Introduction
Despite the development of public awareness and legal system enhancement, sexual assault remains extremely frequent and disturbing in contemporary society. The terms “sexual assault” and “sexual abuse” are commonly interchangeable and defined as “offenses in which an assailant forces a victim to participate in a variety of sexual behaviors that may include the actual or attempted penetration” (Dedel, 2011, p. 5). According to researchers, around 20% of women underwent committed or attempted sexual abuse during a lifetime, though the number of reports is enormously small. The purpose of this research is an analysis of reasons why sexual assault is so frequently underreported, other scholars’ theories and concepts in this area, and further directions of this issue’s investigation.
The rape report movement altered social and legal attitudes to sexual assaults; it contributed to victim-blaming mentality change by initiating a reorientation toward the offender’s penalty, rather than the victim’s discrimination. Besides, public campaigns and activities for sexual abuse awareness and the legal system’s severe punitive measures for committing rape aimed to reduce barriers and encourage victims’ report the crime. Though, despite this progress, sexual assault remains a significant public issue and one of the most underreported crimes against humanity in modern society.
Reporting Sexual Assaults among College Students
Sexual assaults among college students remain an essential public concern. According to the national research, up to 25% of women, being students, became the victim of performed or potential sexual abuse before graduation (Hines, Armstrong, Reed, Cameron, 2012). A substantial number of examinations, dedicated to this critical issue, are regularly performed by the authorities. The investigation by the Center for Public Integrity included interviews of experts and sexually assaulted students, the review of selected cases data, and surveys of clinics and crisis centers in the vicinity of college campuses. During the research, students were asked to point barriers that discourage victims from a legal report; the most significant listed barriers were feelings of shame, self-doubt, embarrassment, confidentiality concerns, fears of rejection by friends, not being believed by the college authorities, and perpetrator’s retaliation.
Reasons For Underreporting Sexual Assaults Committed by Strangers
Many scholars review the issue of women’s sexual assault to the full extent and investigate reasons for its underreporting by victims; they afford essential arguments, enlightening victims’ routine underreporting of assaults committed by strangers. Dedel (2011) underlines the importance of the victim’s cooperation with the police to provide an effective justice response. In case of abuse by a stranger, the woman is frequently the only witness, and her non-reporting leads to the absence of the offender’s prosecution and the justice system’s value deprivation (Dedel, 2011). Oppositely, the significant information, received from a victim, may result in further abuse cases’ prevention and encourage more victims to report this crime.
According to previous research, women report abuse on a more frequent basis in the situation when they were injured, forced, or threatened by a weapon. Besides, appropriate medical treatment, family and friends’ support, and police assistance can support victims’ resolution to report the crime. Various reasons cause women’s refusal to report. Besides a feeling of shame, partial responsibility, and embarrassment, particular illegal activities, such as drugs use or prostitution, and immoderate drinking of alcohol force women to hide assault cases. The majority of sexually abused victims have a dread of police insensitivity, the justice system’s burdening process, and revenge from the offender as well.
Reporting Sexual Assaults in the Military
There are studies that focus on the investigation of sexual assault in the military and barriers for servicewomen in reporting this malefaction. In 2013, the Midwestern community sample of currently serving and veteran servicewomen completed the survey to identify the percentage of women, who underwent a committed or an attempted sexual abuse during military service; from 1339 interviewed recipients, 205 women had experienced sexual assault (Mendeling, Booth, Torner, Sadler, 2014). The majority of victims did not report due to beliefs in lack of confidentiality and support from peers; they questioned the effectiveness of legal proceedings and inevitability of punishment for a perpetrator. Although, the Department of Defense implements measures to prevent sexual abuse and increase the number of reports; two types of reports are suggested for servicewomen – restricted reporting involves confidential reports to designated military authorities, and unrestricted reporting results in the official criminal investigation.
Personal, Social, and Institutional Factors of Underreporting Sexual Assault
Various scholars present a fresh approach to the issue of underreporting sexual crimes. According to Szurgyi (2018), all reasons to hide abuse can be divided into three types; the first category is personal factors. Due to the absence of awareness, experience, or proper education, a substantial number of women identify sexual assault as acceptable and not malicious in case force was not used against them. Another personal factor of reluctance is the victim’s sympathy to a perpetrator; the U.S. Department of Justice found that “three-quarters of victims know their attacker” (Szurgyi, 2018, p. 18). The second category is social factors; the community’s attitude to sexual abuse plays an essential role in its perception. In a society with a rape culture, which supports males’ sexual aggression and victim-blaming, and regards violence against women as a norm, the number of reported assaults will be insignificant. The third category is connected with confidentiality concerns and the lack of believability from an institutional system; sexually abused individuals frequently possess a lack of knowledge, concerning the submission of a report, and a lack of trust towards the legal system and penalty execution.
Some outstanding investigations concentrate on the reasons why a significant number of sexual abuse victims do not label or report this crime. The act of reporting rape means its actualization and acceptance for a victim; it requires the discussion of circumstances, emotions, experience, and affiliation. Despite the fact, that the label of a sexual assault survivor is eventually regarded as empowering, the majority of individuals refuse to recognize abuse; they believe that labeling and reporting it can harm their identity and further achievements (Khan, Hirsch, Wamboldt, Mellins, 2018). This article’s concept is based on the analysis of students from Columbia University’s undergraduate schools and Barnard College; more than one hundred and fifty recipients were examined to identify the main reasons for sexual assault rejection (Khan et al., 2018). Thus, abuse labeling causes three types of social risks: an identity risk (threats of self-destruction), and interpersonal risk (tension in relations and communication), and a project-related risk (consequent professional achievements difficulties).
Research Proposal
This study contributes a highly essential issue for consideration about a substantial number of sexual assault cases in contemporary society. It enlightens the prevalence of violence against women in all spheres of life, underreporting of this hideous crime, and barriers that restrain victims from reporting abuse as well. The terms “sexual abuse” and “sexual assault” are interchangeable and frequently used as synonyms to “sexual violence.” This term includes a wide range of sexual maltreatment from completed or attempted unwanted sexual acts and traffic of sexuality, using coercion, to insulting sexual comments, proposal, and harassment. Violence implicates threats and physical force and weapon use, regardless of location and relationship between a victim and an offender. Among all articles concerning this issue, a substantial number of studies are dedicated to the investigation of why sexual assault is so frequently underreported. They scrutinize the reasons which conduct victims in situations when they decide to hide the experienced sexual abuse. In the process of a thorough examination of respectful scholars’ works, all designated barriers can be divided into personal, social, and institutional.
Personal factors why victims are reluctant to report violence are determined by their psychological state, level of education and sexual assault awareness, or victim’s occupation. The most significant psychological barriers for women are feelings of shame, self-doubt, embarrassment, and guilt. Victims frequently question whether their behavior could provoke the abuser. Another reason for the reluctance to report is the acquaintance between a victim and a perpetrator. According to statistics, the predominant number of sexually abused women knew their offenders and frequently did not want them further difficulties and imprisonment. Besides, a lack of sexual awareness leads to acceptance of assault. Women do not identify violence against them as a crucial reason to report it. Involvement in illegal activities and alcohol drinking before committing abuse force women to be silent about assault cases as well.
Social factors of sexual violence underreporting are defined by the community’s attitude and social perspective of abuse. Despite various activities focused on the reorientation toward the offender’s penalty, rather than the victim’s discredit, rape culture dominates not only in sexual assault-accepting societies but in developed communities as well. In case the majority of members encourage violence against women, regarding it as a norm of life, support assailants, and blame women for experienced sexual assault (frequently, women are blamed for their appearance or behavior), victims will not report a crime. They will have a fear of public shaming, friends, and family’s support loss, and negative implications for subsequent private life. Institutional factors explain non-reporting by victims’ concern in their confidentiality, police and legal system sensitivity, and their defense in case of abuser’s revenge.
This research, based on existing studies’ review, enlightens the sexual assault issue severity and encourages further investigation to discover and analyze additional factors of victims’ reporting reluctance. For instance, the range of psychological factors, examined in studies of Hines et al. (2012), Dedel (2011), and Szurgyi (2018), can be expanded by surveys that incorporate victims’ interviewing and in-depth examination of police and medical reports. Hines et al. (2012) and Mendeling et al. (2014) study sexual assault in specific spheres, in college campuses and the military. Future research can focus on other members of a community, investigating home violence or men’s sexual assault.
Another direction of further research is an investigation of measures that society can perform to increase the number of sexual abuse reports. According to Szurgyi (2018), contemporary social campaigns such as the revolutionary #MeToo movement encourage victims to speak up about assault without being blamed or criticized. Although progress is noticeable, the negative response to these movements is developing as well. Conservative individuals suspect women’s support uniting as an attack against men and personal interests’ advance, such as money and fame, without committing abuse. In this case, practical actions, targeting the change of social mentality and increasing trust and sensitivity towards victims, such as public society education and promotion of sexual awareness through media sources, should be performed. In addition, further study of psychological, social, and institutional barriers for sexual violence underreporting will be beneficial for law enforcement. Police will be more aware of formulating a strategy, designed to encourage abuse reporting and help victims to overcome their distrust.
References
- Dedel, K. (2011). Sexual assault of women by strangers. Problem-Specific Guides Series Problem-Oriented Guides for Police, 62, 1-55. Web.
- Hines, D. A., Armstrong, J. L., Reed, K. P., Cameron, A. Y. (2012). Gender differences in sexual assault victimization among college students. Violence and Victims, 27(6), 922-940.
- Khan, S., Hirsch, J., Wamboldt, A., Mellins. C. (2018).”I didn’t want to be ‘that girl “‘: The social risks of labeling, telling, and reporting sexual assault. Sociological Science, 5, 432-460. Web.
- Mendeling, M., Booth, B., Torner, J., Sadler, A. (2014). Reporting sexual assault in the military: Who reports and why most servicewomen don’t.American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 47(1), 17-25. Web.
- Szurgyi, M. (2018). The outside looking in: Examining reasoning behind the choice to report sexual assault and domestic violence. Dissenting Voices, 7(1), 15-29.