Running Head: DO FRATERNITIES CONTRIBUTE TO SEXUAL ASSAULT ON COLLEGE

CAMPUSES? 1

Do Fraternities Contribute to Sexual Assault on College Campuses?

Kassidy Dietz

James Madison University

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Abstract

This paper explores the question of whether fraternities contribute to sexual assault on college

campuses. Sexual assault is a big deal anywhere but it happens on college campuses more than

you think and the universities tend to not let it be known as much. Fraternities have a bad

reputation when it comes to the rape culture because they throw crazy parties that include drugs

and alcohol. The parties tend to be mix of brothers, nonmembers, and girls and when you

combine the drugs and alcohol, things can go from bad to worse in an instance. The topic is

important to me because Im now in college and going out to parties so I want to research this

topic to be aware of the risks and things that could happen. This topic is relevant to my peers

because they go out to parties as well and this is wakeup call to understand the connection

between the two.

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Do Fraternities Contribute to Sexual Assault on College Campuses?

According to Jessica Valenti from The Guardian, Frat brothers rape 300% more. One in

5 women is sexually assaulted on campus (1). Fraternities are known for contributing to sexual

assault or the rape culture in some way, shape, or form. Since there is a lot of people who have

consumed alcohol and/or drugs mixed with extremely loud music, something is bound to happen

at some point. Rape in general occurs more in a setting like a party where the predators can hunt

or find their prey easily. Then you add in college students who are most likely underage drinking,

you get a recipe for disaster. These two subjects have been compared since the beginning of time

and no one can come to any consensus on the correlation. Fraternities contribute to sexual assault

on college campuses directly and indirectly. Indirectly through the culture or environment that

fraternities bring to campus. Directly because at times members of the fraternities do commit

rape by drugging or by sleeping with one who is extremely intoxicated. This topic is extremely to

the audience because the audience consist of freshmen college students. They are more

vulnerable at parties because they have not had the experience that upperclassmen have had. It is

geared even more to current and future female college students who need to be aware and

informed about fraternity parties whether it is the actual fraternity committing the act or someone

attending the party.

Source A is a blog post from the online newspaper the New York Times by Anna North

and it is called Is College Sexual Assault a Fraternity Problem? By asking this question, the

author wants to gather information from both sides of the argument to come to a collective

decision. People have seen the rise in curiosity and speculation about this in the last 20 years

because the authorities are not letting the fraternities get away with it. Throughout the blog,

North questions if fraternities are directly responsible for college sexual assault and she
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concluded that they dont necessarily directly correlate with rape culture. But she did find out

that they relate indirectly and it is not the main cause of sexual assault. Alcohol is definitely a

contributing factor but it is not the sole factor. To support these claims, North brings in examples

from different colleges and different ways the situations were handled. She brings to light the

other side of the argument that maybe they have played some part in continuing the rape culture

on campus.

Source B is a blog post from the online newspaper the Daily Dot by Anne Theriault

called The problem with fraternity rape culture is even bigger than you think. The article

discusses the direct correlation between the rape culture and fraternities. To show the extent of

the issue, the author identifies real life issues that have happened at some universities. The

objective of writing this is to make others understand what is categorized in the rape culture

around America on college campuses. The different universities she identifies and uses as

evidence makes the argument stronger because they all have had experiences in this category and

have had different outcomes from it. The article concludes that if the two are the same then

people need to figure out a way to stop or fix it before it becomes too late to do something about

it.

Source C is a blog post from the online newspaper The Huffington Post written by Stacey

Dougan called College and Rape Culture: The Unbelievable and the Commonplace. The

article is centered around an email that was sent by a fraternity member at Georgia Tech that

explicitly explains how to rape women at parties. Dougan analyzes and criticizes the email about

how the rape culture is wrong and needs to be changed. To objectify women is morally wrong

and Dougan, member of Men Stopping Violence, tries to put blame on others such as the
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universities not just the brothers. By the end of article, the point is clear about breaking down the

rape culture.

In sources A and B, real life examples from universities are used in the argument. In

source A students from Brown University an Oklahoma State are quoted. Source B uses

information from the University of California, San Diego, Texas Tech, Yale, San Diego State,

and Georgia Tech. In total, eight schools are used to support the argument that fraternities

contribute to sexual assault in some way, shape, or form. In the New York Times blog, a

fraternity got suspended for four years in response to reports of spiked drinks at one party and

unwanted touching at another at Brown University which is similar in how the other blog post

describes the examples (para. 2). In Theriaults argument, six schools are used but UCSD is

meant represent the main point of the article about how women are objectified by frats. Both

Theriaults and Norths blogs use the colleges to relate to the readers and get the point across

better.

Anne Theriaults and Stacey Dougans article discuss the issue that fraternities objectify

women to obtain what they want which most likely is some sort of sexual act. Dougans article

uses an email written by a member of a fraternity at Georgia Tech that discusses how to trap

women at parties while Theriaults uses many examples that show the way fraternities objectify

women for their benefit. According to Texas Tech and Yale University, fraternity members

shouted NO MEANS YES, YES MEANS ANAL at different events on campus (para. 8).

According to Theriault, San Diego State fraternity members [threw] eggs at women, [yelled]

obscenities, and [waved] dildos at women during a march in November of 2014 (para. 8). Then

According to Dougans post about the email, the Georgia Tech frat reduces women to prey in

the hunt for male sexual gratification and misconstrues consent by equating signals (para. 5
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and para. 8). Both these examples from the different articles prove that the fraternities use

women for sex and in general think of them as toys or objects.

The way the authors in Sources A and C go about fixing or suggesting how to fix the

problem with rape culture on campus in fraternities are different. Anna North suggests the

colleges crack down and regulate the fraternities, while Stacey Dougan suggest that the men go

through programs to show how to treat women and the consequences of actions in rape. Dougan

thinks the university does nothing and the faculty and staff do nothing to prevent this behavior so

he wants to start programs to prevent it (para. 11). On the other hand, North believes to prevent

this from continuously happening, college administrators need to change polices, be willing

to kick out fraternities if necessary, and students should be involved as well to make the campus

safer to live in (para. 14 and para.16). Both have different views on how handle the prevention

process but both agree that something needs to change for the prevention process.

The awareness and basis of the problem are looked at differently by Sources A and B. In

Anna Norths blog, she questions the rape culture in fraternities are a big problem which is

different for Anne Theriaults blog where she states The problem with fraternity rape culture is

even bigger than you think (para. 1). North plays almost a devils advocate role about the issue

because she identifies issues within the problem but then disagrees with the consequences of the

crime committed. However, by the end of her post, she concludes that they are a problem but

now the question posed is whether Greek life should be a part of campus life (para. 19).

Theriault believes that the problem exists, it is just how it is handled thats the problem. She

brings in a bunch of schools as evidence that the problem is growing and nothing is being done

about it. Both authors have different looks on the problem at hand.
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I believe Anna Norths blog post is a good article to use in the paper. The article uses in-

depth examples to justify her argument which plays in my favor because of my stance. This

article has some weaknesses to it that doesnt make it perfect. The first weakness is that it plays

devils advocate with the position. Some of the evidence is also not strong enough to put in the

paper. But I think it is credible because it makes some good points about redesigning Greek

Life but regulating the fraternities or getting rid of them is a bad idea (para.12). If a college

takes away the fraternities, the appeal to attend drops because for example at JMU, Greek life

takes probably 75% of the student body. So, destroying that would hurt the application of the

schools.

Anne Theriaults blog post is a good source to use because it has great evidence for my

argument. She gives a great variety of examples and quotes from students or events. The problem

with the post though is the lack of solutions it provides for the problem. The article does not

mention any solutions for the problem at hand which is concerning because of the amount of

evidence there is supporting the argument. It is still credible in my eyes because it provides me

with information from different people that show the objectification of women and the

correlation between the fraternities and the rape culture.

Stacey Dougans post in The Huffington Post helps my argument with fraternities but in a

different way. The main weakness of the article is that it does not have the full email that the

social chair of a fraternity at Georgia Tech sent to the brothers. If it had the full email embedded

somewhere in the article, then it would have more of an impact. Another weakness is that there

are only two topics talked about, the email and his prevention program. He did not go into much

detail about his prevention programs. Overall though the information in the top half of the post

helped my stance on the argument.

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I have learned that the stereotypes are not always true but the culture of frats

continuously correlate with rape whether they mean to or not. My viewpoint has changed a little

bit, I am more in the middle about how much fraternities contribute to sexual assault. My stance

for the next assignment is fraternities do contribute to sexual assaults on college campuses. As I

go through college, I feel like I will learn more and more about the subject because I attend these

parties and word travels fast about what happens at them. Overall, this research has opened my

eyes more on attending parties and what to look for.

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References

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