2008 Woodie Awards
Not on my Campus
What can be done about sexual assault at colleges
Sherri Daus
Issue date: 12/10/03 Section: News
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Characteristics of date or acquaintance rape are different from rape in that there are usually no weapons used, there are no physical marks such as bruising or choke marks on the victim, and there is usually the presence of alcohol and/or other drugs. The perpetrator is usually someone the victim knows, goes to school, or works with. Because of this, victims have a hard time conceptualizing the assault as rape and fail to get the appropriate support.
According to this study, the underreporting of date rape stems from a combination of factors. Victims fear people will hold them responsible for the assault, especially if it is committed by someone they, or others on campus, know. Calling their assault "rape" means calling another student or classmate a "rapist." This can be difficult to reconcile within a victim's already traumatized psyche, especially when the perpetrator is someone they know personally.
According to Wisconsin State Laws, sexual violence is any act, whether verbal or physical, that undermines a person's trust and/or safety and is sexual in nature. This refers to rape, date or acquaintance rape, incest, child sexual assault, ritual abuse, marital or partner rape, sexual harassment, exposure, and voyeurism.
Sexual assault can be either sexual intercourse or contact where sex is being used as a weapon. Victims do not have to be physically forced into the act for it to be considered a rape. Coercion and manipulation by any means to convince a person to participate in an act against their will is also assault.
Sexual contact is "any intentional touching of the intimate parts of a person, either directly or through clothing, by any body part or by any object, if that intentional touching is for the purpose of sexually degrading or humiliating the victim, or for the sexual arousal or gratification of the assailant, or if the intentional touching contains the elements of actual or attempted battery."
In plain English, if a guy touches a woman when she doesn't want him to, pushes her into a corner to gratify himself, or to intimidate her, then it is a fourth degree sexual assault, which is punishable by nine months in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.
The law makes no reference to gender for either the victim or assailant, so either gender may be a victim or a perpetrator.
Next issue: How to protect yourself, and what to do if you become a victim.
According to this study, the underreporting of date rape stems from a combination of factors. Victims fear people will hold them responsible for the assault, especially if it is committed by someone they, or others on campus, know. Calling their assault "rape" means calling another student or classmate a "rapist." This can be difficult to reconcile within a victim's already traumatized psyche, especially when the perpetrator is someone they know personally.
According to Wisconsin State Laws, sexual violence is any act, whether verbal or physical, that undermines a person's trust and/or safety and is sexual in nature. This refers to rape, date or acquaintance rape, incest, child sexual assault, ritual abuse, marital or partner rape, sexual harassment, exposure, and voyeurism.
Sexual assault can be either sexual intercourse or contact where sex is being used as a weapon. Victims do not have to be physically forced into the act for it to be considered a rape. Coercion and manipulation by any means to convince a person to participate in an act against their will is also assault.
Sexual contact is "any intentional touching of the intimate parts of a person, either directly or through clothing, by any body part or by any object, if that intentional touching is for the purpose of sexually degrading or humiliating the victim, or for the sexual arousal or gratification of the assailant, or if the intentional touching contains the elements of actual or attempted battery."
In plain English, if a guy touches a woman when she doesn't want him to, pushes her into a corner to gratify himself, or to intimidate her, then it is a fourth degree sexual assault, which is punishable by nine months in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.
The law makes no reference to gender for either the victim or assailant, so either gender may be a victim or a perpetrator.
Next issue: How to protect yourself, and what to do if you become a victim.