Rape is a strong word

Rape is a violent act frequently utilized as a method of terrorism and psychological torture to convey power and control. The damages of rape have occurred throughout history, and little indication of improvement exists, even in modern society.

The women of the Margaret Sloss Women’s Center have recently brought the issue to light on the ISU campus through their series of events in April as part of Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

Rape is present even at Iowa State, and Penny Rice, director of the Margaret Sloss Women’s Center, deals with its aftereffects all too frequently.

“There are individuals in this world who believe that they have the right to violate another individual’s rights. That’s a problem,” Rice said. “It’s not about sex. It’s about power, and it’s about power over an individual.”

Sexual assault is more common than is widely recognized.

Most sexual assault advocacy organizations affirm that between one in four and one in six women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime.

Recent research released by the FBI and the Story County Sexual Assault Response Team has presented some significant results.

According to the 2009 Uniform Crime Report from the FBI, 23 forcible rapes were reported in Ames with a total of 24 in Story County. Story County Sexual Assault Response Team reported that they treated 44 cases of sexual assault in 2009.

Accordingly, the ISU Department of Public Safety documented 20 sexual assault cases in the same year.

Why does it continue to be a problem?

Most cases of sexual assault go completely unreported.

According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, better known as RAINN, as many as 60 percent of sexual assaults are not reported to police. Most other sources disagree as to exactly how many rapes go unreported, but they estimate the number of reports between 10 and 20 percent.

Despite these discrepancies, under-reporting of sexual assault is still a major problem authorities have when dealing with rape. There are a number of reasons as to why sexual assaults go unreported.

Given her experience, Rice was willing to speculate as to why.

“One of the major ones, I think at least, is that we live in a rape culture,” Rice said.

“I don’t know if you’ve ever heard that term before, but largely within the media and within the advertising industry, movies, songs and stuff like that, sexual violence is normalized, so a lot of the things somebody experiences they may not think, ‘This is an issue, I need to get assistance for this.’ They might think that this is something that happens, and that’s the way it is.”

It’s much different from a student’s perspective.

Christine Peterson, graduate in educational leadership and policy studies and graduate assistant at the Women’s Center, agrees with Rice and shifts some of the blame on a victim’s social environment. From her experience, she suggested that peer pressure and potential backlash from the ISU community can be intimidating and could easily deter other victims from seeking help for their problems.

“You can’t control the rest of the student body and the way they treat survivors and the language they use and the victim blaming that goes on,” Peterson said.

“I’ve seen from a lot of students and heard when their peers, or when any student tells them that they’re a survivor or a victim, and the damage that can do.”

Don’t be afraid to report a rape.

Many students are also intimidated by the process of accessing help because pursuing an investigation can be daunting; especially for someone under intense emotional distress.

Not all students want to take action or pursue litigation, said Michelle Boettcher, director of Iowa State Judicial Affairs.

“It’s a long process, and oftentimes people just don’t want to deal with it,” she said. “It’s easier to move on with their life if they can just move on and not have to dwell on if for months or sometimes years at a time.”

However, she did want to stress the fact that there is a strong support system for victims in place to help get them through the process.

“It is a difficult process, and that’s one of the reasons we respond as a team and to make sure they understand that when they come to law enforcement,” said Suzie Owen, investigative officer with Story County Sexual Assault Response Team.

“I don’t want them to worry too much about the court process at the beginning stages because you just don’t know what’s going to happen, but they need to be aware that it’s not generally an immediate arrest.”

What do I do if I am assaulted?

There are numerous resources both on and off campus for sexual assault victims.

When students approach student affairs, Story County Sexual Assault Response Team or the Assault Care Center for Extended Support, they are in control of the situation and are the ones who decide what actions will be taken.

By approaching one of the aforementioned resources, the individual will be given options for counseling, legal assistance through Story County Sexual Assault Response Team and the ISU Police, or university assistance through judicial affairs.

Even if the individual victim reports to one of such agencies and obtains advice, they are not required to pursue prosecution.

“We really want them to be in a place where they can make the decision that’s best for them, because a lot of the process is about empowerment,” Boettcher said. “So we don’t ever want to miscommunicate with a student and have them feel compromised on another level on top of the incident that occurred.”

Boettcher also wanted to dispel the fear that many students have that they will be reprimanded if they were under the influence of drugs or alcohol during the attack.

“What we don’t want is someone who’s underage who had been drinking not to report that they were sexually assaulted,” she said. “We are going to focus on the most critical issue, which is getting them the help and resources they need.”

The Ames and ISU Police operate in the same way, and each puts victims first when dealing with sexual assault.

“We really care about the student and want to make sure that we’re going through it at the right pace with the right pieces of support in place for them so that they can move on from the incident, finish their careers at Iowa State, move on and be successful,” Boettcher said.

Is it effective?

Most people within the organizations think so, but Ashley Hand, Response Service Coordinator for Story County Sexual Assault Response Team, thinks there is room for improvement within Iowa State.

“The university has to not only respond to the needs of the victim, but the needs of the perpetrator,” she said.

“Doing that causes them to walk a fine line, but they also have to do risk management for the university itself. The university has the duty to protect all of the individuals enrolled here, so that I think compromises a lot of the services from what they could be.”

Hand said proceedings within the university are not always clear because of sensitive privacy issues.

“Again, because the university has to walk this fine line of protecting both parties involved as well as their own risk management, I think that it can get a little muddy sometimes,” said Ashley Hand.

Overall, Iowa State is a leader in first response and follow-up procedures compared to many other universities, and leaders within the community continue to empower people to have the courage to take advantage of the resources available to them.

Hand said there is no question as to whether rape will continue to be a part of our society for years to come, and Rice passionately continues to call on people to recognize the problem.

“It changes the life of an individual forever; not just one, it’s all of their friends, their family, their partner, their future partners [and] their children,” she said.

“It is something that we tolerate, and I guess we can’t bring it into our psyche because if we did, we would be horrified.”