Running Head: ALCOHOL AND SEXUAL ASSAULT ON CAMPUS 1

Influence of Alcohol in Sexual Assault on College Campuses

Ally Werrick

James Madison University

Abstract
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How does alcohol influence sexual assault on college campuses? I chose this topic

because sexual assault has currently become an epidemic in our society. Being a female college

student, I felt this topic was especially important to me. Women’s rights have always been a

passion of mine. Considering the statistics showing that sexual assault significantly effects

women over men, this is a women’s issue. My peers are college students, my professors teach at

college, making this a relevant topic for us all. In this paper, I will discuss why college sexual

assault is so important, and how alcohol influences assault to occur more often.
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Introduction

It is 2018, why haven’t we reached full equality for men and women? Sexual assault is

deemed a women’s issue. If women are being targeted and dehumanized by sexual assault, we

have not come close to achieving equality. Currently, women in college are walking the same

campuses are their perpetrators. According to USAToday, as well as countless other sources, one

in five women in college will get sexually assaulted in their four years at school. This creates a

harmful learning environment for students who are victims and universities are not doing

anything to help them.

Sexual assault is an urgent issue that needs to be addressed and talked about at all

universities across the country. Every day, a student is walking around campus seeing the person

that assaulted them getting to walk away with no consequences. The Huffington Post reported in

2017 that 99 percent of perpetrators of sexual assault will walk away free. Additionally, the same

source found that out of all reported cases of sexual assault, only around two percent are falsely

reported. These statistics should be a wake-up call to everyone who hears them. If there is

nothing done to change these statistics, women will continue to be assaulted and raped and their

perpetrators will continue to sexually assault more women.

Discussion

In her Ted Talk, 1 in 5 Can Thrive: Rethinking Sexual Assault on College Campuses,

Miya Higashiyama discussed why sexual assault has become an epidemic and what actions

bystanders and victims can take to create change. She talks to an audience that would contain

college students, considering they are the group most affected by this issue. Higashiyama creates

her focus on action; action that victims can take when their universities will not. Additionally,
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action bystanders can take to help a friend that may potentially be victims of sexual assault.

Many of the times sexual assault is reported to universities, they chose to do nothing to the

matter. Schools do not want to be known for their high rates of sexual assault, therefore they try

to keep victims from taking action and refuse to expel students blamed of assault. When this

occurs, Higashiyama suggests filing a Title IX report. When universities are deliberately creating

an unsafe learning environment for their students, they are in direct violation of Title IX. Victims

who chose to take action can still do something, even when their school does not. She asks

victims to speak out on the topic of sexual assault because she claims if it is more talked about,

leaving more people educated. Hopefully in turn, lessening the high rates of sexual assault.

Higashiyama clearly spells out in her Ted Talk, what victims and bystanders can do when

sexual assault occurs. Due to the statistic that, “88 percent of students do not report their sexual

assault cases”, it is evident that there is reason to why victims keep quiet. One reason why

students are reluctant to report their assault causes is due to fear of being judged or shamed.

Another reason could be that the student knows their university most likely will not take any

action against their perpetrator. “Fewer than one-third of sexual assault cases result in expulsion”

(Higashiyama, 2016). Higashiyama uses this statistic to convey to her audience how schools are

very reluctant to punish sexual assault perpetrators. Their reasoning being the burden on the

university’s image. For the sake of their reputation, universities rather not have high sexual

assault statistics associated with their name. Therefore, when their school might let them down,

Higashiyama suggests reporting a Title IX case.

Miya Higashiyama holds value in her speech because she is a victim of sexual assault

from when she was in college. Her audience is getting a first hand look into what she went

through coping with sexual assault and filing a report to her university. However, Higashiyama
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got the unfortunate results most students get from their university: nothing. Her assailant still

walked her campus and sat in her classes. Hearing directly from a victim is a lot more insightful

and heartwarming than just anyone reporting on the issue. The speech held little weakness, but if

there was something to be changed, it would be the depth. Sexual assault is a rich topic with a lot

to be covered. In her ten minute talk, Higashiyama only scratched the surface. She mentioned

briefly what a bystander can do to help someone that potentially could be assaulted, but gave no

specifics. If she gave some examples, she could have given her audience some tools to help

prevent sexual assault and help such an urgent issue.

The purpose of Antonia Abbey’s scholarly article is to give insight into the reasons for

sexual assault to occur, focussing on the role of alcohol. The source is highly informative,

making the audience anyone who may be doing thorough research on sexual assault and alcohol.

Abbey makes her focus really on how sexual assault occurs in the first place. As well as, the

situational factors, characteristics of the perpetrators, and how alcohol can influence someone

force themselves on another human being. The main idea centers around alcohol’s contribution

to sexual assault. The researchers dug deep to find out what connections they could find between

the tendencies of a person who commits sexual assault. Specifically, what the situational and

distal factors perpetrators and victims carry that allows sexual assault to occur.

This source directly relates to my research question. The article is rich in statistics, as

well as explanations. Antonia Abbey takes a clear stance on the issue that corresponds to my

own. Abbey describes sexual assault as, “a silent epidemic, because it occurs at high rates yet is

rarely reported to authorities” (Abbey, 2016). The silence due to fear of judgment and lack of

support to victims. Many students are afraid of what their peers may think of them because

oftentimes victims are blamed for what happened to them. Although I had my assumptions on
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the effects of alcohol, this article really proved how major a factor alcohol is on sexual assault.

The source claimed that: “Approximately one-half of [sexual assault] cases involve alcohol

consumption by the perpetrator, victim, or both” (Abbey, 2016). If you think about how one out

of two sexual assault cases involve one or both persons under the influence of alcohol, it’s

astounding. Abbey is clearly proving there is a correlation and causation effect with alcohol

influencing assault.

Both the Ted Talk by Miya Higashiyama and Antonia Abbey’s scholarly source, have

viewpoints that align with one another. However, they cover different aspects of the issue.

Higashiyama covers more on what to do after sexual assault occurs. Whereas, Abbey aims to

figure out why assault happens in the first place. In her article, Abbey concludes that: “[S]exual

assaults involving alcohol consumption are more likely to occur between men and women who

do not know each other well. Furthermore, alcohol-involved sexual assaults tend to occur at

parties or in bars, rather than in either person’s home” (Abbey, 2016). If sexual assaults are more

likely to happen in parties or bars, no wonder this is a college aged issue. College students are

the vast majority of people who are going to parties and bars, and drinking heavily. Antonia

Abbey proves further that sexual assault on college campuses is currently an epidemic. Not only

does alcohol contribute to the cause of sexual assault, but alcohol is actively used to justify it to

happen. “[H]eavy drinkers may routinely use intoxication as an excuse engaging in socially

unacceptable behavior, including sexual assault” (Abbey, 2016). After a night of drinking,

people often use being drunk as an explanation for mistakes they made. However, forcibly

pressurring oneself on another should never be brushed off as just a mistake from being drunk.

As Miya
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Higashiyama and Antonia Abbey address sexual assault from different angles, their opinions

align that sexual assault is an urgent issue that needs to be addressed.

Lastly, Roland Maiuro wrote in his book Perspectives on College Sexual Assault about

the different viewpoints victims, perpetrators, bystanders, and gender have on this issue. The

purpose of the book is to dig deeper into the perspectives of all sides in sexual assault. The

audience being young adults who are curious in seeing other viewpoints their fellow peers may

have on this topic. Each chapter in Maiuro’s book covers each perspective in depth. I chose to

focus solely on the first chapter, The Role of the Perpetrator and Alcohol Use. This chapter is

most related to my research question, helping find the most relevant information in this section.

The main idea of this chapter is that alcohol decreases the thought that someone was raped. Due

to the effect alcohol has on lowering inhibitions, people tend to blame sexual assault on the basis

that both the victim and the perpetrator were drunk. As said in his chapter, “In assaults where

both victim and perpetrator consume alcohol, compared to situations where only the victim is

drinking, the assault is less likely to be labeled as ‘rape’, and the offender is perceived to be more

‘likeable’ and ‘sexual’” (Maiuro, 2015). Again, this finding shows the influence alcohol has on

the perceptions of rape. The victim is less credible when they are under the influence of alcohol.

As well, the actions occurring when both parties are drunk make the lines on what becomes

sexual assault harder to determine.

Roland Maiuro’s book is a highly accredited due to his long list of PhD researchers that

back him up throughout his writing. Additionally, I could see his writing had comprehensive

information on many aspects of sexual assault, some that is not otherwise easily known. I learned

a lot about the differences between men and women’s perceptions of victims of sexual assault.

Women seem to be way more sympathetic towards victims than men, who tend to blame the
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victim (Maiuro, 2015). This is the only research done exploring the role of alcohol in victim and

perpetrators. The researchers from Maiuro’s investigation on sexual assault used experimental

design, the only type of study that examines specific perceptions of male and females.

All previous sources, including Roland Maiuro’s book are in agreement on the issue of

sexual assault on college campuses. Yet, they vary between what they report in depth. In the ten

minute Ted Talk, Higashiyama does not touch upon the gender differences, like Maiuro.

However, she does mention that as a society we need to educate ourselves and each other on

sexual assault. Maiuro does comment in a similar way: “Individuals may not label a situation that

meets the legal definition of rape as such because it does not match their ideas about constitutes a

rape script” (Maiuro, 2015). Many do not know the difference between rape and what is

considered sexual assault. Education is key, and both Maiuro and Higashiyama mention that to

be a problem. In her research study, Antonia Abbey’s scholarly article Alcohol and Sexual

Assault, she relates closely to what Roland Maiuro connects between sexual assault in college

and the role alcohol plays. Both sources look into the contributions that play into assault.

Although, Mauiro is more concerned on the perceptions between genders, rather than the actual

characteristics of the persons, like Abbey. Maiuro identifies that, “[M]en were more likely to

treat the victim [of sexual assault] differently,” and, “Women are more likely than men to

identify the situation as rape…” (Maiuro, 2015). These gender differences are important, yet

different from the research of Antonia Abbey. Her focus is centered on the type of person who

would commit sexual assault.

Conclusion

I learned about the gender differences between men and women towards victims of

sexual assault. I also learned how strongly alcohol can influence someone to force themselves on
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another human being, and what characteristics those perpetrators carry. Lastly, I learned what

victims can do to take action against their school when they fail to remove their assailant from

campus. I feel even more strongly about sexual assault than I did before starting this research

question. As a society, we live in a culture that consistently objectifies women. Through social

media, news, advertisements and more, sexual assault derives off of the idea that women are

solely objects. Changing culture acquired from media may be close to impossible, but we need to

start somewhere. Sexual assault is currently an epidemic, especially on college campuses. I know

how it feels to have a campus where you see everyone you know just walking to and from class.

Imagining having to see my perpetrator walking the same campus streets as me every day is

frightening. For starters, universities need to step up and be stricter on the boundaries of sexual

assault and refuse to stand by as assailants walk by. Additional resources like hotlines and

counseling should be easily accessible to students. As well, thorough education courses for all

students on sexual assault. Therefore, we can have the tools to determine what is and is not

sexual assault, and what we can do as bystanders to prevent it from occurring, or how to be there

for a friend you may know who is a victim. All of the articles fail to identify specific actions we

can take to help put an end to this epidemic, the only part that would really make a difference in

ending sexual assault on college campuses.

References
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Abbey, A. (2016). Alcohol and Sexual Assault. Retieved from

https://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh25-1/43-51.htm

Baskin, M. (2015). Controversial 1-in-5 sexual assault statistic validated in new national survey.

Retrieved from http://college.usatoday.com/tag/one-in-five/.

Higashiyama, M. (May 12 2016). 1 in 5 Can Thrive: Rethinking Sexual Assault on College

Campuses. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_E398OZQ88

Maiuro, R. (2015). Perspectives on college sexual assault. Retrieved from

https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/jmu/reader.action?docID=4107861&query=.

Vagianos, A. (2017). 30 Alarming Statistics That Show the Reality of Sexual Violence in

America. Retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sexual-assault-

statistics_us_58e24c14e4b0c777f788d24f.