1 in 6 female Australian students raped

[hongi]

Link.

Australian universities are promising to redouble efforts to improve women's safety in light of a survey in which one in six female students said they had been raped.

The National Union of Students (NUS) Let's Talk About It survey of 1,500 women found 17 per cent had experienced rape, 12 per cent had experienced attempted rape and 11 per cent had experienced assault by penetration.

It found 67 per cent women had experienced unwanted sexual encounters and only 3 per cent had reported them to their universities. Only 2 per cent reported incidents to the police.

Eighty-six per cent of women surveyed had experienced sexual harassment in the form of someone making sexual noises or comments.

More than three quarters said they felt unsafe after dark, while one in six said they had experienced stalker-like or obsessive behaviour.

Can you believe this shit? I'm so glad I was born a male (doesn't mean men don't experience sexual abuse either, but not as much as women).

[wautd]

Can you believe this shit?

No. 1 in 6 is a disturbingly high number, nevermind it occurs in a first world country. I really the numbers in reality are much lower

[weemadando]

It wouldn't surprise me at all given the experiences of most females I knew.

I mean look at the typical Aussie male culture:
Idolise rapists footballers.
Women are sluts stupid for thinking that men want anything from them but sex.
A woman who's so drunk she can't say no is consenting.
Women who do have sex with you deserve to be shamed for being a slut.
Women who don't have sex with you deserve to be shamed for being frigid/lesbian/stuck-up.


It shits me to tears. I'm fucking glad I don't have a daughter.

There's a solution, but unfortunately it involves trying to change the majority view of how the world is meant to run in this country.

[Thanas]

Jesus Christ.

[weemadando]

Jesus Christ.

Pretty much.

I could also go into the problems for sexual assault victims in the legal system, but really that only addresses the post facto issues.

[Broomstick]

Have to know how they're defining rape... but don't particularly want to go down that path right now. Suffice to say, 1 in 6 women is quite plausible even in a first world country.

What's puzzling me is ONLY 86% experiencing sexual harassment defined as "sexual noises or comments". That seems quite low to me.

[JointStrikeFighter]

Given this research is published by NUS, an organisation with a history of outright dishonesty (ending compulsory student unionism = JUST LIKE HITLER being typical of their material) I am skeptical about the validity of the claims.

In saying that though, I fully admit my perceptions of the issue are coloured by the nature of the university I attend; QUT doesn't have any "uni culture" for intrinsic reasons including no on campus living, and being located right in the Brisbane CBD.

[Ford Prefect]

When we covered sexual offenses in criminal law last year, I'm pretty sure the statistics - provided by the Tasmanian Law Reform Society, so pretty much one of the most credible sources in Australia - were actually a lot worse than this. I may be misremembering because it's been over a year, but it was closer to one in four women having experienced something which would fit the legal definition of rape.

[weemadando]

NUS are a pack of fucking wankers.

That much is certain. But as I said, my anecdotal experience would support the kind of stats that they're talking about.

Also, the 1 in 6 seems to be a "total" not just a "at university" thing, which makes it even more plausible.

[SVPD]

Is this number credible?

I can't speak to either the Australian college culture or its legal system, but in the U.S., any such number would cause me to view the study with great suspicion. I can recall a number of "studies" where "rape" mysteriously started including "sexual assault" which in turn included everything all the way down to an unwanted attempt at a kiss or hands that wandered just a little too far. Of course, this isn't all that surprising considering people in general can't even seem to agree on what the term 'had sex' means.

When people say they "had sex," what transpired is anyone's guess. A new study from the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University found that no uniform consensus existed when a representative sample of 18- to 96-year-olds was asked what the term meant to them.

[JointStrikeFighter]

NUS are a pack of fucking wankers.

That much is certain. But as I said, my anecdotal experience would support the kind of stats that they're talking about.

Also, the 1 in 6 seems to be a "total" not just a "at university" thing, which makes it even more plausible.

Yeah I will certainly knee-jerk against them after their bullshit behavior at the last QUT elections (both verbal AND physical assault against the opposing party).

From what I hear from colleges who live on-campus at UQ I really don't doubt the statistics when applied to uni as a whole; I just find it hard to imagine in inner city universities

(I will stop hijacking with 'the NUS are wankers')

[weemadando]

Australia has had a lot of reform with regards to rape in common law in Australia. After all, you only have to go back to the nineties when some Judges got in a bit of strife for ruling that "sometimes No means Yes" to void rape claims.

[weemadando]

@SVPD

Australian Gov't studies report 1 in 5 women assaulted in a manner which constitutes rape under Australian law.

And a breakdown of exactly what constitutes rape in Australian law.

[kaeneth]

http://abacus.bates.edu/admin/offices/scs/salt7.html

One out of four women will be sexually assaulted on a college campus. 1

One out of eight women will be raped while in college. 2

http://www.stoprapevermont.org/statisti ... nal.html#3

1 out of 6 college women report having been the vicitm of rape or attempted rape during
the preceding year (National Survey of Sexual Violence on College Campuses, based on 1998
Ms. Project on Campus Sexual Assault).

No, these statistics are quite common in the First World. Unfortunately, they never get enough attention and are sometimes exaggerated.

[bobalot]

Given this research is published by NUS, an organisation with a history of outright dishonesty (ending compulsory student unionism = JUST LIKE HITLER being typical of their material) I am skeptical about the validity of the claims.

In saying that though, I fully admit my perceptions of the issue are coloured by the nature of the university I attend; QUT doesn't have any "uni culture" for intrinsic reasons including no on campus living, and being located right in the Brisbane CBD.

Whatever their history, it is true that this bogan culture permeates the "Sand Stone" universities. I remember it when going a university to relatively close to the Universities of Sydney and NSW. I doubt nothing much has changed.

Instead of the bogan westie culture that's shitting all over cultural norms, it's the eastern suburb private school wankers culture, which means next to nothing will really be done about it. You remember that pro-rape facebook group at St Paul's College (at the University of Sydney)? End result = zilch.

[Serafina]

Keep in mind that attempted rape is pretty much as bad as actual rape for the victim. According to this study, 12% were victims of attempted rape. Combined with the successful instances of rape, that's almost 30% of australian female students!
That number goes up even further if we include the "sexual assault by penetration"-figure. Not sure what it mean, but i think it refers to rape where penetration of the vagina actually occurred.

Either way those numbers are shockingly high - 40% of all female students have suffered from rape if the numbers are correct.

[Zixinus]

I guess descending from criminals (even if not all of them were highly criminal) still has lingering effects.

I wonder how you can also effectively combat this. Trying to change perspective of males on the issue can be like trying to move a boulder with a shovel.

[Todeswind]

How are they defining rape in this survey? "Unwanted sexual encounters" seems a bit ambiguous.

[erik_t]

Keep in mind that attempted rape is pretty much as bad as actual rape for the victim. According to this study, 12% were victims of attempted rape. Combined with the successful instances of rape, that's almost 30% of australian female students!
That number goes up even further if we include the "sexual assault by penetration"-figure. Not sure what it mean, but i think it refers to rape where penetration of the vagina actually occurred.

Either way those numbers are shockingly high - 40% of all female students have suffered from rape if the numbers are correct.

Did the study identify those specifically as 'suffered attempted, but not successful rape'? Otherwise, tell me you did not just add 12% and 1/6 to get 30%.

[Big Phil]

The number was once claimed to be one in three women on US college campuses. I personally only knew one woman who had ever been "raped" (by which I mean three different guys tried to rape her on three different occasions at parties when she was plastered and unable to defend herself, but her friends, knowing that she did stupid shit like get falling down drunk, were always close by and pulled the guys off before anything happened), but of course there could be others who I just don't know about.

Has anyone ever conducted a he said-she said study, to look at situations where a guy thinks it's consensual and the woman thinks it's rape? Anecdotally you hear about cases where a drunk guy and girl have sex, and three days later the girl decides it was rape, but how often are women raped when the guy thinks it's consensual? Or do the guys always know they're forcing an unwilling partner, thereby committing rape?

[Losonti Tokash]

Keep in mind that attempted rape is pretty much as bad as actual rape for the victim. According to this study, 12% were victims of attempted rape. Combined with the successful instances of rape, that's almost 30% of australian female students!
That number goes up even further if we include the "sexual assault by penetration"-figure. Not sure what it mean, but i think it refers to rape where penetration of the vagina actually occurred.

Either way those numbers are shockingly high - 40% of all female students have suffered from rape if the numbers are correct.

Assault by penetration generally refers to something other than a penis being inserted. Fingers, objects, etc.

[Serafina]

Tell me you did not just add 12% and 1/6 to get 30%.

As Thanas said, Jesus Christ.

To quote from the OP

The National Union of Students (NUS) Let's Talk About It survey of 1,500 women found 17 per cent had experienced rape, 12 per cent had experienced attempted rape and 11 per cent had experienced assault by penetration.

17% percent is the 1/6 quoted in the title. 12% is the percentage of attempted rapes. That adds up to 29% - hence "almost 30%". Gee, sorry for rounding up a bit Want to get nitpicky and complain that 17% is slightly more than 1/6th, too?

The number was once claimed to be one in three women on US college campuses. I personally only knew one woman who had ever been "raped" (by which I mean three different guys tried to rape her on three different occasions at parties when she was plastered and unable to defend herself, but her friends, knowing that she did stupid shit like get falling down drunk, were always close by and pulled the guys off before anything happened), but of course there could be others who I just don't know about.

Yes because rape is totally not a traumatic event, and you're totally going to tell every single guy you know Many women don't even tell their close friends, so saying "i don't know any woman who got raped" means pretty much nothing.

By the way, the simple fact that this has happened to the woman you mention THREE TIMES should tell you something. It seems quite likely that she's one willing to talk about it, rather than her just getting especially unlucky.

Also, i find it VERY questionable how you say that the woman "decides it was rape" after a guy had sex with her while she was drunk enough to fall down. Does the little word consent mean anything to you?

Assault by penetration generally refers to something other than a penis being inserted. Fingers, objects, etc.

Thanks for the info. Okay, so it refers to actual rape, at least by my definition (because the difference is small enough to lump it together into one term unless you want very specific legal differentiations which i find questionable).
So make the number 40% - that's 2 out of 5 instead of 1 out of 6! 2.5 times the number given in the topic title.

[Big Phil]

The number was once claimed to be one in three women on US college campuses. I personally only knew one woman who had ever been "raped" (by which I mean three different guys tried to rape her on three different occasions at parties when she was plastered and unable to defend herself, but her friends, knowing that she did stupid shit like get falling down drunk, were always close by and pulled the guys off before anything happened), but of course there could be others who I just don't know about.

Yes because rape is totally not a traumatic event, and you're totally going to tell every single guy you know Many women don't even tell their close friends, so saying "i don't know any woman who got raped" means pretty much nothing.

What's with the nerd rage Serafina? I toss out a set of US statistics and include an anecdote, and an acknowledgment that women don't go bragging about being raped, and you get all snide? WTF?

By the way, the simple fact that this has happened to the woman you mention THREE TIMES should tell you something. It seems quite likely that she's one willing to talk about it, rather than her just getting especially unlucky.

Actually, it tells me that a) she wasn't very bright, and b) predators recognized her as an easy target (as did her friends, which is why they stayed close).

Also, i find it VERY questionable how you say that the woman "decides it was rape" after a guy had sex with her while she was drunk enough to fall down. Does the little word consent mean anything to you?

I don't recall ever saying a thing about women consenting when they're "drunk enough to fall down." Take your nerd rage somewhere else if you can't have a simple discussion without distorting and then attacking my words.

[erik_t]

Tell me you did not just add 12% and 1/6 to get 30%.

As Thanas said, Jesus Christ.

To quote from the OP

The National Union of Students (NUS) Let's Talk About It survey of 1,500 women found 17 per cent had experienced rape, 12 per cent had experienced attempted rape and 11 per cent had experienced assault by penetration.

17% percent is the 1/6 quoted in the title. 12% is the percentage of attempted rapes. That adds up to 29% - hence "almost 30%". Gee, sorry for rounding up a bit Want to get nitpicky and complain that 17% is slightly more than 1/6th, too?

I realized that I had not read the specific language of the survey and so backtracked with an edit, as what I initially said (and what was quoted) was potentially unfair. If you'd like to continue to act butthurt, do so with that in mind.

[weemadando]

By the way, the simple fact that this has happened to the woman you mention THREE TIMES should tell you something. It seems quite likely that she's one willing to talk about it, rather than her just getting especially unlucky.

Actually, it tells me that a) she wasn't very bright, and b) predators recognized her as an easy target (as did her friends, which is why they stayed close).

Oh yay.

The "blame the victim" mentality.

FUCK YOU.

Perhaps the guys should have gone: "hey, this chick's absolutely fucking plastered. MAYBE I SHOULDN'T TRY TO FUCK HER WHILE SHE'S PASSED OUT/SO DRUNK SHE'S INCAPABLE OF KNOWING THAT I'M A GODDAMN NEANDERTHAL ARSEHOLE."

JESUS.

You realise that this exact mentality that you're displaying is a massive part of the problem don't you?