Trauma impacts each person differently, and sharing an experience of sexual assault with the police or undergoing a physical examination can be harmful to survivors if they are not ready. Some studies (such as The Psychological Impact of Rape Victims’ Experiences with the Legal, Medical, and Mental Health Systems by Rebecca Campbell of Michigan State University) have shown that survivors who go through a criminal prosecution tend to experience worse mental health outcomes than those who do not.
Furthermore, some colleges and universities, hoping to keep their crime statistics low, have, in the past at least, heartily discouraged students from reporting an assault to the police. Other times, friends or family members have actively dissuaded a survivor from reporting. And some survivors, particularly survivors of color, undocumented survivors, and LGBT survivors, feel unsafe going to the police or to a hospital.
Thus, while many of us find safety, healing, and satisfaction in the pursuit of health and justice in our schools and communities, others experience a secondary trauma because of the way school or public officials respond to them. If the goal is to heal, the possibility of reinjuring oneself by undergoing the trauma of a hostile dean or an inept police report is a risk many survivors do not wish to take.
TITLE IX
(Public Law No. 92-318, 86 Stat. 235 [June 23, 1972])
No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.
CAMPUS SEXUAL ASSAULT VICTIMS’ BILL OF RIGHTS
• Survivors shall be notified of their options to notify law enforcement.
• Accuser and accused must have the same opportunity to have others present.
• Both parties shall be informed of the outcome of any disciplinary proceeding.
• Survivors shall be notified of counseling services.
• Survivors shall be notified of options for changing academic and living situations.
The Campus Sexual Assault Victims’ Bill of Rights is part of the Clery Act, signed into law in July 1992.
A NOTE ON REPRESENTATION
Andrea Pino
Sexual violence exists in every arena of our society—even the places we consider the safest. Assault can and does happen to anyone: to people of all classes, religions, races, genders, ethnicities, abilities, identities, and sexual orientations. There is no single “assault narrative” and it is dangerous to assume there is one. When the media only report on middle- and upper-class white women, they erase the experiences of so many and reinforce damaging narratives about what sexual assault looks like. These constricting narratives exclude women of color, whose likelihood of surviving (and not surviving) violence are very high; they exclude the experiences of boys and men whose experiences are silenced by a culture that promotes toxic masculinity; they exclude the daily realities of transgender women, who are the least likely to survive violence.
In the United States, approximately 40 percent of black women report coercive sexual contact by age eighteen.1 The National Violence Against Women Survey (NVAWS) found that 6.8 percent of Asian/Pacific Islander women in the United States reported rape in their lifetime.2 Asian/Pacific Islanders are also less likely to report rates of rape and other forms of sexual violence than are women and men of other backgrounds.3 According to a U.S. study of intimate partner violence, Latina women report rape by an intimate partner 2.2 percent more often than white women.4 For survivors who are undocumented immigrants, the risk of being deported seems to outweigh the potential benefits of reporting their assailant to the police. (Under the U.S. Violence Against Women Act of 1994, undocumented survivors can apply for “U visas” if they agree to cooperate with a police investigation. Unfortunately, by law only ten thousand such visas are issued each year, and applications far exceed that number.)
Sexual assault and interpersonal violence among Native Americans is 3.5 times higher than for all other races, and the U.S. Department of Justice found that one of three Native American women will be raped or sexually assaulted in her lifetime.5 We recognize that our book does not include the experiences of native survivors, and we acknowledge we must do more to support native voices in survivor spaces.
Despite the lack of media coverage, sexual and interpersonal violence happens at incredibly high rates among the LGBTQ community. One in eight lesbian women and nearly 50 percent of bisexual women and men experience sexual violence in their lifetime.6 Nearly four in ten gay men experience sexual violence in their lifetime.7 Transgender individuals—who are met with more incidents of all forms of violence than anyone else—are the most likely to be affected by sexual violence, with an alarming 64 percent of transgender people8 reporting having experienced sexual assault in their lifetimes.
Furthermore, while dominant narratives seem to suggest that most sexual assaults happen between strangers, statistically we know that these are actually a minority of the cases. While stranger rapes do happen (we—Annie and Andrea—are two examples), 80–90 percent of college-aged sexual assault survivors know their assailant.
We want to acknowledge all of these statistics because we recognize that some survivors cannot come forward, whether their reason is fear for safety, fear of being ostracized by their community and family, or fear of not being believed. Some of us can’t tell our full stories yet, fearing what will become of our lives in the aftermath of our openness. Some of us don’t want to ever share our stories, clinging them tightly to our chests, and that’s okay too. When putting together this project we sought stories of survivors whose experiences were not reflected in the current conversation about sexual violence on campus, and realized that many survivors of color and queer survivors will never be able to come forward, but we must always seek to support them.
GLOSSARY
An advocate, in general terms, is someone who has comprehensive knowledge of certain laws and policies, and protects the rights of or acts as a representative for others in a legal or official context. With regard to campus sexual violence, an advocate is usually appointed by a university, the police, or an organization dealing with trauma, to help survivors of sexual assault in their dealings with the police and other adjudicating bodies.
Clery Act, or the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, was signed into law in 1990. It requires all colleges that receive federal funding to disclose, to students and to the public, information about crimes on and around their campuses, as well as their efforts to improve safety. This act also ensures that students who have been subject to violence or the threat of violence are provided physical and psychological protection from perpetrators.
The Clothesline Project was started in 1990 by a coalition of women’s groups on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. A visual artist, Rachel Carey Harper, suggested the concept of shirts hanging on a clothesline to raise awareness of violence against women. Anyone who had experienced violence could tell her story through words or art, designed on a shirt, and hang it on the clothesline. The campaign has grown exponentially since then, with about five hundred projects currently in the United States, many of them in colleges and universities. www.clotheslineproject.org
Consent, in the context of sex, is an affirmative, conscious, and voluntary agreement to engage in a sexual activity. It is given when each person knows to what they are agreeing, decides freely and voluntarily to participate, and expresses this intent to participate. Consent cannot be given when a person is intoxicated, unconscious, mentally or physically unable to give consent, under the threat of violence, or under the age of consent.
Dissociation, in psychology, is an experience of detachment from surroundings or events; an experience that ranges in severity from mild to severe, it can be fleeting or a longer-term disorder.
Emma Sulkowicz is a graduate of Columbia University in the city of New York, where she studied visual arts. In the 2014–15 academic year, her s
enior thesis was an endurance performance art piece that involved her carrying a mattress similar to the ones used in the school’s dormitories whenever she was on Columbia University property. The piece was titled Mattress Performance (Carry That Weight). She said that she would carry the mattress as long as her alleged rapist was allowed on campus. The project received attention in the national media, and students across the United States joined her in carrying mattresses on their respective campuses in a show of solidarity and to draw attention to the problem of sexual assault. Sulkowicz carried the mattress around her campus until her graduation day, even taking it with her to the commencement ceremony.
FERPA, or the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, was signed into law in 1974. It requires all schools that receive federal funding to give parents and eligible students the right to protect the privacy of students’ education records.
A genderqueer person identifies outside of the gender binary (male/female, man/woman). They might conceive of gender as fluid, choosing when to perform the gender of their assigned sex, and they might identify as both genders, or as neither.
Health Services is a college or university department that employs primary care physicians and other health care professionals to treat students’ illnesses and ensure their well-being.
A hearing is a meeting at which evidence is presented before a judge or judicial body. Colleges and universities often have hearings for sexual assault cases; the survivor and the accused have the opportunity to give statements to a group of people affiliated with the university who will decide the case.
The Hunting Ground is a 2015 documentary, directed by Kirby Dick and produced by Amy Ziering, about the problem of sexual assault and its cover-up at U.S. colleges and universities.
IPV, or intimate partner violence, is the physical, sexual, or psychological abuse by someone with whom the victim is or has been in an intimate relationship.
It’s On Us is a campaign initiated in 2014 by President Barack Obama to address campus sexual assault, with the belief that it is the responsibility of the U.S. government and its citizens to actively recognize sexual assault, identify situations where it may occur, intervene in situations where consent has not been given, and create an environment in which sexual assault is unacceptable.
Latin@ is a gender-neutral shorthand for Latino/Latina, a person who has origins in Latin America.
LGBT (alternatively LGBTQ or LGBTQIA) is an umbrella term used to describe people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, or asexual.
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is the branch of the U.S. Department of Education that ensures equal access to education through enforcement of civil rights in American schools. OCR handle Title IX complaints (see Title IX and Title IX complaint).
A panic attack is defined in the Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM V), as “a discrete period of intense fear or discomfort,” during which a person experiences four or more of symptoms including 1) palpitations, pounding heart, or accelerated heart rate, 2) sweating, 3) trembling or shaking, 4) sensations of shortness of breath or smothering, 5) feeling of choking, 6) chest pain or discomfort, 7) nausea or abdominal distress, 8) feeling dizzy, unsteady, light-headed, or faint, 9) derealization (feelings of unreality) or depersonalization (being detached from oneself), 10) fear of losing control or going crazy, 11) fear of dying, 12) paresthesias (numbness or tingling sensations), and 13) chills or heat sensations. In a panic attack, the symptoms develop abruptly and reach a peak within minutes.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a term for people’s experiences of intense stress after a trauma. PTSD can involve flashbacks, nightmares, and severe anxiety, and it often affects survivors of sexual violence and soldiers returning from war.
Psychiatric Services is a department in some colleges and universities that employs mental health professionals to provide counseling and other mental health services for students.
QTPOC means “queer and/or trans people of color.” The term originated online and is used by people of color who identify as queer and/or trans, to express their solidarity with one another.
Rape culture is the term for the social phenomenon by which attitudes about gender and sexuality result in sexual violence occurring frequently and seeming normal.
A rape kit, also called a sexual assault forensic evidence (collection) kit, is used to collect and preserve evidence of a sexual assault. The forensic examination is conducted by medical professionals, within 120 hours of a sexual assault. It provides physical evidence that a rape happened, and can be helpful in sexual assault trials. People who have undergone this exam often describe it as an invasive procedure.
The Red Zone refers to the first six weeks of freshman year in college, the period between Labor Day and Thanksgiving, when students are at highest risk for sexual assault.
A Resident Assistant (RA) is a student with peer-to-peer leadership training who supervises and counsels other students living in campus housing. RAs are often affiliated with the Office of Student Life (see Student Life).
“The Rolling Stone story” refers to the article “A Rape on Campus,” first published in Rolling Stone magazine on November 19, 2014, about the supposed gang rape of a student in a fraternity house near the University of Virginia. After several challenges to the veracity of this story, including a Washington Post report and several different updates to the article online, Rolling Stone retracted it, deleting it from its website on April 5, 2015, and replacing it with a report by the Columbia School of Journalism detailing where Rolling Stone failed to properly fact-check its story. Because that story proved to be untrue, rape deniers lean on it to support their point of view, and activists point to it as a moment after which, for a time at least, a journalistic failure made it even more difficult for survivors of sexual assault to come forward and be believed.
Student Life, or Office of Student Life, is the department of university administration that manages student housing and organizes activities.
“They” is not only a third-person plural pronoun but can also be a third-person singular pronoun used in referring to an individual who does not identify with the pronouns “he” or “she.” In 2015, the American Dialect Society chose singular “they” as its word of the year.
Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-336, July 26, 1990; 104 Stat. 337) ensures that “no qualified individual with a disability shall, by reason of such disability, be excluded from participation in or be denied the benefits of services, programs, or activities of a public entity, or be subjected to discrimination by any such entity.”
Title IX refers to Public Law No. 92-318, 86 Stat. 235, which states: “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.” Title IX was most frequently used to prevent discrimination against women in college sports, but is now also used to hold colleges and universities more accountable for the way they handle sexual assault cases. As of December 31, 2015, 186 schools are being or have been investigated for violating the rights of student assault survivors under Title IX.
A Title IX complaint is a document filed with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights when a student believes that they have been subject to an act of discrimination on the basis of sex or gender.
“Title IX people” refers to the administrators on college campuses who are charged with handling Title IX complaints.
A transgender person identifies as a gender different from their assigned sex. This includes an individual who might identify as a man or a woman, as well as someone who identifies as both or neither. A cisgender person identifies as the gender of their assigned sex.
Trigger, in the context of sexual assault and other trauma, is a word, phrase, sight, sound, smell, or place that might evoke anxi
ety or flashbacks in survivors.
Jameis Winston is a quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In 2013, when still a student athlete at Florida State University, he allegedly raped another student, freshman Erica Kinsman. The case has received much attention, thanks to Winston’s athletic profile as the 2013 Heisman Trophy winner and the number one NFL draft pick for 2015, and because of Kinsman’s appearance in the 2015 documentary The Hunting Ground.
OUR FULLER DEDICATION
We dedicate this book to those who did not survive, and to those whose stories the media have kept from us, the stories that societal intolerance, racism, homophobia, and transphobia have kept from us.
To Faith Danielle Hedgepeth, who was found murdered in her bedroom her junior year, and who should have received her University of North Carolina degree in the mail around the time of this book’s initial publication. Her story was kept out of the news at the time, but her life and death still impact every Tar Heel, reminding us that the life of a promising student can be ended by sexual violence. To all survivors of color whose stories are silenced and forgotten, and to the Hedgepeth family and the Haliwa-Saponi Indian tribe, we dedicate this book.
To Tynesha Stewart, who was murdered by her ex-boyfriend her freshman year at Texas A&M, and whose story still makes us shake, and to Tynesha’s family, and to survivors of interpersonal violence whose stories are seen as “imperfect” or whose stories of dating abuse are taken less seriously because they knew their assailants well. To all survivors of domestic violence, interpersonal violence, and dating violence who were disbelieved by individuals and institutions who claimed to have their best interests at heart, we dedicate this book.
We Believe You: Survivors of Campus Sexual Assault Speak Out Page 26