Into The Lions Den: A Look Into The Reality of Sexual Assault on University Campuses
TW: s/a and rape
The months of September through November can be summed up in many ways: crisp air, the sound of opening a new book, the smell of warm coffee, scary stories, triumphant chants across the football field, being grateful to finally be able to wear your favorite knit sweater again, the sound of fresh chalk on a chalkboard, the crunch of leaves under leather boots, freshman orientation. Cheeks still flushed from the sun, eyes full of anticipation for the new season. The year seems to begin anew in the fall.
For many 18 year olds, September marks the beginning of the next chapter; post-secondary education. I remember how excited I was to attend the University of Toronto: decorating my dorm room, meeting new friends, moving to a big city, no curfew. It felt as if I was finally going to begin to become myself and shed the version of me that was victim to high school mean girls and warped by societal pressure to fit in.
While this period can be one of the most exciting and exploratory times in a young person’s life, it can also be one of the most traumatizing. Statistics show that more then 50% of on campus sexual assaults take place during the first six to eight weeks of the school year, with first years facing the highest risk. This period has become known as “the red zone”. The first semester of University is home to many exciting events: frosh week, “rush”/Greek Life recruitment, Halloween (aka Halloweekend), homecoming, and various campus parties/events. All of these events tend to involve the consumption of alcohol and other substances. For many first years, this is the first time they’ll have been without parental supervision, and will have the freedom to experiment with alcohol, drugs, and the people around them. While the consumption of alcohol/substances is never at fault when someone is assaulted, it is the number one weapon perpetrators will use.
First years are herded in like sheep to be slaughtered, gazelles to be hunted. They are placed right in the middle of the lion's den without even knowing it.
Majority of freshmen orientations include, albeit minimal, info sessions on consent education and alcohol awareness; for many universities they feel that a 15 minute presentation is sufficient for them to wipe their hands clean of further responsibility. Unfortunately, these workshops tend to prioritize teaching potential victims how they can keep themselves safe versus placing the onus where it lies: on the potential perpetrators– more specifically, the young men and their peers who enable this behavior. This style of consent education is deeply problematic, as it focuses on the victims and their behaviour, versus the cycles of violence and deeply enmeshed legacy of rape culture which allows for many young boys and men to become perpetrators.
During September 2021 frosh week, Western University saw their campus quite literally become hell for at least thirty first year students. While Western offered its condolences to all the young women who were assaulted during their first week at University, and vowed to implement consent workshops for all students living in residence, for many of us it felt, feels, like too little too late.
Because sexual assault, specifically on University campuses, is such a significant crisis, this education needs to be proactive and continuous, not reactive. This education needs to begin in Grade 9 and be sustained throughout highschool and into post-secondary education. It needs to be mandated for all students, with a focus on student athletes and members of greek life, as both of these communities pose a significant threat due to culturally ingrained narratives surrounding “hypermasculinity”, and a long-standing legacy of being protected by the institutions under which they operate.
While belonging to either of these groups does not automatically assume complicity, it is important to be aware of the reality of each; know better, do better, and be an active part of positive change. Studies have found that young men in fraternities are “three times more likely to rape women than nonaffiliated classmates. Most gang rapes reported on campus are tied to fraternities. Women in sororities are 74% more likely to be raped than other college women.”.
As well, out of all student demographics, male athletes identify the most with “hypermasculinity and to accept "rape myths” to justify sexual assaults. Evidence also suggests they’re more likely to be confused about consent and admit to having committed acts of sexual aggression.”. Furthermore, objectively both of these groups tend to hold higher levels of social currency, and due to this “status”, are less likely to be reported and more likely to be protected when they are. It is estimated that at least 80% of on campus sexual assaults go unreported.
The prevalence of assault on university campuses is horrifying, and should not be a risk one must consider when pursuing a post-secondary education. There continues to be a significant lack of resources made available to students who experience this, transparency around investigations and consequences, as well as acknowledgment from institutions at large. We need to call on our universities to be better. There needs to be a massive shift at both the institutional and social level.
We need mandatory consent education and awareness, with a focus on bystander prevention and normalized rape culture behaviours, such as locker room talk, perpetuation of false rape claims myths, violent porn, slut shaming, and victim blaming (to name a few). We need to hold our peers accountable, whether they are engaging in this at the micro or macro level. When we send young people off to complete post-secondary, instead of teaching our girls to “always cover their drinks”, never walk home alone, and to “not dress slutty”, we need to teach our boys not to be predators, and that witnessing predatory behaviour happening, and remaining silent, is not synonymous with manhood or brotherhood, but instead complicity.
This behaviour is not an abnormal “side effect” of being a young man between the ages of 18-22; it is developed in childhood, nurtured during adolescence, and given the opportunity to flourish in adulthood. We saw this in the sexual assault case at St Micheal’s College School, an all boy’s catholic school in downtown Toronto. Hockey Canada using millions of dollars over decades to cover up and settle out-of-court allegations against players. In 2021, Ontario saw an 84% increase in femicide (the murder of a woman or girl on the basis of gender). Every year, across North America, countless fraternities are at the centre of sexual assault and rape accusations, while Doug Ford and the Ontario Conservative provincial government drastically cutting funding and resources for sexual assault and rape crisis centres.
None of this even begins to scratch the surface that is the reality for an estimated 1/4 women and 1/10 men. Silence is violence, and if you’re not angry, you’re not listening. To know the difference between right and wrong is to know what complicity looks like, so make the right choice. These events do not merely happen; they are the byproduct, a symptom, of a sickness that has been allowed to rage. We all must face the music as a collective because it is time to turn this song off and pick a new tune.
I think one of the hardest parts about being a woman is that as soon as you feel like you’ve processed and healed from the trauma you’ve experienced from men, something else happens. It's so painful knowing that at the end of the day, regardless of what we do to keep ourselves safe, it doesn’t feel like enough; we must hold the people in our lives accountable. I’m scared to bring a daughter into this world because I don’t want her soul or her body to know the violence I, and so many others, have. I see you, I hear you, I believe you; I love you, and you deserve to feel safe in your own skin. This moment will pass and you will find peace again.
To me, this article feels like a “doomsday” piece, but I genuinely have hope that our generation will begin the path of deep healing, of unlearning. Together we can keep each other safe, and pave a way towards a better future. To know this level of trauma and violence is to be a survivor; a title which no one should have to hold. The crispness of the leaves signals the shedding of old skin and an anticipated Spring rebirth. This version of you is not forever, and just like the trees you will begin anew under the sun.
Works Cited
“Campus Sexual Violence: Statistics.” RAINN. Accessed September 21, 2022. https://www.rainn.org/statistics/campus-sexual-violence.
Casaletto, Lucas. “Western University Students Plan Walkout amid Allegations That Young Women Were Sexually Assaulted.” CityNews, September 14, 2021. https://toronto.citynews.ca/2021/09/14/western-university-sexual-assault/.
Embensadoun. “'Shadow Pandemic' of Femicide Looms, Experts Warn as Canada Prepares to Reopen .” Global News. Global News, July 24, 2021. https://globalnews.ca/news/8040778/femicide-domestic-violence-increasing-2021-canada/.
Guerrero, Jean. “Column: Fraternities Are Incubators of Sexual Assault and Other Violence. Why Is USC Defending Them?” Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, November 11, 2021. https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-11-11/fraternities-sexual-assault-violence-usc.
Loriggio, Paola, and Liam Casey. “Student Found Guilty in Sexual Assault at Toronto's St. Michael's College School.” Global News. Global News, June 25, 2021. https://globalnews.ca/news/7980045/student-guilty-sexual-assault-toronto-st-michaels-college-school/.
Rodrigues, Rebekah. “What the Red Zone Means for Sexual Assault at Universities.” The Gazette • Western University's Student Newspaper, October 14, 2021. https://westerngazette.ca/culture/what-the-red-zone-means-for-sexual-assault-at-universities/article_1685f098-2d06-11ec-bc6b-5bbeadb0f306.html.
Wade, Lisa. “Rape on Campus: Athletes, Status, and the Sexual Assault Crisis.” The Conversation, March 6, 2017. https://theconversation.com/rape-on-campus-athletes-status-and-the-sexual-assault-crisis-72255.
Ward, Rachel, Linda Guerriero, Ivan Angelovski, and Bob McKeown. “Sex and Shame in Canada's National Game.” CBCnews. CBC/Radio Canada, September 29, 2022. https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/features/alleged-group-sexual-assault-junior-hockey-canada