One out of every six American women has been a victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime — a total that adds up to 17.7 million, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network Web site. The site also indicates that college-age women are four times as likely to be sexually assaulted. At the University and in the Charlottesville community, several organizations aim to educate about, prevent and respond to sexual assaults.
According to RAINN, sexual assault is one of the most under-reported crimes, with an estimated 60 percent of sexual assaults and rapes left unreported by both male and female victims. This percentage, however, has not gone unnoticed. The University and the Charlottesville communities have a number of resources to help victims of rape and sexual assault, as well as programs dedicated to raising awareness and sensitivity about this issue. One such resource is the Sexual Assault Leadership Council, an umbrella organization that organizes and coordinates the efforts of the peer-education groups Sexual Assault Facts and Education, Sexual Assault Peer Advocates and One in Four.
“SALC serves to unite the three groups and also allocates the funding to them,” SALC Internal Co-Chair Liz Greksouk said. “SALC figures out which programs are reaching out to which groups and makes sure the most people are reached.” She added that first-year students are an example of the types of people SALC tries to reach because she said there is not a comprehensive program for educating them about sexual assault upon entering the University.
Each of the groups within the larger umbrella organization also works to help specific groups in the University community. SAFE trains students to advocate for survivors by suggesting helpful resources, like the University’s Sexual Assault Board and the other support groups that meet around Grounds, while SAPA is a peer group that promotes an environment of support among survivors.
One in Four, meanwhile, is a national, all-male sexual assault peer education group with a chapter at the University. It has two main programs, both of which aim to educate and challenge traditional notions about sexual assault, said James Anderson, president of the One in Four chapter at the University.
The first One in Four program, known as the Men’s Program, focuses on educating other men about helping survivors of sexual violence while working hard to change prominent stereotypes about sexuality that degrade women and nurture the “rape-culture” that exists in many college atmospheres, Anderson said. The group’s second program is the Fraternity Education Program, which involves members speaking to new pledges a few weeks after fraternity bid day in a seminar or forum setting, asking questions about the definitions of rape and masculinity, Anderson said. The organization’s mission is to teach young men to see sexual assault as a problem at the University as well as to show them how to identify and effectively speak out against rape. Anderson said the group’s members approach this rape education not by preaching to the men but rather by enlisting their help to change social ideas that make rape and sexual assault seem commonplace or even justifiable.
The Sexual Assault Resource Agency, meanwhile, hosts a series of intervention and prevention programs, including a 24-hour crisis hotline for survivors, friends, families and those affected by sexual assault, Crisis Services Coordinator Laurie Jean Seaman said. Volunteers are trained to assist those who have recently experienced an assault or are beginning to deal with assault psychologically, Seaman said. The volunteers also are available to answer any medical questions, as well as legal questions about the criminal justice system, and can explain reporting options and how to file an assault report if a survivor chooses to do so. They also provide accompaniment to the emergency room or other health facilities by request.
Seaman indicated that SARA also provides counseling and various support groups, including adult survivor groups and parent and caregiver support groups for those who interact with children who have been victims of assault as well as community presentations advocating prevention. Although the organization is not clinically based, she said, it does have counselors available on staff for those who would like to work with one.
“We help people think through making their own decisions,” Seaman said. “It’s hard in times of crisis to think about in a situation in the way you normally would.”
SARA receives about 600 calls a year, Seaman said, and estimates that 400 of those calls come from new clients. Those who use SARA’s resources respond well to them, Seaman added, though there is a “fair amount of resistance” to the organization among Charlottesville citizens.
“People don’t want to think about sexual assault in their community,” she said. “They think about children and people getting hurt. They don’t know how to deal with it.”
The Women’s Center, a community-oriented organization, seeks to address these concerns and serves as the connection between University and Charlottesville resources. The Women’s Center is home to Sexual and Domestic Violence Services, which touts a mission of strengthening the University’s responses and policies regarding survivors in an effort to end violence, according to its Web site. It is open to both University students and residents of the larger Charlottesville area. According to its Web site, it provides third-party, anonymous reporting as an “unofficial means to inform the University administration that a sexual assault has occurred” through the Internet, with the purpose of encouraging victims to report the crime without the risk of exposure or being asked to press charges. Police, however, cannot make an arrest on this report because it is unofficial. The Women’s Center also offers various other resources, such as self-defense classes during certain times of the year and training for those who want to help survivors.
Third-year College student Katie Gorman, an outreach intern at the Women’s Center, said she thinks it is difficult to gauge how well people respond to these services.
“It’s hard to tell because these services are designed to be anonymous,” Gorman said. “That’s one of the problems with sexual assault; there’s such a stigma around it and it keeps people from seeking the help they need.”
Furthermore, victims are not always sure whether to classify themselves as rape victims.
In a February 2008 editorial piece in the Los Angeles Times, Heather Mac Donald, contributing editor to City Journal, wrote about sexual assault on college campuses, particularly at the University of Virginia. She suggests that there is not as overwhelming a quantity of campus rapes as many campus organizations may suggest, because those who were considered to be rape victims did not necessarily define what happened to them as rape. Similarly, Mac Donald also stated that the number of rapes reported indicates that the push on college campuses across the country to educate students about rape is exaggerated; girls who drink excessively often put themselves in situations that these groups could consider to be sexual assault.
Lastly, she dismissed the University’s Sexual Assault Board, which many of these student organizations encourage victims to use. “Out in the real world, people who regret a sexual coupling must work it out on their own; no counterpart exists outside academia for this superstructure of hearings, mediations and negotiated settlements. If you’ve actually been raped, you go to criminal court,” Mac Donald stated.
Her article stirred up a loud response, particularly from students.
“Mac Donald completely misunderstands the actual study that she’s trying to highlight,” Anderson said. “Women surveyed believed they hadn’t been raped because many women don’t realize what the legal definition of rape is or that their rights are being violated, and that doesn’t mean that the campus rape crisis doesn’t exist.”
Anderson also rejected Mac Donald’s suggestion that there is a lack of response to rape, though he did admit it could be more effective.
“Part of the problem is because of people like her and the articles that she’s writing, shaming and accusing women who are victims, calling them radical feminists and focusing on their clothing,” Anderson said. “This only perpetuates rape myths and makes women more reluctant to speak out against their predators.”
As discussion continues, sexual assault becomes less of a taboo subject, and more organizations have begun to advocate prevention. Though some suggest these organizations unjustly promote disputable claims, others believe sexual assault to be a very real problem and support and advocate awareness and prevention programs. Regardless of the extent of sexual assaults on or near Grounds, a wide variety of University and local community resources are available for those who choose to use them.
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