Over recent years, there has been a push to address sexual assault, and similar crime, occurring on college campuses. Currently, 1 in 5 women, or 18.3%, will report being raped within their lifetime. In comparison, 1 in 71 men, or 1.4%, will report being raped at one point in their lives (CDC, 2012). Of the 18.3% of women who report the crimes against them, 19% admit that their rape occurred since entering college, and 37.4% of these women confirmed it occurred between the ages of 18 and 24 (CDC, 2012).
In September of 2014, California adopted a law that will forever change their college campuses. This law is commonly referred to as the “Yes Means Yes” law (Welch, 2014). This law drastically changes the “hook up” culture and atmosphere, commonly found on college campuses. In light of the growing “hook up” culture, which gives individuals the freedom to have various relations with someone without a commitment, it makes it difficult and dangerous to protect oneself from unwanted contact and abuse. This law outlines and redefines the new terms of what consent is. Namely, when the other party says, “yes,” to whatever activity will be acted out, it gives an affirmative answer, so you do not have to guess what exactly they are willing to do.
(via University of Maryland, Baltimore County, 2014).
Social change refers to the significant change in social behavior and patterns, as well as cultural values and norms (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014). Consent, by saying ‘yes,’ changes the different aspects within a social structure. For example, it is commonly thought that provocative clothing was an “advertisement for sex,” or that when a woman says “no,” they mean “yes,” they just do not want to come off as “easy,” (Rhode, 2007). “Yes” is a stronger affirmation than “no,” simply because it is engaging the individual to actively think about what they want. The law states, “Lack of protest or resistance does not mean consent, nor does silence mean consent. Affirmative consent must be ongoing throughout a sexual activity and can be revoked at any time,” (California State Senate, 2014). This also has a part in restructuring the way that others interpret aforementioned stereotypes.
With growing concern about sexual safety on college campuses, “Yes Means Yes,” is a great law for other states and colleges to adopt. With new law, and changing stereotyped thoughts, college campuses will be safer and healthier for everyone. Social change is never easy: it actively shifts attitudes and beliefs to address social issues in positive ways (Palumbo, 2014). But understanding the power behind saying “yes” rather than “no,” will change views on consent and today’s “hook up” culture.
-Orlena Riner
References:
California State Senate. (2014, Sept 28). SB-967 Student Safety: Sexual Assault- Chapter748. Retrieved April 2015, from California Legislative Information: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140SB967
CDC. (2012). Sexual Violence- Facts at a Glance. Retrieved April 2015, from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/pdf/SV-DataSheet-a.pdf
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. (2014). Social Change Defined. Retrieved April 2015, from Cliffs Notes: http://www.cliffsnotes.com/sciences/sociology/social-change-and-movements/social-change-defined
Palumbo, L. (2014). Becoming an Agent of Social Change: A Guide for Youth Activists. Retrieved April 2015, from National Sexual Violence Resource Center: http://nsvrc.org/sites/default/files/saam_2014_becoming-an-agent-of-social-change_0.pdf
Rhode, D. L. (2007). Social Research and Social Change: Meeting the Challenge of Gender Inequality and Sexual Abuse. Harvard Journal of Law & Gender , 30, 11-24.
The Pennsylvania State University. (2015). Lesson 13: Social Change/Participatory Research. Retrieved April 2015, from Psych424: Applied Social Psychology: https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/sp15/psych424/001/content/14_lesson/03_page.html
Welch, W. M. (2014, Sept 29). California Adopts “Yes Means Yes” Law. Retrieved April 2015, from USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/usanow/2014/08/28/california-bill-yes-means-yes-sex-assault/14765665/
ADDENDUM to Cyn Roebuck’s previous post, paragraph 2 should read like this: I can see similarities between the bystander affect where no one steps up to intervene in an ambiguous situation decreasing significantly when people are made aware of the bystander effect and many people not stepping up in situations where sexual misconduct is taking place on college campuses. Various quasi-experiments (Latene & Nida, 1981; Aronson et al, 2010) have demonstrated that when people are aware of the bystander affect it can decrease the possibility of it affecting the individual who is aware of it. Perhaps, this is good theory to begin considering when the designing interventions to remove sexual assault from campuses. Perhaps, if students actually understand what constitutes sexual assault and date rape it can change attitude leading to behavioral change?
Yes Means Yes does seem to remove the “gray area” from the descriptions and comments I read here. Just to add to the conversation Prof. Koss coined the phrase date rape in the 80s, and she found through her studies 7.7% of male students admitted to date rape without recognizing it as date rape (Kamenetz, 2014). I truly feel that the reason some individuals, including the perpetrators of date rape, social groups, and universities play down the seriousness of sexual assault is because it is not clearly understood what defines it. Perhaps, interventions outlining what date rape is should be considered for incoming freshman. I do not feel that the workshops should be geared towards one gender or sex, but should be inclusive so that both sides understand the serious harmful long-term effects of this behavior.
I can see similarities between the bystander effect where no one steps up to intervene in an ambiguous situation decreasing significantly in various quasi-experiments (Latene & Nida, 1981; Aronson et al, 2010) having similar effects in this situation should students actually understand what constitutes sexual assault and date rape. This type of combined approach with the Yes Means Yes law could encompass the silly drunk young college student passed out who couldn’t mutter yes or no through teaching the possible perpetrator how this act would be wrong. Maybe?
If so, good intervention content needs to include central and peripheral routes to persuasion, so individuals who need concrete explanations can embrace the knowledge and catchy slogans that sink in for folks who are not so turned on by cognition. The subjective norm has to be changed within the popular subgroups on campus and an orientation that recognizes and addresses the combination of young adults, alcohol, and diminished supervision make for a situation where students may find themselves where they are not able to understand what is right or wrong a reality, so from the very beginning making students aware of a zero tolerance for this behavior could be effective. One suggestion is to include this as part of the orientation program for incoming freshman and returning dorm dwellers and Greeks. In this way, universities can clearly remove the “gray area” that Cali’s law defines.
References
Aronson, E., Wilson, T.D., & Akert, R.M. (2010). Social Psychology. Seventh Edition. Prentice Hall. ISBN 10:0-13-814478-8.
Kamenetz, A (2014). The History of Campus Sexual Assault. nprEd, HOW LEARNING HAPPENS. Retrieved 13 April 2015 from http://www.npr.org/blogs/ed/2014/11/30/366348383/the-history-of-campus-sexual-assault.
Latene & Nida. (1981). Ten Years of Research on Group Size and Helping. Vol. 89, No. 2. 308-324.
Psychological Bulletin. DOI:033-2909/81/8902-0308S00.75.
Personally love the Yes Means Yes law in California. I think it’s a model that all states should follow. I’m going through training right now to be a Sexual Assault Counselor with my local victim services center. One of the points that we are discussing in depth is how much more likely you are to be sexually assaulted by someone you know. It was estimated that 83% of victims of sexual assault knew their attackers. “Acquaintance” rape accounts for such a large amount of the statistics, and I think the California law could help clear up any “gray area” in regards to consent as seen by the law. This may also help with the victim blaming that goes along with this particular crime. Victims sometimes feel they “brought it on themselves”. Often times, outsiders may attempt to blame victims too.