Rape experts say silence not a solution

Though seven rapes on campus have been reported to the IU Police Department so far this semester, national statistics suggest that as many as 10 or 20 times more might have occurred. Student sexual assault experts suggest psychological distress and social pressures might account for the reason for such widespread silence.\nSince the beginning of the school year, IUPD has collected information on seven rapes that occurred either on campus or at off-campus parties involving students as victims and suspects. None of these investigations have yielded a single arrest, though the victim knew the perpetrator in three of the seven cases, according to police reports.\nBut the real number of rape incidents on campus could be estimated at about 140. According to a U.S. Justice Department study from 2000, only 5 percent of campus rapes are reported to the police.\nAccording to IUPD reports, alcohol is often a factor in campus sexual assaults, though intoxication does not imply consent in the eyes of the law, nor does it completely obscure the victim's memory of what is often a very traumatic experience. \nThe very nature of the crime and the experience that goes along with it causes a victim to want to remain silent, said Debbie Melloan-Ruiz, a professional counselor at IU's Sexual Assault Crisis Services. Melloan-Ruiz, who works \none-on-one with victims of sexual assault, said victims often feel the control over their own bodies has been taken away. \nThe feeling that the victim has had control taken away from her is "huge" in explaining the way she will cope, said Carol McCord, assistant dean for women's affairs.\nConfronting the reality of the rape experience is often painful and difficult. Instead, the victim might try to prove to herself that her experience wasn't rape at all, McCord said, adding that she may adopt behavior bent toward "regaining control." \n"The victim is thinking, 'I've just been a victim, and I've just had control taken away from me. I want to erase that. The next time I want to be in control, I want to make it clear that it's my choice,'" she said.\nThis response to the problem does little to discourage the assailant from engaging in future assaults. \n"Often it leaves (the perpetrator) feeling like, 'See there wasn't a problem before. See, she wants to have sex with me, and that's cool,'" McCord said. \nCampus rapes characteristically happen during or after parties or social events, said IU sociology professor Elizabeth Armstrong. Students with a social investment in the party scene are not likely to welcome claims that the campus party culture is a breeding ground for sexual assault, Armstrong said.\n"Students are very protective of the party scene," she wrote in an e-mail. "They don't want to believe that bad stuff happens in it. And, as a consequence, when it does, they try to explain it away, generally by blaming women for whatever 'mistakes' they may have made that have led them to 'get themselves assaulted.'"\nVictims will sometimes share some of the blame for sexual assault because they view their actions as contributing to the assault, McCord said. A victim will sometimes tell herself, "I chose to party with him, I chose to go on a date with him, I chose to be with someone who did that," McCord said.\n"They ask themselves, 'What if I hadn't had that much to drink? What if I hadn't talked to him? What if I hadn't strayed from my friends?'" she said. \nMany victims of campus rape go through a period of self doubt, McCord said. When victims share some of the blame for rape, they become less likely to charge the assailant with a crime, or even view the experience as "wrong." \nSometimes a victim will hesitate to report a rape because she has preconceived notions about the word "rape" that don't match up with her experience. \nMelloan-Ruiz said what constitutes rape in a lot of people's minds is the "mythical stranger who grabs you from the bushes."\n"When what you experience is different from that, and the sexual assault occurs in a different sort of context, people are not really sure if that qualifies as sexual assault," Melloan-Ruiz said.\nMost rapes that occur on campus involve people that exist in similar social circles, Armstrong said, adding that viewing a friend or casual acquaintance as a "rapist" is not the sort of casual realization most students want to confront. "Her reservation about labeling the incident as rape can be because of not wanting to get the guy in trouble, not wanting to think that she would know such a bad guy or not wanting to think of themselves as a victim," she said.\nAlthough these explanations do not cover the totality of reasons why rape victims remain silent, experts said they describe many of the social and psychological factors which prevent student victims from reporting.\nAnyone who believes they've been the victim of a sexual assault are encouraged to take advantage of any of the many free local resources and crisis lines including the SACS 24-hour crisis line, 855-8900, Middle Way House 24-hour crisis line, 336-0846, and the police, 911.\nWhen victims remain silent about sexual assault the problem seems smaller than it is, Melloan-Ruiz said, adding that it tends to leave perpetrators off the hook. \n"I personally believe it's a good thing to report the incident to the police," she said. "That's the only chance that the perpetrator will have some sort of consequences for his behavior. If people see there aren't any consequences, they just get away with it"