Since protesters broke into the Dimensions show chanting statistics and asking for change, sexual assault has been brought to the forefront of campus conversation. I have heard many say, "I think we can all agree that sexual assault is", followed by an adjective such as "bad" or "harmful." Yet there still seems to be a lot that we cannot agree about when it comes to sexual assault. Dangerous misconceptions and a poor understanding of the basic definition of sexual assault prevent people from actually addressing the issue as it exists on this campus.
The College's policy on "sexual misconduct" defines sexual assault as "sexual penetration when [intentional physical contact with an intimate' body part] is achieved without consent; through physical force, coercion, or threat; or in situations in which the victim is unable to give consent because of physical or mental incapacitation by reason of drug or alcohol consumption, sleep, or unconsciousness." Verbose as it is, this definition is a fairly comprehensive definition of sexual assault. In these impersonal terms, it seems easy to agree about sexual assault. Yet when faced with real life examples, many students fail to understand and uphold this definition.
One could argue that there is a certain stigma that comes with being a victim of any sexual assault. But there is certainly a special kind of stigma reserved for victims of assault perpetrated by an acquaintance, friend or partner, and another reserved for a victim whose inability to give consent was a result of drug or alcohol consumption. There is an oddly pervasive belief that within the imagined hierarchy of rapes, date or acquaintance rape somehow falls short, as do rape cases involving drugs or alcohol. This failure to understand the very definition of rape is exactly what makes these assaults so traumatizing.
In these situations, the victim is constantly told or at least made to feel that his or her assault is somehow invalidated by the circumstances under which it occurred. This kind of denial subtly shifts the blame to the victim, pressuring the victim to rethink the incident and perhaps write it off as a misunderstanding. There is an implication that victims who are taken advantage of when drunk are overreacting or possibly misinterpreting their situation. This kind of denial is obviously detrimental, stoking further trauma and discouraging future victims from seeking support.
The idea of different levels of assault is arbitrary and ludicrous. Who can say one kind of rape is "worse" than another? Creating false categories of assault is a way to shirk the blame off the shoulders of the perpetrators. These kinds of misconceptions about whether one assault can be more serious or legitimate than another are rooted in fear fear that admitting supposedly "murky" cases to be sexual assault might possibly implicate one as a perpetrator or a bystander.
Rape is not just a random act of violence committed by a stranger in a dark alleyway. We have heard this before, and we know it to be true, yet we continue to behave as if assaults can be classified as more or less severe. We are reluctant to admit the true incidence of sexual assault because it happens all around us, perpetrated by and against our friends and community members. The people who ply girls with drinks or go home with someone who has clearly exceeded his or her limit are not people who would consider themselves rapists, and their friends who turn a blind eye would be reluctant to admit their tacit culpability.
The fear is that if we admit to ourselves what rape truly is, then we will admit our hidden helplessness as bystanders, or possibly even deem ourselves offenders. Our community has allowed sexual assault to occur because we are too afraid to admit our own errors. To accept all cases of assault as what they really are could, and should, force us to acknowledge that some members of our society have been given the tacit societal prerogative to dominate and coerce others in an impaired or weakened state, and do so with impunity. Until we understand and admit what sexual assault really is, we can never effectively combat its monolithic presence on our campus.
