Starting next week, expect to see a torrent of teal ribbons around campus. Throughout April-National Sexual Assault Awareness Month-a number of local campaigns will be introduced dedicated to increasing public awareness about sexual violence in our society.
Despite this national effort to increase awareness, an overwhelming majority of instances of sexual assault remain unreported.
"If you talk about it for a long enough time," says cultural studies professor Jasmine Rault, "you would never meet a woman who has not experienced sexual harassment or sexual violence." Yet, a number of misconceptions continue to perpetuate the occurrences of this crime and marginalize its survivors. In light of this month, examining the discourse of sexual assault in our society is a necessary step toward broadening our understanding of an issue that affects more people than we can possibly know.
According to the Code…
Traditionally, the term "rape" has referred to forced vaginal penetration by a male assailant. Today, most scholars and health professionals view this term as outdated and narrow, because of its restrictive gender implications. In fact, the term rape is no longer even found in Canadian law, but has been replaced by the term sexual assault. According to the Canadian Health Network, on the most fundamental level, sexual assault refers to "any form of unwanted contact of a sexual nature between individuals."
In a 2004 document on their Web site, the CHN asserts that contrary to popular opinion, "rapists or those who sexually assault adults are not all mentally ill or 'sex-starved.'" Rather, they suggest that most sexual crimes are committed by people who have a "desire to feel power and control."
Rault agrees that sexual assault is more about power than pleasure.
"It's a question of power and abuse of power and who embodies power," she says.
While there is some truth to the stereotype of sexual assault occurring in a dark alley by someone unknown to the victim, the majority of cases are significantly closer to home. According to a 2003 Statistics Canada report, in cases reported to the police, 80 per cent of sexual assault survivors knew their abusers.
Despite the numbers, social work professor Julia Krane feels that the media continue to focus too much attention on the 20 per cent of cases involving a stranger.
"There is a rapist on the loose and we hear about it for days in the newspaper, but the woman who is sexually assaulted in the context of dating or a marital relationship… those cases don't get the attention," she asserts.
Role reversal
Statistically, most people who sexually assault others are male, while the majority of victims of sexual assault-86 per cent according to StatsCan-are women. However, sexual violence, including rape, can victimize and be committed by both men and women and can occur in both heterosexual and same-sex relationships.
The American Academy of Pediatrics estimates that male victims represent about five per cent of reported sexual assaults. Marcelle Kosman, U2 English and political science and external coordinator at the Sexual Assault Centre of McGill's Students' Society, believes that because sexual violence is often seen as a "women's problem," male survivors face significant marginalization.
"People have trouble believing that a man can be sexually assaulted, and if he is, it's seen more as comedic rather than serious," she says.
Viewing women as perpetrators of sexual assault is a pill that is hard for some to swallow; yet according to Kosman, it is a reality.
"The idea that you are safe with women ignores the fact that women can sexually assault," she says. "There are so many things that get tied into this concept of woman: victim, man: aggressor binary and it's problematic for so many reasons because it's not entirely the reality."
That victim/aggressor binary becomes even more problematic in same-sex relationships, where, according to aardvarc.org, the rates of domestic violence are "roughly the same as domestic violence against heterosexual women."
Although women do commit acts of sexual violence, Rault believes that it is "dangerous to begin talking about violence by women against men because this can take the emphasis and attention away from what's clearly a much larger problem, which is violence against women."
The blame game
Lists of dos and don'ts prove to be useful in many of life's situations: do brush your teeth in the morning; don't walk in front of a moving vehicle, for example. When it comes to sexual violence, however, dos and don'ts take on a more complicated meaning.
Health Canada offers tips "to prevent an assault from occurring or escalating," such as, "ensure someone knows where you are at all times," "never leave a drink unattended," "know your own limits" and "be assertive." While largely commonsensical, these dos and don'ts serve to reinforce the myth that if someone merely restricts their behaviour, they will cease to be targets for sexual assault.
SACOMSS does not offer tips about how to avoid rape or assault, Kosman explains. "By providing someone with tips on how to prevent sexual assault, you're suggesting that if someone is sexually assaulted, they didn't follow that advice closely enough … it continues to blame the person who has been sexually assaulted."
Realistically, if women were to attempt avoiding all situations where they could encounter sexual assault, it would become impossible to live a normal life. Because victims most likely know their attacker, it does not matter that they avoid walking alone at night or cover themselves up when going out, if the real danger is waiting for them at home.
"I would have to say that I wholeheartedly support efforts to encourage women to act responsibly in the public domain," Krane says. "However, I do not believe that this awareness can thwart the sexualized violence that occurs."
If sexual assault is a crime like any other, why is the survivor often blamed for its occurrence? When a bank is robbed, no one asserts that the tellers "asked for it" by storing money behind the counter. Why should the victims of sexual assault be treated any differently?
Catch-22
There is a fine line that women are forced to walk between being cautious about their safety and viewing sexual assault as a non-issue. On the one hand, if a woman (or man) refuses to walk alone at night, he or she is often labeled as over-sensitive or paranoid. On the other hand, however, if someone invites an acquaintance into their home for a drink and that person is assaulted, they are used as an example of "what not to do" to avoid sexual assault.
"We live in a culture where women are operating within a catch-22 at all times," Rault says. "Larger educational initiatives need to be pursued so that more people recognize that refusing to walk home alone is not schizo-paranoia and also trusting some guy you just met is not whorish na'veté."
Often, alcohol consumption or drug use serve as a form of justification for the perpetration of sexual assault. According to a study of sexual assaults among college students conducted by the American Medical Association, "73 per cent of the assailants and 55 per cent of the victims had used drugs, alcohol, or both immediately before the assault." However, under Canadian law, intoxication or believing consent has been given when it has not are not valid defences for sexual assault. In other words, no means no; drunk or sober.
It is clear that this simple slogan, "no means no," has failed to resonate with all demographics of society, however. According to H. Johnson's 1996 book, Dangerous Domains: Violence Against Women in Canada, one in five post-secondary male students surveyed said that forced intercourse was alright "if he spends enough money on her," "if he is stoned or drunk" or "if they had been dating for a long time."
The bigger picture
Several socio-cultural factors contribute to the prevalence of negative attitudes toward female bodies and sexuality and thus serve to perpetuate sexual violence. Rault points to representations in the media of masculinity that rely heavily on violence and aggression.
"There are so many representations of heroic men whose heroism is constituted according to their violence and their aggression … it seems only logical that if masculinity continues to be so closely conflated with violence, you are going to have a continuation of violence against women," she says.
Rault further insists that sexual assault can only be curtailed when there is an alteration to the societal structure.
"There needs to be a shift in emphasis from women who are doing the wrong things, to men who really need to address their attitudes," she says.
Recognizing that the vast number of incidents of sexual assault occur between two individuals who know one another, Rault asserts that this underlines the degree to which violence against women has become normalized in our society.
"Mundane violence against women has become so normalized that for the most part, people don't recognize it or don't feel it is something we need to address," she says.
While there is still a long way to go in terms of improving negative male attitudes toward respecting a woman's right to her own body and sexuality, there is a growing movement of men working to end violence against women. The White Ribbon Campaign is the largest effort in the world of men working to end men's violence against women. Simon Cox, U3 economics and political science and vice-president communications of White Ribbon McGill, agrees with Rault that negative images of women in music videos, advertisements and on billboards contribute to the normalization of this abuse.
"It's not just rape or women being hit or physically abused, it's pervasive in society and you have to address everyone's attitudes toward women," he says. Cox adds that one of White Ribbon's goals is to "challenge society's acceptance of violence against women."
One of the reasons that the crime of sexual assault is so difficult to rectify is the extreme underreporting of its occurrence. Acquaintance sexual assault is found to be one of the most underreported crimes in Canada and according to the United Nations' 1993 Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, less than 10 per cent of sexual assaults are reported to police.
Many factors contribute to underreporting, including embarrassment, fear of further injury, fear of marginalization and fear of court procedures that may scrutinize the victim's behaviour and history prior to the assault. This is why Kosman feels that there needs to be a movement away from placing the blame on the actions of survivors and toward educating people on how not to sexually assault someone else.
"I think we need a re-education about what exactly sexual assault is and how you can stop yourself and your friends from perpetrating it," she says. "By blaming the victim, we relieve ourselves of the burden to prevent the perpetrators from assaulting."
Despite awareness campaigns, reports of sexual assault crimes are certainly not decreasing on college campuses. While self-defense classes, precautionary advice and general awareness are common methods used to "prevent" instances of sexual assault, the root of the problem lies within discourse. Re-evaluating the way that we, as a university, community, city and country perceive the idea of the "victim," the "perpetrator," and the nature of the crime itself is the most important step toward curtailing sexual violence. n
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Lee Newman
posted 3/27/07 @ 8:02 PM EST
The following comment in this article by Jasmine Rault is shortsighted and biased:
Although women do commit acts of sexual violence, Rault believes that it is "dangerous to begin talking about violence by women against men because this can take the emphasis and attention away from what's clearly a much larger problem, which is violence against women. (Continued…)
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