Assault On Campus

Predictors of Sexual Assault While In College Sexual assault on campus is an important public health concern and public safety concern which has been becoming an important topic on colleges and universities across the country. According to a special report conducted by U.S. Department of Justice (2014), the Rape and Sexual Assault Victimization Among College-Age Females, 1995-2013 (U.S. Department of Justice 2014) found that 20% of student victims reported a rape or sexual assault to the police during their time in college. Due to stigma of sexual assault and fear of retaliation we know that significant percentage of individuals never report their sexual assault, and other analyses have victimization reports ranging from 35% to a high of 56%

Because of the stigmatization of having a disability, those with either a physical or mental disability are considered weaker, thus making them more vulnerable targets for perpetrators. A study surrounding sexual assault, specifically the deaf, female population, found that 69% of participants had experienced at least one sexual assault in their life (Smith and Pick 2015). The same study conducted by Smith and Pick (2015) noted while 44% of the group experienced on type of sexual assault, 37% reported two different forms of assault and 19% expressed three or more forms of sexual

Feminist theory, argues that the basic cause of sexual assault revolves around the nature of gender inequality; that is, gender inequality for all genders, not just males and females. In the focus of feminist theory we analyze patriarchal norms, gender discrimination as well as sexual objectification. The focus of gender as the key cause, is however, flawed. While this theory does explain a large proportion of sexual assaults and cover both distal and proximal variables, it doesn’t fully help explain the largely under researched topics of same-sex assaults and the factor of vulnerability and power. Structural functionalist theory is also a peculiar choice. It would argue that sexual assault is inevitable function of society that holds value and purpose. This, however, in no way takes in morality of the society nor does it give an explanation of how it can benefit the vast majority of a society. If combine parts of this theory with parts of feminist theory, we can begin to see that some sort of idea of power is at