STATISTICAL ABUSE
By Anonymous
The recent release of a report by the White House concerning sexual assault on campus has sparked a media frenzy. The statistic often mentioned in media reports on the topic is that 19% of college women are sexually assaulted. This is horrifying—almost 1 in 5 women are sexually assaulted while pursuing a college education! How is this possible?
A closer look at the evidence reveals that the basis for the frenzy is exaggerated. This 19% statistic comes from The Campus Sexual Assault Study performed for the National Institute of Justice by the Research Triangle Institute in 2007 using federal funding. Let’s look at the report in more detail. Statistical samples of women and men were selected from student lists of two large U.S. universities. About 57% of the sampled students were women. All sampled students were sent letters asking them to participate anonymously in the online survey. They were offered a $10 gift certificate after completing the survey. 5,466 women and 1,375 men participated in the survey. About 42% of the women selected to participate actually completed the survey, allowing for the possibility of selection bias. Because the students participated anonymously, there was no way to verify the truth of any of the answers given, or that selected students actually filled out the survey.
First of all, the 19% figure is incorrect. Nineteen percent of women in the survey reported that a sexual assault was completed OR ATTEMPTED. Oddly, the “or attempted” is frequently left off when presenting this statistic. The more accurate statistic for college women who were sexually assaulted is 13.7% per the report — this is still pretty bad, but it is not 19%.
Sexual assault is defined in the report as unwanted “forced touching of a sexual nature, oral sex, sexual intercourse, anal sex, and/or sexual penetration with a finger or object.” Unwanted forced touching of a sexual nature (e.g., kissing or fondling) is considered “sexual battery” in the report. Unwanted and forced oral sex, sexual intercourse, anal sex, and/or sexual penetration with a finger or object is considered “rape.”
Other statistics concerning women in the study included: physically forced sexual battery only — 1.4%; physically forced rape — 3.4%; sexual battery while incapacitated (mostly from voluntarily drinking alcohol) — 2.6%; rape while incapacitated — 8.5%. (This adds up to more than 13.7% because some women were victims in more than one occurrence.)
Even though these numbers are not as frightening as 19%, the numbers are still very bad. Here is some more context concerning female victims. Sixteen percent of physically forced victims and 8% of incapacitated victims sought medical aid after the assaults. Thirteen percent of physically forced victims and 2% of incapacitated victims reported the incidents to law enforcement. About 60% of all female sexual assault victims said that the incidents were not serious enough to report to police or other authorities. Also, 35% of victims noted that “it was unclear that a crime was committed or that harm was intended.” About 50% of incapacitated victims felt they were “partially/fully responsible.” These statistics seem to indicate that victims felt that there was a broad range in the seriousness of these crimes—from inconsequential to very serious. But the authors of this study force all of these behaviors into only two very serious categories–sexual battery and rape.
Feminists and the media seem to be trying to exaggerate the problem by providing selective and incorrect statistics, and implying that the problem is much worse than it really is. When one hears that one in five women is sexually assaulted, one immediately imagines that all victims were raped and nearly killed. Feminists even insist on the hyperbole of referring to victims as “survivors.” It is somewhat of a relief to realize that the situation is not as bad as the activists and the media would have us believe. They seem to be taking the very complex behavior involved in human sexuality with its many shades of gray and portraying everything in stark black-and-white terms.
It is hard to know exactly how questions were asked on the survey or how the answers were interpreted. But many concerns come quickly to mind. Is a man guilty of sexual battery if he kisses or attempts second base a little too early? Is a man guilty of rape if he attempts third base a little too early? If a couple has been drinking, is the man guilty of rape if they have consensual sex? How much alcohol is required? Is the woman guilty of rape if she initiates the sex? How is “initiation” defined? These situations can get very complicated and nuanced.
But it seems that feminists have made things very simple—all situations are rape or near-rape, and all of the responsibility and all of the blame in these situations belong to men. It is always men’s fault. And there seems to be a drive currently to absolve women of any responsibility. Feminist activists are demanding that women receive no culpability whatsoever for what they wear, or how much they drink, etc. Of course, the rapist must take ultimate responsibility for rape, but it is unreasonable to ignore what all women, as well as all men, do in this complicated human sexual dance. These feminist activists want all women to be able to wear push-up bras, lululemon pants, low necklines, and high hemlines, receive dinners, flowers, and jewelry, and drink as much as they want with no shame or condemnation whatsoever. At the same time, these same feminist activists want all men condemned for reading the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, or using porn, or making offensive music videos, or telling sexual jokes, or taking any initiative without asking permission first, because these things contribute to “rape culture.” The duplicity of some feminists can be quite bold.
The ultimate example of refusing to assign any responsibility to women is that feminist activists will not demand or even encourage women to report sex crimes to the police. These activists do not want to put any pressure on victims and therefore say that the victims must decide for themselves whether or not to go to the police. Yes, it may be difficult for women to report, but these crimes usually occur behind closed doors with no witnesses. How can we stop rapists if their crimes are not reported?
The current media frenzy over sexual assault on campus seems to be another example of feminists exaggerating and lying in order to gain more sympathy, attention, funding, and legislation for women. It also seems to be a cynical attempt by certain politicians to get more women’s votes this November. This uproar over sexual assault on campus comes right on the heels of another uproar over sexual assault in the military. I realize that all politicians tend to pander to women, but this shameless, opportunistic pandering to women at men’s expense is quite unfair and sexist.
And lastly, here is something that will not be mentioned in any other media report on The Campus Sexual Assault Study. Using the same criteria used to get the 19% statistic for women in the survey, about 6.1% of male college students were victims of completed or attempted sexual assault. I suspect that this aspect of the report will receive very little attention.
But what’s also misleading about the study is that it’s counting all experiences of its female participants and not narrowing it down to ‘campus/alumni only’ situations–which is meant to be the purpose of the study. So as a result, the translation of “19% of college women are sexually assaulted” makes it sound as if 1 in five women are sexually assaulted during the course of their college/uni stay WITHIN the campus/educational environment as part of their ‘going to school’ experience.