September 30, 2014

September marks the 20th Anniversary of the passage of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) – landmark legislation that continues to improve the lives of women and girls throughout the nation. And yet, as the Vice President said in his recent remarks:

“We have so much more to do, because there is still sex bias that remains in the American criminal justice system in dealing with rape — stereotypes like she deserved it or she wore a short skirt still taint prosecutions for rape and domestic violence. We’re not going to succeed until America embraces the notion — my father’s notion — that under no circumstance does a man ever have a right to raise a hand to a woman other than in self-defense — under no circumstance, that no means no, whether it’s in a bedroom, or on the street, on in the back of a car — no means no. Rape is rape — no exceptions.”

The bias and stereotypes the Vice President alludes to also exist on our college campuses. How can it be that in 2014, twenty years after the VAWA became law, nearly one in five undergraduate women will be sexually assaulted while in college – and most often by someone she knows?¹ Solving this problem requires naming the problem. It requires prevention and education that begins before young men and women go to college. It requires sustained, comprehensive public education that addresses the root causes of sexual violence. It requires changing attitudes, behavior and the culture on many college campuses. And it requires engaging men as allies.

Of course, most college-aged men are not perpetrators of sexual violence and when they are empowered to intervene and take action when they see a woman student is in trouble, they become part of the solution.² According to NOT ALONE, a report on campus sexual assault issued by the White House in April of this year, “bystander intervention” is among the most promising prevention strategies being used at colleges and universities today. College men often overestimate their peers’ acceptance of sexual assault. When they hear from other men that rape is unacceptable, their perspectives often change. Bringing in the Bystander™ is a sexual violence prevention program aimed at changing attitudes and behaviors that may be precursors to sexual assault. The program emphasizes that all members of the community have a role to play in preventing sexual and intimate partner violence.

Increasing this sense of community on college campuses can have a far-reaching impact. When we feel connected to our peers and surroundings, we also feel a greater sense of responsibility to protect them.

The President may have said it best when he established the White House Task Force to Protect Students From Sexual Assault last January and said, “Perhaps most important, we need to keep saying to anyone out there who has ever been assaulted: you are not alone. We have your back. I’ve got your back.”

For more information visit https://www.notalone.gov/.
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¹Center for Disease Control Sexual Violence Facts at a Glance 2012: Krebs CP, Linquist CH, Warner TD, Fisher BS, Martin SL. College women’s experiences with physically forced, alcohol- or other drug-enabled, and drug-facilitated sexual assault before and since entering college. Journal of American College Health 2009; 57(6):639-647.
²NOT ALONE: The First Report of the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault