Dynamics of Party-oriented Rape on College Campuses

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Dynamics of Party-oriented Rape on College
Campuses

• Human Sexuality Neal King

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rape nationwide

• many settings
• mostly among acquaintances
• rates peaking around the crack boom
• rates cut in half over ten years from 1993-2003,
  as part of overall decrease in violent crime

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BUT, rape on college campuses

• 1980s-2000s, depending upon measures, no major
  drop in rates
• 1/6-1/3 of college women report being coerced
  into sexual activity, along with a smaller
  proportion of men.
• Why different trends on and off campus?
• Answer Stability of rape-prone collegiate
  institutions, like closed male groups and the
  unrestrained parties they throw.

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sociology of the college party

• group factors
• men bonded in high status and loyalty,
• women as status-seeking targets.
• situational factors
• clustering of homogenous students,
• freedom from supervision,
• access to alcohol,
• ritual atmosphere,
• physical barriers to movement.

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college party groups

• Colleges concentrate youth fresh from parents
  homes, responsible for little, and desperate for
  friends and fun.
• Upwardly mobile teens seek high-status groups
  (greeks, teams, etc.)
• Students uninterested in the scene become
  marginal or leave.

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bros and hos

• Members of closed male groups intend to network
  mostly with men,
• tend to treat women as sexual adjuncts, and

• enjoy solidarity at the expense of outsiders
  (GDIs, civilians, non-athletes, women).

• solidarity is pride in group membership,
  generated in ritual bonding

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brotherhood

• one of the best times in a boys life.
• in which women give admiration and service not
  just the pleasure but the feeling of approval of
  my masculinity.
• enhanced by heterosexual success to be admired
  by other men.
• mutual support in pursuit of sex at local bonding
  and mating rituals, a.k.a. parties

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unequal constraints

• Students report that mens aggression is mostly
  blameless whereas womens cooperation can seem
  slutty.
• Students expect men to be dogs, women to be nice
  
• which can constrain women from forceful response
  and entitle men to satisfaction when aroused.

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college party situation

• College students focus networking on intense
  rituals of alcohol-fueled parties.
• Both dry dorms with little public space, and dry
  sorority-houses with entry restrictions, flush
  teens toward fraternity houses and off-campus
  homes.
• Men control fraternity houses and are more likely
  to control apartments.
• Socially homogenous residences exert intense
  pressure to join in.

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college party situation

• Party rituals boost solidarity and thus pressure
  party-goers to conform to sex-specific ideals
• for men, to score
• for women, to be hot and nice.
• Partying is student-only space, out of reach of
  formal control.

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• With control of most party spaces, men choose
  themes
• CEOs and corporate hos - org unknown, VT, 2006
• golf pros and tennis hos Pikes, MSU, 2008
• Settler Bros - Delta Chi, VT (not used)

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online theme advice

• I'm a 22 year old college student in a
  fraternity and have just been elected social
  chair So far, we've been given ideas like
  ultimate flip cup championship country club aka
  golf pros, tennis hoes gi joes and barbie hoes
  white trash trailer bash GIMME SOME MORE
  IDEAS!!!!!! - Deeman
• Pimps Hoes (freeform) is always a classic.
  Sports theme- usually chicks wear cheerleading
  outfits. Naughty school-girl the teacher.
  - JMD

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college party situation

• Parties controlled by men offer tools to deal
  with resistance to sexual advances
• alcohol,
• loud music and low lights,
• themes requiring skanky clothes,
• isolated rooms,
• locations requiring transport, and
• solidarity among assailants, witnesses, and
  bystanders.

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conformity Signs of consent

• Accepting drinks
• drugging herself
• dancing sexy
• dancing at all
• having a chance to escape
• using physical resistance just to show you how
  sincere she is

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conformity Working out a yes

• If she sticks around, that your signal that
  shes not quite ready to do anything, but shes
  still interested in you, so its worth trying
  you know, to keep trying.
• Sometimes you get surprised by the way they
  say no you cant always tell at all Like you
  thought there was no way that you would get laid,
  and you did.

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group factor ranking hos

• Girlfriends receive the most deference.
• Unattached frosh are the most likely targets.
• Off-campus women receive the most hostility (with
  allowances for hotness).
• The principle is one of attachment to the mens
  group.

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conformity Covering for bros

• A small number of predators operate.
• Nearly all men around tolerate without discussing
  it.
• Occasional, high-solidarity group activities draw
  more men.
• Afterward, loyalty demands silence.
• Though some guys are uncomfortable, they dont
  disrupt, and thereby maintain it.

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conformity Covering for bros

• A friend to a gang-rape survivor
• would like to help but cant get brothers into
  trouble by testifying in the college
  investigation have to stick up for them.

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conformity Covering for bros

• College man to a sociologist
• Girls are continually fed drinks of alcohol.
  Its mainly to party but my roomies are also
  aware of the inhibition-lowering effects. Ive
  seen an old roomie block doors when girls want to
  leave his room and other times Ive driven women
  home who cant remember much of an evening yet
  sex did occur.

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conformity Covering for bros

• College man to a sociologist
• Rarely if ever has a night of drinking for my
  roommate ended without sex. I know it isnt
  necessarily and assuredly sexual assault, but
  with the amount of liquor in the house I question
  the amount of consent a lot.

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conformity Covering for bros

• It kind of happened to me freshman year. Im not
  positive about what happened, thats the worst
  part about it. I drank too much at a frat one
  night, I blacked out and I woke up the next
  morning with nothing on in their cold dorms, so I
  dont really know what happened and the guy
  wasnt in the bed anymore, I dont even think I
  could tell you who the hell he was. No. I
  couldnt.

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conformity Covering for bros

• I was scared and wanted to get the hell out of
  there. I didnt know who it was, so how am I
  supposed to go to the hospital and say someone
  mightve raped me? It could have been any one of
  the hundred guys that lived in the house.

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conformity Covering for bros

• It happens to so many people, it would shock
  you. Three of my best friends in the whole world,
  people that you like would think it would never
  happen to, it happened to. Its just so hard
  because you dont know how to deal with it
  because you dont want to turn in a frat because
  all hundred of those brothers . . .

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• She somehow got, like, sexually assaulted ... by
  one of our friends old roommates. All I know is
  that kid was bad news to start with. So, I feel
  sorry for her but it wasnt much of a surprise
  for us. Hes a shady character.
• I was also thinking like, you know, I just got
  to school, I dont want to start off on a bad
  note with anyone, and now it happened so long
  ago, its just one of those things that I kind of
  have to live with.

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bro regrets?

• Those guys were stupid in not realizing that
  some way or another, this thing could turn around
  and get them into a lot of trouble, which is
  exactly what this girl did.
• Brzonkala vs. VT and football players federal
  suit over sex discrimination

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sis adaptation

• Many women give up on the party scene, avoiding
  houses known for getting you drunk and trapping
  you.
• Others develop buddy-scheme methods of protecting
  each other.
• Most learn to control their drinking in order to
  avoid being preyed upon.

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rape redefined by feminists

• a crime against women
• defined as such in the 1970s

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rape sex or power?

• Feminists have often referred to rape as power
  rather than just sex.
• Rape on campus tends to be the sex that men
  coerce by means of their higher group status,
  control of parties, and interactional advantages
  (out of control vs. nice).
• Men relate to each other over the sex that they
  have with women, cementing high-status bonds from
  which they exclude women.
• Status control advantage power

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rape sex or power?

• Women remain outsiders (hos not bros) to groups
  that foster highest rates of rape.
• Outcomes for survivors include stress, disease,
  distrust, academic disability.
• Men gain competitive advantages for treating
  women as hos not bros.
• This begets advantage in a situation of upward
  mobility Power

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popular anti-rape policies

• dry dorms
• directs partying off campus and may not reduce
  binge drinking there
• education
• doesnt faze perpetrators
• judicial systems
• Confidentiality prevents banning or making public
  examples of perps.

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alerts and warnings

• Recent VT official warning
• Please use caution when walking at night.  When
  possible, walk in a group and use only well lit
  pathways.  Trust your instincts and report
  suspicious behavior or circumstances.

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alerts and warnings

• But perhaps instead
• Please be aware that we identify, arrest and
  prosecute assailants on this campus, whatever
  their motives, level of inebriation, or
  high-status connections.
• Assault will land you in jail.

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the most promising policies

• Womens control of space and movement
• neutral spaces with ease of movement
• Womens control of alcohol and music
• to reduce binge drinking
• Womens options in hostile interactions
• with more rudeness and self-defense
• Womens authority in the community
• to be peers not targets

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Bibliography

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Dynamics of Party-oriented Rape on College
Campuses

• Womens Studies Neal King