The Role Of Alcohol And Education In Sexual Assault

Sexual assaults are never thought out to be okay. Unfortunately, there are many disagreements about the role of alcohol being a key reason for falling back in efforts to develop effective sexual assault prevention strategies. Many sexual assaults on college campuses are due to the misuse of alcohol. Sexual assault due to alcohol is a common concurrence on college campuses every day. About 72% of reported rapes occur when the victim is intoxicated. The main contributing factor to this problem is a lack of education prior to college years. Although, there are many other reasons that follow such as peer pressure, alcohol used as a sexual signal, and men’s misperception. Although the college experience is supposed to be a time for growth, social life, and a great educational opportunity, many campuses are faced with sexual assault actions every single day.

Very few children going through schooling receive anything approaching adequate preparation for a safe adult sex life. “A principal reason for the lack of understanding is that the voices of women who have experienced sexual assault have been largely absent from academic discourse about the issue.” By the time someone has reached college, the media that teens see every day has already given millions of messages on sexual activity going completely the opposite direction. Studies show that the later we start discussing sexual activities with teens, the less effective it is to get the message across. Lack of education is the main contributing factor to sexual assaults on college campuses due to alcohol because school is where teens learn about life in the real world. The earlier that students learn about the life effects that sexual activity has, there is more likelihood that self-assurance and personal advocacy there might be. There are three main things that should be talked about when taught about sexual activity. One of them learning about consent. The saying “no means no” even does not do a good job of giving the full effect of what real and true consent is. Another thing that needs to be learned is sexual subjectivity. Sexual subjectivity is “an individual’s ability to reflect on their sexual needs, identity, and rights to pleasure. One final thing that needs to be taught is the idea of having healthy relationships. Any relationship whether it is flirting or marital needs to be taught to require the same empathy and consent as the other person. Schools all across the world need to infuse this into their curriculum so that students are reminded of these things consistently throughout their school years.

Besides lack of education, there are a few other reasons for sexual assault on college campuses due to alcohol. One of those is peer pressure. There is peer pressure on college students to drink every single day. Unfortunately, this can lead to situations where women may have more alcohol than they intended, which can put them into vulnerable situations where assault can happen. Most individuals will follow the perception of what their friends are doing. It is very unfortunate that many of the times when sexual assault occurs, it is done by someone that the victim knew, or, even more, unfortunately, someone that the victim considered a friend. Statistics say that “about 85-90 percent of sexual assaults reported by college women are perpetrated by someone known to the victim.” Another reason contributing to this problem is alcohol being used as a sexual signal. An example of this is somebody can see a girl drinking, and perceive that as she is wanting to be sexual. There is a lot of time that men misperceive alcohol as an indication that the girl is wanting to be sexually active. That leads to the next reason, men’s misperception. There are beliefs that the likelihood of a man misperceiving a women’s sexual intentions, and in turn would most likely lead to sexual assault.

There is not an easy fix to this problem. Universities across the world are not doing enough to stop this kind of behavior. It is argued that the faculty and staff of universities can not do anything to prevent the students to go out and drink. The part that they can do something about is the sexual assaults happening. Universities have programs such as Title IX, RAINN, and many more. These are all great jobs getting the message across, except these programs are being created in the interests of the campus rather than the students. Assaults that have already happened can not be taken back, but there can be things done about preventing future ones to happen. The solution is in the university's hands. The faculty and staff of universities need to step up and take action to put an end to this behavior. The universities can do things such as require prevention programs, have resources for reporting reports, and encourage students to shy away from drinking to the point of unknowing of their actions or surroundings. An additional way that this issue could be prevented is to have university police officers stationed during the “party hours” where they could see potential assaults and stop the attacker from doing the assault in the first place. This solution is justifiable and feasible because there is no true solution to ending all sexual assaults, but this will allow the assaults to be stopped or prevented.

Sexual assault is a topic that college universities have been battling with for years. It is a very unpleasant topic to be discussed, especially for parents of upcoming college students. There are many ways for sexual assaults to be lead up to happen, such as peer pressure, alcohol is used as a sexual signal, and men’s misperception. With lack of education being the biggest contributor to this issue, then that is where the fixing needs to start. Sexual assault needs to be brought up and discussed for years to come before college. All throughout their schooling years, students spend their days sitting inside of a classroom, and this is an environment where sexual assault needs to be addressed so it can be engraved into student's brains that can prevent the life-long impact that sexual assault can have. Students need this type of education required for them so that they can achieve academically and also personally, and so that the horrific reality of sexual assaults can be put to an end.