It happened the summer before her freshman year of college.

Brittany Pernell was at a party hosted by her ex-boyfriend. They had broken up months before and hadn’t spoken since, but her friends wanted to go. They urged her to come along and clear the air so they all could have a good time.

Pernell agreed but on one condition: she had to be drunk.

“I had never drank before, so in turn I’d never been drunk before,” Pernell said. “On our way to the party I was drinking, when we got to the party I was drinking.”

When they arrived, she spoke with him. As the night went on, Pernell says she became sloppy and belligerent. Other party goers told Pernell’s ex to “get her” as it became clear she was drinking too much.

“I don’t know why his interpretation was ‘get her and take her to a bedroom,’” Pernell said.

Beyond this point, Pernell can’t remember what happened; She was too drunk. But when her friend returned to the party from a booze run, no one could tell her where Pernell was. She searched bedroom after bedroom until she came upon a locked door. Behind it was Pernell and her ex.

“She asked him to open the door and he wouldn’t,” Pernell said. “Once I did come out, we left immediately afterwards. I had to ask her the next day what happened.”

At first, Pernell wasn’t sure if she was raped. They were both drunk, they had dated before, perhaps she was into it. Perhaps he couldn’t tell the difference.

But a week or so later, the two were speaking on the phone.

As she questioned him about the party, one sentence confirmed to Pernell that she had indeed been sexually assaulted.

“There was some point in the conversation where he told me that ‘if he wouldn’t have done it, somebody else would have,’” Pernell said. “After that conversation, I completely cut him off.”

As for the friends that pressured her to go the party, some believed her, some did not.

A month later, began her freshman year at Iowa State, but the actions of her perpetrator would haunt her as she tried to adapt to college life.

She began to withdraw from her friends. She refused to seek help. And though she branched out and made friends in her residence hall, that was the extent of her social experience.

“Freshman year I attempted suicide by trying to overdose,” Pernell said. “My roommate had to wake me up, because it wasn’t enough to do it, but it was enough that I was knocked out.”

While her mental health deteriorated, her academics suffered. By the end of her first semester, she was on academic warning. By the end of her second semester, she was on probation. By the end of her third, she was dismissed.

Pernell attributes it all to that one night. To that one party.

Every sexual assault survivors story is different; however, there are some common elements. Alcohol. Manipulation. Mental health problems. Absence of consent.

Yet, for Pernell and many others, the color of their skin and the way in which they self identify adds new barriers on to the already complex issue of sexual assault.

Pernell is an African-American woman, and, according to the Women of Color Network, for every African-American woman who reports being sexually assaulted, there are 15 who don’t.

 

Sexual assault, and the mental health problems it brings about, aren’t topics open for discussion in many black communities. Oftentimes, victims cannot find support within their families and friend groups. They don’t go to the police because they don’t trust law enforcement.

Vanessa McNeal, a sexual assault survivor who works as a public speaker and filmmaker focusing on sexual assault, says that higher rates of childhood sexual assault, coupled with a distrust in law enforcement and rampant homophobia creates a “culture of silence” that hurts victims.

“I know for sure in the black communities that when there’s survivors of sexual violence they’re less likely to report to the police,” McNeal said. “And that’s just because of a distrust and disconnect that they have with law enforcement and the system in general because systematically minorities, especially African Americans, are continuously abused by the system.”

However, McNeal also noted that the resilience in the coping styles of black families can be a point of strength for victims, depending on how a family responds to the abuse.

At the same time, the rift between law enforcement and black communities, as well as high profile cases like that of Brock Turner, discourages victims from reporting.

When victims don’t report, perpetrators aren’t prosecuted. When perpetrators aren’t prosecuted, victims don’t feel that their report will mean anything.

Skin color isn’t the only barrier when that sexual assault victims in underrepresented demographics face. For those in the LGBT community, studies show that they may have an increased risk of sexual assault on a national scale. Here at Iowa State, it’s no different.

In 2015, Iowa State University published a campus climate survey on sexual assault and sexual misconduct.

It found that sexual assault among non-heterosexual individuals was more than twice as prevalent as it was for heterosexual individuals.

For transgender individuals, distrust became a common motif in the report. The study defined the population as transgender, genderqueer, non-conforming, or questioning (TGQN).

It found that overall, fewer TGQN students believed that university officials would take a report of a sexual assault seriously. Furthermore, fewer TGQN students believed that the university would protect them, conduct a fair investigation or take action against the offender.

Margo Foreman, director of equal opportunities at Iowa State, believes that what the study showed is reflective of the nation as a whole.

For all marginalized groups, the intersectionality between skin color, poverty, sexual orientation and life experiences can be the building blocks of the barriers that keep them from seeking help.

However, as it is with all problems, the first step to a solution is acknowledgment. When it comes to sexual assault, that acknowledgment comes from reporting.

ISU Police officer Anthony Greiter, the department’s community outreach specialist as well as a member of the Story County Sexual Assault Response Team (SART), says that the first step, and sometimes the hardest, is getting in the door.

Despite the barrier, ISUPD has a liaison that works closely with LGBT Student Services to increase student awareness about services that exist on campus. Greiter says that because of this, they have seen an increase in LGBT students coming forward and reporting.

For Greiter, McNeal and Foreman, an increase in reported sexual assaults is a good thing. At least for now.

“Reports should be rising because we’re educating people. But, they shouldn’t keep rising,” Foreman said.

Iowa State is trying to increase trust and reporting among students, but that is not an easy task.

“It’s moving a big rock uphill,” said Foreman.

 

Pernell’s story doesn’t end with her dismissal.

After leaving Iowa State, she enrolled at DMACC. Her current boyfriend encouraged her to seek help and she eventually saw a counselor at the Student Counseling Service at Iowa State.

She made the Dean’s list in her first semester at DMACC and was able to re-enroll at Iowa State shortly after. Pernell is now a senior in child, adult and family services. She’s been on the Dean’s list for the last four semesters.

McNeal says that, when discussing sexual assault, there is a quote she always falls back on:

Start being comfortable with the things that are uncomfortable, and become being uncomfortable with the things that are comfortable.

“What that means is that this conversation is really difficult to talk about but it’s really important,” McNeal said. “We need to start being uncomfortable with the fact that we perpetuate sexual violence. We live in a rape culture, and that’s comfortable with us now.”