{"id":998,"date":"2016-06-28T19:43:55","date_gmt":"2016-06-28T19:43:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/?p=998"},"modified":"2016-06-28T19:57:17","modified_gmt":"2016-06-28T19:57:17","slug":"acquaintance-rape-a-reality-on-college-campuses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/2016\/06\/28\/acquaintance-rape-a-reality-on-college-campuses\/","title":{"rendered":"Acquaintance Rape: A Reality on College Campuses"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"SeedsComedian Bill Cosby and Brock Turner, a former Stanford swimmer, have a lot in common. Both were once highly respected individuals, until the all-American family man and the all-American athlete made headlines over accusations of sexual assault.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n
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Turner\u2019s recent conviction for two felony charges of sexual assault, and one for \u201cattempt to rape\u201d have sparked immense controversy over Judge Aaron Persky\u2019s lenient six-month jail sentence for the crime. The 12 page impact letter that the victim read in the courtroom went viral. Despite the terrible trauma the young woman referred to as \u201cEmily Doe\u201d experienced, there really is a profound good that has come from this tragedy. That is the platform for exposing the ongoing and often silent threat of acquaintance rape on college campuses.<\/p>\n

The www.freedictionary.com<\/a> defines acquaintance rape as a, \u201cRape committed by someone with whom the victim is acquainted.\u201d According to the National Institute of Justice, in college rapes, the perpetrator is known to the victim 85 or 90 percent of the time. In only about half of the cases are they a dating partner though. For example, Turner and his victim\u2019s only connection was attending the same fraternity party.<\/p>\n

Sexual assault can happen to women or men, and can occur anywhere. Yet RAINN, the Rape Abuse & Incest National Network reports, \u201c9 out of 10 rape victims were female in 2003.\u201d So, let\u2019s talk about young women on college campuses where 99 percent of rapists are male. (Campus Safety Magazine) The Bureau of Justice Statistics, estimates that 80 percent of sexual assaults of college females are likely to go unreported. Other information from www.campussafetymagazine.com<\/a> reports that alcohol is often a contributing factor in sexual assaults, \u201c\u2026 69 percent involve alcohol consumption by perpetrators.\u201d This research also finds that 43% of victims had consumed alcohol.<\/p>\n

Alarmingly, campus sexual assault surveys indicate that about 1 in 5 female students will be a victim of sexual assault.<\/span> These statistics, however accurate are not the point according to Tyler Kingkade in his December 2014 Huffington Post column. Kingkade says the point is that victims are finally speaking up asserting that once they did report, their cases were handled poorly by campus hierachy. After all, a university can be hesitant to admit that they have a problem with rape on their campus. It\u2019s not exactly a PR selling point for parents, \u201cHave your daughter come to our college and then take your chances.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In fairness, some universities are aggressively addressing this tragic phenomenon through preventive education. Yet this knowledge can come too late for acquaintance rape victims, since freshmen and sophomore students are at the highest risk of violation. That\u2019s why, it\u2019s paramount for parents to speak candidly with their college-bound kids. Warning their daughters not to go to a party alone but with other females, and not to ever leave with a male she doesn\u2019t know well.<\/p>\n

Tell her to guard her drink and never drink from a punch bowl or open container, because \"Pilldrug facilitated rapes are an ongoing issue. \u201cAlcohol remains the most commonly used chemical in crimes of sexual assualt, but there are also substances being used by perpetrators including: Rohypnol, GHB, etc.,\u201d according to the RAINN Website.<\/p>\n

Tell your sons that, \u201cNo,\u201d means, \u201cNo.\u201d Regardless of how far the sexual activity has gone, and if a young woman is incapacitated like Turner\u2019s victim was, her ability to legally consent is impaired. Don\u2019t assume that your child will not drink, attend parties, or make poor choices, even if they are a church-goer or home-schooled, because a teenager\u2019s newfound freedom can be a dangerous gift with deadly consequences. Lastly, don\u2019t expect public high schools to be solely responsible for prevention. They are inundated with a multitude of prevention issues like: bullying, teen dating violence, prescription drug abuse and heroin prevention, nutrition, safe driving, etc. Instead parents have to step up to the plate, and start this difficult conversation, because sexual assault is an all-too-common reality.<\/p>\n

In addition, acquaintance rape can be a very problematic crime to prosecute turning into a \u201cHe did,\u201d versus \u201cShe wanted to,\u201d conversation. Many times, the victim can be traumatized a second time\u00a0through the brutally invasive process, when her character is put on trial. In Brock Turner\u2019s case, there were two Stanford students from Sweden passing by who witnessed the sexual assault of the unconscious victim, and detained Turner until authorities arrived.<\/p>\n

Emily Doe has no remembrance of the circumstances, because her blood alcohol was three times the legal limit. This in no way excuses Turner\u2019s criminal behavior, but in all reality if it weren\u2019t for the intervening Swedes, \u00a0this startling case might have been one more unreported statistic.<\/p>\n

\"6353664Christina Ryan Claypool is a past two term board member for the former Ohio Coalition against Sexual Assault. She has been featured on Joyce Meyer Ministries and on CBN’s 700 Club. Her book, Seeds of Hope for Survivors for everyone who has ever been brokenhearted, addicted, or a victim is available on www.amazon.com.<\/a> H<\/em>er website is\u00a0www.christinaryanclaypool.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Comedian Bill Cosby and Brock Turner, a former Stanford swimmer, have a lot in common. Both were once highly respected individuals, until the all-American family man and the all-American athlete made headlines over accusations of sexual assault. Turner\u2019s recent conviction … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[463,755,751,753,16,461,21,429,22,571,339,752,754],"class_list":["post-998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-alcohol","tag-cbn-700-club","tag-college-campus","tag-college-campuses","tag-crime","tag-date-rape","tag-drugs","tag-joyce-meyer-ministries","tag-prosecution","tag-rape","tag-seeds-of-hope-for-survivors","tag-sexual-assault-prevention","tag-victim"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=998"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1004,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998\/revisions\/1004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}