Warner reveal that victims of rape are likely to become more suicidal compared to normal people or even those who are victims of other forms of criminal activities (viii). The resultant victim’s cost of crime for sexual rape towers above the cost of crime for other criminal practices (Krebs, Lindquist, and Warner viii). The revelation of research works shows that the majority of students who have experience as victims of sexual assault while on campus include first-year students (Senn et al. 1). Further studies reveal that a majority of these victims are female (Lalonde 5). According to Senn et al., the majority of perpetrators of sexual assault on female university students are men (4). The vulnerability of first-year students to incidences of sexual assault is highly related to incidences of intoxication and drug abuse (Krebs, Lindquist, and Warner viii). Most of these first-year female victims have no prior training on sexual assault and as a result is not prepared at all for the possible occurrence of such incidences in their lives while in campus (Senn et al. 5). With consideration to racial orientation, it is quite notable that white women and especially those of European descent are the most at risk when it comes to sexual assault victimization (DeKeseredy, Schwartz and Tait 263). Public places have been the perfect spots for aggressive stranger-related verbal and psychological, sexual harassment for women (DeKeseredy, Schwartz and Tait 263).
One of the things that could be fuelling the increase of cases of sexual assault within university campuses apart from the perpetrator-victim related features is rather an administration’s complacency on preventive measures. For example, the lack of provision of stringent sexual assault guidelines or policies, poor campus street lighting, the location of hostels in risky neighborhoods, insufficient security details and poor guidance especially for reporting first years are all linked to the high cases of sexual assault amongst first-year female students (Lalonde 5). There is a need to undertake careful, sustainable measures to fight this vice especially at the lead of the campus administration. For example, it is advisable for the campus administration to engage with their local community groups that have experience in propagating anti-sexual assault campaigns and programs within the neighborhoods in concerted efforts at stemming out the vice within campuses (Lalonde 17). It is also important for campus administration to set aside funds for continuous anti-sexual assault campaigns and programs as part of its annual budgeting activities so that the fight is rather sustainable (Lalonde 17). It may also be important to run programs and training on self-defense to prepare students for the possible occurrence of incidences of sexual assault (Senn et al. 5).
Getting back to the Wikipedia article, it is quite evident that the article is void of a lot of content on the subject. For example on the risk factors, the article does not discuss how the campus administration may be contributing to the increase of cases of sexual assault in campuses. Again, on the part of the administration’s role, the article can incorporate the need for the campus administration to join hands together with community groups that are out to fight or carry out interventions to prevent the occurrence of sexual assault as a preventive measure. Another measure of prevention that the article can talk about includes the training of students on self-defense to prepare them for the possible occurrence of incidences of sexual assault (Senn et al. 5).
At the explanation of alcoholism as a risk factor propelling sexual assault within campuses, the article would need to mention that incapacitation by whichever precedence; be it voluntary consumption of alcohol or through coercion should not be a leading advantage to obtain non-consensual sex. It is because sex without the consent of one partner is very unacceptable and assault. Still on risk factors, the article should mention that incapacitation can also take place through other types of drugs and not necessarily alcohol alone. Any drug that can lead to incapacitation of a victim is a potential substance of use by perpetrators of sexual assaults on their victims. Another element of greater interest about victim incapacitation is the fact that some perpetrators of sexual assault administer some of these drugs to their potential victims without the total knowledge of the victims through devious schemes (Krebs, Lindquist, and Warner ix). These schemes may include dissolving of substances in the victims’ food.
Works Cited
DeKeseredy, Walter S., Martin D. Schwartz and Karen Tait. "Sexual assault and stranger aggression on a candian university campus." Sex Roles 28.5 (1993): 263-277.
Gunraj, Andrea. Sexual Assault Policies on Campus. A discussion paper. Ontario, Canada: METRAC, 2014.
Krebs, Christopher P., et al. The Campus Sexual Assault (CSA) Study. Project Report. Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice, 2007.
Lalonde, Julie S. From Reacting to Preventing: Addressing Sexual Violence on Campus by Engaging Community Partners. Task Force Report. Ottawa, Canada: University of Ottawa Task Force on Respect and Equality, 2014.
Senn, Charlene Y., et al. "Sexual violence in the lives of first-year university women in Canada: no improvements in the 21st century." BMC Women's Health 14.136 (2014): 1-8.
