Alcohol and Sexual Assault in College - Term Paper Example

Alcohol and Sexual Assault in College Human lives will be ‘made’ or positively ‘constructed’ mainly in their youth phase. Every human life will be composed of several stages, which are inter-linked, and which only moves one’s life. The youth phase will be considered the crucial one because in that stage only their life defining academic and professional aspects will fall into place. So, during that stage, their life can take a turn either in the positive direction or in the negative direction. Positive direction in the sense, if the individual during his/her youth concentrates on education and career by aptly completing college, thereby forming a good and capable support group, their lives will be a success. However, if they indulge in negative aspects like alcohol, drugs, violence, crimes and even alcohol induced sexual assaults during their college life, they could face a lot of difficulties throughout the lives. Particularly, if alcohol enters into one’s life in their youth or college days, it will create a host of repercussions to their physical body and mental mind, as well as to other lives. Other lives in the sense, alcohol related activities particularly sexual assaults would wreck the lives of other innocent individuals. Among the various forms of sexual or physical assaults, rape is considered as one the gravest and destabilizing forms. In the recent times, the physical assault of rape has attained more shocking and gruesome forms like Date rape, mainly caused by alcohol and other drugs. So, this paper will focus on how alcohol consumption by college students are causing various problems to them and importantly leads them to commit even graver mistakes like rape or date rape. Alcohol Consumption in Colleges or among College students One of the main reasons for heightened alcohol consumption is the easy availability and accessibility of alcohol. College going youths as well as teenagers can easily get alcohol, and they even use a friend’s ID, or other fake IDs to overcome the age bar and get access. Drinking alcohol in college life is associated with having fun with friends. In that phase of life, they have the space to do things on their own including drinking alcohol and partying until the wee hours of the day. Because of this mindset, they opine that getting drunk is one of the fun-filled experiences of their college life but the fun of drinking stops where the dangers of drinking start. When the alcohol enters the body, it can lead to many short-term as well as long-term dangers. Starting with deterioration of their health, alcohol consumption could lead to under-performance in academics, breakdown in relationship with parents and friends, social crimes and violent activities particularly sexual assaults. “Based on this compilation and new analysis of data on alcohol and crime, we know that nearly 4 in 10 violent victimizations involve use of alcohol, about 4 in 10 fatal motor vehicle accidents are alcohol-involved; and about 4 in 10 offenders, regardless of whether they are on probation, in local jail, or in State prison, self-report that they were using alcohol at the time of the offense.” (Greenfeld, 1998). Drunken driving One of main dangers of alcohol consumption that is highly visible among college students is deaths related to drunken driving. It is a common misconception that drunken driving deaths are just accidents, without human role. However, drunken driving statistics show us that this is preventable. In United States, “At all levels of BAC, the risk of being involved in a crash is greater for young people than for older people”. (cdc.gov). Most of the vehicle crashes and impaired driving are reported on the people under the age group of 20. Drunk drivers might sleep while driving that even sleeping it off does not help a lot since it takes time for the effects of alcohol in the body to end. Not only has sudden death become a possibility, but family, friends and everyone linked to the person drinking will be affected in a way. Alcohol seeps into the bodily systems really fast through the blood and when Dopamine is released in the brain bringing a sense of pleasure but also triggers blurry vision and a faster heart rate (Marieb 2003). When normal judgment is affected, proper interaction with people is also risked, using this weakness only females are sexually assaulted. Alcohol induced sexual assaults Apart from the above discussed danger of drunken driving, the main danger of alcohol is its role in sexual assaults, particularly date rape. “Drinking offenders committed over a third of the rapes or sexual assaults of persons older than 12 and over a quarter of the aggravated and simple assaults, according to victims’ perceptions.” (Greenfeld, 1998). Alcohol induced sexual assaults could happen in two ways. When both the individuals or ‘cohabitants’ are under the influence of alcohol, one could sexually assault the other knowingly or unknowingly. The second and the most common way alcohol induced sexual assaults could take place is when only the victim is under the influence of alcohol or put under the influence of alcohol. In the first case, it would be difficult to put the full blame on the offender, as the victim could not claim victimization all the time. However on the other hand, illegally or knowingly putting another individual under the state of unconsciousness through alcohol or alcohol mixed with drugs, and sexual assaulting them/her is a clear crime. Rape or date rape has nothing to do with passion. It does not happen as a result of misinformation. It has everything to do with violence and control. It is about forcing sex on another person. It is about an attempt to assert power and about directing anger. Rape is violence and is violence against women. Nor is date rape the unfortunate results of an intimate get together. It is a planned and calculated activity, which has its basis in the misdirected belief that men have a "right to have sex" with little or no consideration for the rights and wishes of the women involved. Thus, rape is a forced sexual intercourse including both psychological coercion as well as physical force. Forced sexual intercourse means vaginal, anal or oral penetration by the offender (Hodgson and Kelley, 2002). Profile of the victims and mindset of the offenders Among the college going population, adolescent and young females are the main target of sexual assaults. Rickert and Wiemann (1998) give out the fact that the female adolescents and the young adults among the female population are four times more likely to be victims of rape than women in all other age groups. The main statistics regarding date rape is, it happens involving 13% to 27% college-age women and 20% to 68% female adolescents. While discussing the Demographic characteristics, the Rickert and Wiemann (1998) spells out the factors that make the adolescent girls more vulnerable, and it includes first date at a very younger age, indulgence in early sexual activity, etc. The date-specific behaviors include who asked for a date, location, timing and importantly alcohol and drug use. Any women including college females drinking in a pub or any other hangout spots are viewed negatively and stereotypically by the offenders, leading to alcohol induced sexual results. That is, if a woman drinks several beers or any other alcohol drink, they are perceived by the college males as being more promiscuous, and thus could be easily seduced to sex. However, when the offenders realize that this stereotypical mindset is not correct, and the female or drunken female resists any advances, they will force themselves by sexually assaulting them. Many college men perceive women who drink in bars as appropriate targets for sexual aggression, For example, a college man who reported sexually assaulting a woman in one of our studies justified his behavior by writing, “She was the sleazy type . . . the typical bar slut.” (Abbey, 2002). Thus this negative mindset could lead to sexual assaults, and here also alcohol is a key factor. Acquaintances There is one glaring misunderstanding about rape. That is the myth that rapists are commonly unknown predatory strangers. This is simply not true. The assaulter could be an acquaintance of the victim in majority of the cases. These rapes are perpetrated, not in dark alleyways or out of the way places, but in the houses, cars, apartments and dormitories, which can be accessed by the alleged acquaintance or offender. Date rape, already an ugly phenomenon, is made much worse by being perpetrated by the victim's escort or companion. Date rape has nothing to do with friendship and has to do with hate and violence, as it misuses the trust and intimacy that a friendship allows. “Alcohol-involved sexual assaults more often occur among college students who know each other only casually and who spent time together at a party or bar” (Abbey, 2002). Date rape can be defined as the subset of acquaintance rape, with a romantic relationship between two people extending to nonconsensual sex, with alcohol or alcohol mixed with drugs being the catalyst for the wrong doing. Two-thirds of victims who suffered violence by an intimate (a current or former spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend) reported that alcohol had been a factor, with data indicating that about half the incidents described by the investigating officer as alcohol-related were between offenders and victims who were intimates. (Greenfeld, 1998) Drugs mixed with alcohol – a deadly concoction The crucial as well as the dubious thing that is being used by the perpetrators who indulge in date rape is the drugs. “The term drug-facilitated sexual assault (DFSA) has been recently coined to describe victims who were given a drug by an assailant and subsequently sexually assaulted.” (Negrusz, Juhascik and Gaensslen, 2005). Schwartz, Milteer and LeBeau (2000) lists out the various drugs, which are being mixed with the alcohol and used by the assaulters to make the victims unconscious, and thereby ‘co-operate’ with them in their assault. Many of these drugs were invented for positive purposes but were increasingly used by the perpetrators during date rapes. As alcohol is being commonly consumed during dates, it gives the perpetrators feasible opportunities to mix the drugs in the alcohol and assault the victims. That is, consuming alcohol during dates will itself put the female participants at risk because of its destabilizing property, and if drugs are added, it kind of creates a grievous potion leading to drug-facilitated sexual assaults. According to Schwartz, Milteer and LeBeau (2000), the most frequently used date-rape drugs are benzodiazepine, gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) and most commonly used flunitrazepam (Rohypnol). The most alarming trend regarding these date rape drugs is the fact that they can be easily purchased at pubs where the date takes place and at other common public places like gyms, popular bars, etc. The other source of information regarding date drugs is the Internet, as it publishes all the details including the locations where it can be procured. These drugs have an immediate and very destabilizing effect, causing the victims to relax their muscles and preventing them from opposing the assault. Also, these drugs will put the victims under anterograde amnesia lasting for many hours, minimizing the victims’ chances of coming to sense and escaping. Attribution In most cases of date rape and violence, the person who sexually assaults an individual by drugging her/him will be the perpetrator, who should be blamed and punished. However, these perpetrators will try to attribute the reason for the act on the victim. The research analysis done by Bell, Kuriloff and Lottes (1994) based on the answers given to a questionnaire, filled by around 300 university students provides these shocking perspectives. Among the students, who themselves confirmed their involvement in date rape; many of them blamed their rape victims. That is, they blamed the rape victim for acting in a ‘provocative’ manner and initiating the assault through their own actions. Among both the male and the female students (which includes the ones who were directly involved in date rapes and the ones who were just the normal students) surveyed as part of the study, the results reported that male students blamed the victim of date rape to a greater extent than the female students did. Also, the male students who blamed the victims and made attributions against the victim did not empathize with them. George and Marlatt () stated that the belief that one has consumed alcohol provides justification for engaging in socially inappropriate sexual behavior. If a man can say to himself, “I did that only because I was too drunk to know what I was doing,” then he does not have to label himself as deviant. (cited in Abbey, 2002) Under-reported Date rapes are one of the most under reported crimes committed against women. As most of the victims are in the adolescent stage of their life with immature mindset, they will not have the courage to report the incident to the authorities. Actually, they will avoid telling to their own parents. Also, as they will be under the influence of the drugs, with little or no consciousness, they will not be able to recollect all the happenings and also the perpetrators behind the acts. The other probable reason is, as it is an offence that takes place between intimates; the victims may avoid reporting her friend or colleague to the relevant authorities. Thus, the victim is put in a very hapless state, so they would not even report the incidence of rape to their parents or the relevant authorities. Conclusion and precautions When individuals with perverted mindset indulge in dating, he/she will try to sexually assault or rape their partners. Most of the times, date rapes takes place with the involvement of known persons, and this proves the fact that rape dates could not be easily predicted and prevented. The other important point is, most of the date rapes are not reported. However, rape dates and other resultant problems can be avoided if certain precautions are taken. The main precaution is alcohol and other drugs should not be used at all during date plans or during other occasions, as they are the main catalysts for rapes. Drinking and drug taking lower inhibitions and leave the door open for the rapes. If these measures are successfully implemented, apart from minimization of date rapes or rapes, it will also reduce unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases like HIV. References Abbey, A. (2002). Alcohol-Related Sexual Assault: A Common Problem among College students. Journal of Studies of Alcohol. Supplement 14. Retrieved on November 12 2010 from http://www.jsad.com/jsad/downloadarticle/AlcoholRelated_Sexual_Assault_A_Common_Problem_among_College_Students/1594.pdf. Bell, S. T., Kuriloff, P. J. and Lottes, I. (1994). Understanding Attributions of Blame in Stranger Rape and Date Rape Situations: An Examination of Gender, Race, Identification, and Students' Social Perceptions of Rape Victims. Journal of Applied Social Psychology. 24 (19). 1719–1734. cdc.gov. Impaired Driving. Retrieved on November 12 2010 from http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/drving.htm Greenfeld, L. A. (1998). Alcohol and Crime: An Analysis of National Data on the Prevalence of Alcohol Involvement in Crime. U.S. Department of Justice. Retrieved on November 12 2010 from http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/ac.pdf Hodgson, J. F and Kelley, D. S. (2002). Sexual violence: policies, practices, and challenges in the United States and Canada. Greenwood Publishing Group Marieb, E. (2003). Human Anatomy and Physiology. Benjamin-Cummings Pub.Co, Negrusz, A., Juhascik, M and Gaensslen, R. E. (2005). Estimate of the Incidence of Drug facilitated Sexual assault in United States. U.S. Department of Justice. Retrieved on November 12 2010 from http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/212000.pdf. Rickert, V. I., Vaughan, R. D. and Wiemann, C. M. (2002). Adolescent dating violence and date rape. Current Opinion in Obstetrics & Gynecology. 14(5):495-500 Schwartz, R. H., Milteer, R and LeBeau, M. A. (2000). Drug-facilitated sexual assault ('date rape'). Southern Medical Journal. 93(6):558-561 Read More