Surviving the College Campus – A Most Dangerous Environment for Young Women
The Second of a 6-Part Back To
School Survival Series.
By Harry “The Hammer” Wigder
TODAY’S COLLEGE CAMPUSES hold the largest concentration of young women who are at far greater risk for rape and other pernicious forms of sexual assault than women elsewhere. On campuses holding 10,000 women, there are an average of 350 rapes @ year. Many more rapes go unreported for various reasons, including the attitudes of the victims, which perpetrates the problem in the first place (embarrassment regarding how they became victims in the first place/drugs, alcohol, perhaps allowing an initial sexual advances, etc.). Many women come in contact with men in a variety of circumstances during the night and day. Add an endless amount of stimulants in what for many is their first time away from home and you have a volatile atmosphere where almost anything bad can happen.
This is a limited venue, so let’s explore a few of the dangers faced by young women on today’s campuses and follow that up with 10 Principles of Survival.
Signatures Of Danger On Today’s College Campus
- Great Majority of Sexual Assaults in the evening – after midnight, most off-campus, 9 out of 10 instigated by men whom they know
- Great majority of sexual assaults are accomplished through intimidation by the attacker and met with little or no physical or verbal resistance.
- Consistently, from one study to the next, the Victims shared these Factors:
Ø Drinking and Drunkenness.
Ø Being single or alone at time of assault.
Ø Being a previous victim prior to school year.
Ø Living On Campus.
Ø Little or no Self Defense (For Women) Training or Education.
- Stalking usually precedes or accompanies the sexual assault (165@1000 women students stalked in an average school year). There will be much more on Stalker Characteristics, Danger Signs, etc. in future postings.
First In-First Out: A consistent theme for attacks is that, when spontaneous assaults go down, the stalker chooses an instant when the coed in first going into a location or first coming out. These are moments when the victim is most distracted or least aware. The Stalker is a sly opportunist.
Technorati Tags:crimes against women, violence against women, violence prevention, campus violence, college violence, women