Research Paper on Sexual Assault Myths and Perception

Introduction

The Rockford Sexual Assault Counseling (RSAC) started in 1977 when two the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) students felt that sending sexual assault victims to the emergency room without the support and receiving no information was wrong. With the support of Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault (ICASA) and the local United Way the program has grown and served the Winnebago, Boone and Ogle counties for 35 years. The mission of RSAC is to "provide services to survivors of sexual assault/abuse and to educate the community to reduce the risk of sexual violence" (Rockford Sexual Assault Counseling, Inc. [RSAC]). RSAC has done this by providing services in counseling, crisis, medical and legal advocacy, prevention education, and professional education.

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Rockford Sexual Assault Counseling (RSAC) prevention education provides training and education about sexual assault and how to prevent it. Personal safety, sexual harassment, and bullying topics are presented at an age-appropriate level, starting as young as Kindergarten. Additionally, they educate on warning signs of an unhealthy relationship and healthy ones, when and how to report sexual assault and abuse, self-defense, and a support group for girls. Unfortunately, these services are not taken advantage as a means of prevention by many whom may not be aware of the program, are not invited back to schools, and because of myths that the community might have of sexual assault and abuse. To successfully reach their mission statement, RSAC needs to become aware of the communities' perspective of sexual assault and violence.

To further investigate the community's perception of sexual assault I propose we not only gather data from high school students but also parents who have children in high schools. I suggest this is conducted using surveys focused on the intended group and measure their perception on sexual assault, attitude towards myths of causes leading to sexual assault, and factors that can aid in prevention. Questions from the above surveys could be used and adding to questions such as you can't believe a girl claiming to have been raped when she has a reputation for sleeping with multiple men, can a man staying out late increase the likelihood of a sexual assault occurring to him, and can a woman staying out late increase the likelihood of a sexual assault occurring to her. By gathering data from high school students, we can get a better understanding of what myths they believe to be true and if more education on sexual assault is needed, and how RSAC can help them. The same would go for parents.

Literature Review

The perceptions people have on sexual assault can help identify factors on why sexual assault and violence is underreported. Sexual assault is defined by Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN, 2019) as having sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the victim. Some forms of sexual assault include attempted rape, fondling or unwanted sexual touching, forcing a victim to perform sexual acts, such as oral sex or penetrating the perpetrator's body, and penetration of the victim's body, also known as rape. In a study examined of 276 female college students, 71 reported at least one experience that met the definition of rape (LeMaire, Oswald, & Russell, 2016). It is estimated that approximately 42%-78% of rape victims do not label their sexual assault experience as rape (Bondurant, 2001; Fisher, Cullen, & Turner, 2000).

The victims believed to have a misconception of their experience, believing consent was given, therefore not labeling their experience as sexual assault. Attitudes and beliefs on what and why sexual assault happens can outline why sexual assault is underreported. Rape myths are "attitudes and beliefs that are generally false but are widely and persistently held, and that serve to deny and justify male sexual aggression against women" (Lonsway & Fitgerald, 1994, p. 134). In other words, rape myths blame the victim and find justifications for the perpetrator. Sexism and labels related to gender roles, such as a man being masculine and the defender, or the way a woman might dress or their actions that cause a man to arouse are factors that play in these myths.

To understand the perceptions of rape in college students, a study, conducted by the students of the University of Utah Department of Sociology, focused on student attitudes towards campus sexual assault policies (Steng & Kamimura, 2016). The study looks into evaluating the relationships between attitude, opinions, and perceptions of sexual assault on campus and perceptions of university policies related to sexual assault among college students. The data was collected using surveys that were given to undergraduate students between the ages of 18 and 30 years old in social science classes. The selection of these 1,260 students was based on professors who allowed 15 minutes of their class time to be given to conducting the survey on sexual assault. The questionnaires asked students to rate within a 5-point scale the importance of each sexual assault policy and its support in reducing sexual assault within 7 state universities. Five subscales in the areas of counseling/support resources, reporting, investigation, prevention, and grievance/adjudication. The highest scores of 0.813 for counseling/support, 0.808 for prevention, and 0.773 for reporting were perceived as policy elements to reducing sexual assault (Streng & Kamimura, 2016).

To further the research and examine the attitudes on sexual assault, the College Date Rape Attitudes and Behaviors Survey (CDRABS) was used (Lanier & Green, 2006). The survey used a 5-point scale (1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree) to examine attitudes such as "if a woman dresses in a sexy dress, she is asking for sex", "I believe that talking about sex destroys the romance of that moment", and "date rapist is usually motivated by an overwhelming unfulfilled sexual desire". The highest scores of respondents had higher levels of anti-rape attitudes. And to gather data on the perception of sexual assault, the Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (IRMA) with a 5-point scale was utilized. The survey measured: "he did not mean to, it wasn't really rape, and she lied. These pieces of the survey were linked with examples to answer the perceptions, for instance, a lot of times, girls who say they were raped agreed to have sex and then regret it (she lied), or if a guy is drunk, he might rape someone unintentionally (he didn't mean to"). The results for this survey represented the higher scores signifying rape-blaming and victim-shaming.

Additional Literature Review

The efforts of the Rockford Sexual Assault Counseling (RSAC) to educate people on how to prevent and deal with sexual assault is affected by the myths about assaults and the perceptions that the society believes in. For example, a common myth is that people who become victims of sexual assault usually trigger it or expose themselves to it. The myth implies that when someone goes to someone's house or a bar, they assume the risk of sexual assault and actually provoke their assaulters (Castro, Kintzle, Schuyler, Lucas & Warner, 2015). However, the fact is that sexual assault is a crime that has nothing to do with this myth, and dressing and location should not be used as an excuse to commit it. The other myth is that most of the assault results are fake and they are only directed to weak men by opportunistic women. The myth also suggests that these cases are only common in colleges and universities (Weiser, 2015). The truth is that such assaults account for less than 10% of the reported cases and it is rare for victims to lie about sexual assault.

The efforts of RSAC are also affected by the myth that sexual assaults are committed by strangers, while the truth shows that most of these cases are committed by people well known to the victims. Eight out of ten victims are assaulted by people they know (Fields, 2017). Most of the assaulted people fail to report their cases because of the relationships they have with the assaulters. Many people also assume that men cannot be assaulted, but data shows that up to 12% of assault cases are about men (Castro, Kintzle, Schuyler, Lucas & Warner, 2015). RSAC needs to educate people about the myths.

Conclusion

Sexual assaults are a common challenge in most of the places today and some organizations assist the victims to get justice and to deal with the consequences of the assault. Rockford Sexual Assault Counseling (RSAC) is one of such organizations and it educates the society on the issues related to sexual assault and how to prevent these cases. Understanding the perception of the society about sexual assault is also critical because it helps to know the things to consider and the ones that may not have major impacts. Rape attitudes and behaviors are related to the way the society believes about rape and the myths surrounding it.

References

Bondurant, B. (2001). University women's acknowledgment of rape: Individual, situational, and social factors. Violence Against Women, 7, 294-314.

Castro, C. A., Kintzle, S., Schuyler, A. C., Lucas, C. L., & Warner, C. H. (2015). Sexual assault in the military. Current psychiatry reports, 17(7), 54.

Fields, S. E. (2017). Debunking the Stranger-in-the-Bushes Myth: The Case for Sexual Assault Protection Orders. Wis. L. Rev., 429.

Fisher, B. S., Cullen, F. T., & Turner, M. G. (2000). The sexual victimization of college women (NCJ182369). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.

Lemaire, K. L., Oswald, D. L., & Russell, B. L. (2016). Labeling sexual victimization experiences: The Role of Sexism, Rape Myth Acceptance, and Tolerance for Sexual Harassment. Violence and Victims, 31(2), 332-346. doi: 10.1891/0886-6708.vv-d-13-00148

Lanier, C. A., & Green, B. A. (2006). Principal Component Analysis of the College Date Rape Attitude Survey (CDRAS). Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 13(2)

Lonsway, K. A., & Fitzgerald, L. F. (1994). Rape myths: In review. Psychology of Women Quarterly,18, 133-164.

Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN). (2019). Sexual Assault.

Rockford Sexual Assault Counseling, Inc. (n.d.).

Streng, T. K., & Kamimura, A. (2016). Perceptions of university policies to prevent sexual assault on campus among college students in the USA. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 14(2), 133-142.

Weiser, D. A. (2017). Confronting myths about sexual assault: A feminist analysis of the false report literature. Family relations, 66(1), 46-60.