Professional Documents
Culture Documents
females. Sexual assault on college campuses has recently spiked in numbers and has been
deemed an epidemic (Shapiro, 2018). Some sources disagree that alcohol allows for
sexual assault. Daniel Luzer and Scott Hampton argue that there are other factors that
contribute to someone committing sexual assault or rape that do not include alcohol.
However, alcohol does plays a major factor in sexual assault on college campuses due to
objectifying of women, and universities not doing enough to prohibit these behaviors.
According to Merriam-Webster, “Sexual assault is the illegal sexual contact that usually
involves force upon a person without consent or is inflicted upon a person who is
incapable of giving consent (as because of age or physical or mental incapacity) or who
places the assailant (such as a doctor) in a position of trust or authority.” Although the
definition of sexual assault varies, part of the problem is just that: ignorance. People do
not know the true definition of sexual assault, leading to risky behaviors that may or may
not be crossing that blurry line of what is considered assault. The definition of binge
drinking is defined by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism as: “[A]
pattern of drinking that brings a person’s blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to 0.08
grams percent or above. This typically happens when men consume 5 or more drinks or
rates is typical for college students. Women are constantly being objectified in our
society. College students face many pressures and some of those stresses lead to risky
time. Only recently, sexual assault began occurring on college campuses. This is due to
universities creating co-ed dormitories and close living quarters in the 1950s (Luzer,
2016). Nowadays, students live in the same living areas no matter what gender. Going
home with someone after a night of partying and most likely binge drinking has become
normal and fairly easy. Rape has a higher chance of occurring in these type of scenarios.
When universities separated males and females and had strict rules on visiting hours
This first discussion of sexual assault was written by sociologist Eugene Kanin, in 1957.
He conducted a study analyzing the relationship between college men and women. He
found that men deliberately found ways to exploit and spread negative stigmas about
their fellow female students. The point of this being to make women easier targets for
Fortunately, the beginnings of activism for sexual assault awareness began with feminists
in 1967. Women began sharing their stories of rape and assault, and the numbers of
women were shocking. For so long, victims kept quiet of their rape due to fear of
judgment from society and the fact that no one really knew how common rape was. One
of the first rape crisis center’s originated in Oakland, California, called Bay Area Women
Against Rape (BAWAR). A place where women could receive support and heal. This
worldwide issue that concerns all genders and all ages. Everyone needs to be educated on
this issue, especially men because they are the majority of perpetrators of rape and sexual
assault.