The Gem

Date Rape Gn Campus Happens Often

A 1985 survey showed that one in eight female univer- sity students will be date raped, and one in four will have a friend, lover or classmate attempt to rape them. Ninety per cent of victims don’t report date rape. In this feautre, Caroline Mallan of the Charlatan looks at the issue of date

rape on campus.

by Caroline Mallan Canadian University Press (Source: The Charlatan)

They were both drunk. That’s probably why she invited him in after he walked her home from a party. “It could be dan- gerous for you to walk home this late all alone,” he had insisted.

It was pouring rain so he asked to crash on her couch. She was too tired to try to get rid of him so she agreed. After all, he seemed like a nice enough guy. She went to bed and woke up with him beside her. He was all over her znd she was barely awake. She said no. He entered her, then got uy and went home.

For her it was a night she just wanted to forget. It wasn’t until almost a year later — when they began talking about date rape at her campus — that she looked back at the night she had tried so hard to forget. She realized she had been sexually assaulted.

A lot of people think of a rapist as a deranged man who as- saults women because of a tor- tured childhood or a chemical im- balance. He stalks his victims late at night, hides in closets, be- hind bushes and around corners. But Yvonne had let her attacker into her home. They had been drinking together and there was nothing about him to make her suspicious.

A 1985 Ms. Magazine survey showed that one in eight female university students will be date raped, and one in four will havea friend, lover or classmate attempt to rape them. Ninety per cent of victims don’t report date rape.

Cindy Dougherty of Ottawa’s Sexual Assault Support Centre said that often the victim ratio- nalizes the assault in, order to overcome feelings of guilt. She did go out with him, she wasn’t really hurt, and she can just put it behind her and be more care- ful next time she lets an acquain- tance into her home, the thinking goes. The public, meantime, won- ders why, if so many women are date raped, more victims don’t go to the police.

“The conviction rate for rapists is less than one per cent, if it ever gets to trial,” said Eva

Lazar of the Carleton University Women’s Centre.

Dougherty said of the 1,200 women who sought help from her support centre in the past year, only six wanted to go to the hos- pital so that medical evidence for a police investigation could be collected.

“For most women it takes time to realize what has hap-

pened or to be able to come for-

ward and get help,” Dougherty said. “They aren’t looking for justice, they are mostly looking for reassurances.”

Yvonne did not go to the po- lice. She chose to confide in a close friend. Eventually she vis-

ited a counsellor, who helped her -

deal with the feelings she was having towards men. * * a7

“It took a long time before I could trust anybody again,” she said.

“If something like this hap- pened again I think I would hesi- tate to go to the police. My par- ents would find out and I would be dragged through the mud.”

The man who raped Yvonne was in his early twenties. She said she was not attracted to him at all, and looking back she is mad she wasn’t more forceful with him. This, she said, would probably have put him off. He had made sexist comments over the course of the evening and he just wasn’t her type. Yvonne was new in Ottawa and had made few friends. This, she said, made her vulnerable to him and he knew it.

“T believe that women today have to realize who is out there and what they are capable of. We have to take responsibility for our own bodies,” she said.

“He knew I wouldn’t scream, he counted on the fact that I wouldn’t know what to do. He called me and asked me out a few days later.”

Information from the Ottawa Rape Crisis Centre indicates that most women who are sexually as- saulted after a date are between

. the ages of 15 and 25.

A woman who has been raped _has quick decisions to make. Dougherty said she can choose to call the police immediately. This means undergoing a medical ex- amination, recounting what hap- pened several times to the po- lice and, if there is enough ev- idence, facing cross-examination

Budget Hits Students Hard

UPEI students returned from the February reading back to campus justifiably nervous about Minister of Finance, Michael Wilson’s recent bud- get freeze announcement on post-secondary and health spending and the impacts on their education. The Stu- dent Union responds with planned action against the

cuts scheduled for March

9th on the theme, “Tf You.

Love Education.” Activi- ties include unveiling of Stu- dents’ Rights declaration, a post card campaign, lunch- time Speaker Presentation, and a silent demonstration along the property lines of the University.

Student Union President, Lisa Murphy, expressed concern and anxi- ety over the announcements, worried that, unless correc- tive measures are taken, PEI students have a dismal ed-

ucational future in store for them. “These recent bud- get cutbacks add insult to injury to students”, Mur- phy stated. “We are being slammed at every angle this year. The GST of % 7, the drastic reduction of student summer employment spend- ing, the elimination of a na- tional affordable transporta- tion system, the reduction of loan and bursary monies go- ing to needy PEI students, and the new % 3 adminis- trative fee on Student debt balances add up to cripple chances of affording an ed- ucation at all.” The fed- eral government’s strategy to date does not reflect a commitment to the porovi- sion of a quality education that is accesible to qualified Canadians.

The scheduled “If You Love Education Day”, on March 9th will focus on spe- cific concerns resulting from under-funding in PEI.

in a court of law.

This is the scenario that re- sults in so few convictions in rape cases. Lazar said date rape boils down to one person’s word against the other’s.

Another option is going to a local rape: crisis centre, where a volunteer will offer moral support and accompany the victim to the hospital and the police station, or help her seek legal advice.

Dougherty emphasizes that anyone who is raped has to talk

-about it before she can begin to

recover. Victims of sexual assault have to know that there is some- one who is willing to listen.

At the campus level Lazar said student residences are tailor- made for situations that can lead to date rape.

“The peer pressure in resi- dence is overwhelming,” she said.

First year students arrive on campus and are immediately ex- posed to all the freedoms that

go with being away from home, including sexual freedom, said Brenda Stewart, Carleton Uni- versity’s coordinator for residence

life.

She said Carleton organizes education sessions, but atten- dance is not mandatory.

“I won’t say that the educa- tion is sufficient, but we try to help students be at least aware,” she said.

Most students assume that because they don’t hear about on-campus or student-related rape they are somehow safe, that it isn’t happening. Yvonne insists it is this false sense of security that leads to potentially danger- ous situations such as her letting her date into her house. Statis- tics available through the support centre suggest that 78 per cent of all rapes occur where the victim lives.

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