UNM Womens Resource Center

1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131

March 5, 2015
Ms. Summer Little
Director of WRC
UNM Womens Resource Center
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131
Dear Ms. Summer Little,
Per your request, I am attaching the research paper I have written on the
issue regarding sexual assault against women. Just this past semester,
students of UNM were notified of sexual assault cases against women that
were taking place right on campus, but none of these young women knew
where to go for help. This is not just an issue for women attending the
University of New Mexico, but for women all around the state and even
around the world. In addition, my paper explains the cause and effect
relationship on sexual violence so our department can further our
knowledge and make our resources more available, and more helpful.
I appreciate you assigning this task to me and taking the time to read what
I have to say on the important issue. Feel free to use this information
however you please and will be the most effective.
Sincerely,
Karina Dow

Sexual Violence against Women

What would you do if you witnessed a young girl being raped, but the attacker
threatened your life if you failed to keep quiet? Would you become frightened and
follow these outrageous orders or would you make sure this atrocious person pays for
their actions? These criminals need to be stopped! Punishment needs to be more severe
and more women need to speak up about these inhumane acts, no matter what the risk
may be. I will discuss the issue of sexual violence against women; and not only the
disgust that comes with this matter, but also the long-term effects it has on the survivor
and how women can protect themselves from these appalling attacks. My goal is to
inform people that the damage done on a woman that has been sexually assaulted is a
tragedy that is irreversible. This crime happens to females of all ages: infants to adults.
The disturbing idea of an infant being assaulted in this way is a crime that should never
go overlooked or simply brushed under the rug. Sexual violence is simply referred to as
rape which is the notion of nonconsensual sexual behavior. As Angelina Jolie, actor and
humanitarian, stated flawlessly in her speech at the opening of End Sexual Violence in
Conflict summit, Rape has nothing to do with sex, everything to do with power. When
a subject does not give their consent to sexual acts and it still proceeds to happen is where
the line needs to be drawn. Since infancy, we are taught that No means no so if babies,
toddlers, and young children are able to understand this concept, why is it so difficult for
grown adults to follow this simple rule as well?
This violence happens everywhere: schools, workplaces, war zones, even within
households that should typically be safe environments. National surveys estimate that at

least two million women each year are battered by an intimate partner, according to the
book by Nancy Crowell, Understanding Violence against Women. Our schools,
community, and entire nation need to become more aware of this issue, learn and work
together to protect each other, and terminate unnecessary violence against women.

There are more effects of rape than we think

Rape has more effects on the survivors than we seem to think. As said in the
article, Addressing Domestic Violence against Women, It has serious consequences on
womens mental and physical health, including their reproductive and sexual health.
These include injuries, gynecological problems, temporary or permanent disabilities,
depression and suicide, amongst others. These physical and mental health problems also
have social and emotional damage for not only the individual, but the family and
community, and on a larger scale, the society as a whole becomes affected. People may
not consider the social damage, but as Jolie states in her speech, If [they] admit to being
raped, they are likely to face more violence and social rejection. This proved to be true
in the case of an eighteen year-old girl that had just began attending college in Geneva,
New York. College freshman, Anna, was only weeks into her first semester as a college
student, when she became the victim of a dreadful crime one night at a fraternity partyshe was sexually battered multiple times in that night. Anna was at a party, became
intoxicated, was then raped by members of the schools football team at the fraternity
house, taken to a different dance hall, and then repeatedly raped again. She reported the
attack to her school officials, but they seemed to show minimal interest in her case. After
the unusually hurried trial ended, the result was that the three football players accused of

raping Anna were cleared- scratch free. According to the New York Times article, The
football team went on to finish undefeated in its conference, while the woman was left,
she said, to face the consequences- threats and harassment for accusing members of the
most popular sports team on campus. The consequences being referred to are the threats
from peers that shamed her for accusing the star football players. The bullying she
struggled with everyday became so cruel that she wishes she had never spoken up about
the attack, which is utterly wrong to keep something like this a secret.

Possible causes and motivation to attack

As with any crime, most victims ask themselves and others, Why? Why me?
The answer to this question has nothing to do with the victim, but everything to do with
that aggressor. But where does this behavior originate? Many studies have shown that this
violent behavior is developed during childhood. Infants to teenagers are observational
learners, and reenact nearly everything they see, particularly acts displayed by parents. If
the childs father abuses his or her mother, from a young age, the kid becomes immune to
this behavior and acknowledges it as the norm in life. Parents are at fault for this and in
order to put an end to sexual violence, these habits need to be stopped at a young age by
parents simply displaying proper behavior. Some of the predictors that have been
identified include impaired relationships with parents, witnessing violence, experiencing
physical abuse an neglect, absence of role models, and early learning and behavior
problems (Crowell). Once the male is older, and is no longer influenced by parents, the
blame is now exclusively on them. The thing that is common amongst most offenders is
physical size- it is easy for them to overpower a female in any way they desire. There is

one simple word that pushes offenders to this extreme- POWER. Offenders do not rape a
woman out of love, they do it to empower themselves and prove to whomever that they
are above all others, especially women. Statistics show that 98% of rapists will never
spend a day in jail or prison; whether they get caught or not, the vast majority gets off
with nothing but a slap on the wrist. They feel above the law, because the law rarely
touches them and society tolerates them (Jolie).

Women remaining in these sexually abusive relationships

Violence against women is a violation of basic human rights (Addressing).
Women, at times, are treated poorer than animals and they realize this; but they are
petrified to leave because their abusive partner has conditioned extreme scare tactics into
their brain. Women are frightened to leave a dangerous man in fear of what the
punishment will be for leaving. Their aggressor has forced them to feel afraid to do
anything without permission. Other reasons why women tend to hesitate to leave their
abusive relationship, is because of religious morals such as not believing in separation or
divorce. Some women are abused so severely and demeaned mentally that they
eventually are psychologically damaged and feel that they deserve the vicious
punishment. In domestic violence cases, many women are scared to report sexual abuse
due to the installation of fear in their mind by their spouse or significant other. As in
college freshman, Annas case, she does report the incident, but if done all over again, she
stated she would not report it due to fear, guilt, and embarrassment. Rape should never be
a secret. Women were always considered weak, vulnerable and in a position to be
exploited. Violence has long been accepted as something that happened to women

(Addressing) this portion of the article shows how times used to be. Society has
evolved since years and years ago, times have changed, women have equal rights, and
this is a new world. Abuse- of any kind- is not acceptable in this day in age.

Become aware and prevent rape

Predators are everywhere, all around the world and possibly even in your own
home; mentally sickened human beings are never going extinct, but as females, we can
work to prevent and protect ourselves from having to be put through this everlasting
trauma. Most women want a family one day, and being raped will more than likely put a
stop or a delay to this idea, being that one effect is having reproductive issues later in life.
Research has shown that battered women are subject to twice the risk of miscarriage and
four times the risk of having a baby that is below average weight (Addressing). There
are clinics to go to for help if you want to feel or learn to become safer, and learn to be
more aware of surroundings and potential threats. Centers such as health services must be
convenient places where women feel safe and can be treated with informed support.
Every college campus should have somewhere similar to this for females to go for help,
without the feeling of fear, guilt or embarrassment. Whether an attack is prevented or a
woman needs help after an assault, help needs to be nearby and easily accessible. The
Violence against Women Act of 1994 developed a research agenda to increase the
understanding and control of violence against women. The panel on Research on
Violence Against Women concludes that in order to reduce the amount of violence in the
United States, the focus must be on prevention (Crowell).

Punishment on rapists
The role of increasing male responsibility to end sexual violence against women
needs to be emphasized. It must be eliminated through political will, and by legal and
civil action in all sectors of society (Addressing). There is no merciless way of
punishing these offenders, and most of them do not even get punished at all. I say there
should be punishment to the chosen actions of rapists. Justice needs to be served, and this
is what our world, as a whole needs to improve. As a compassionate human being, if you
knew a rapist attacked a child in this manner, would you want to let them free and
continue on with their life or would you want revenge? Yes, it sounds irrational and
sadistic, but isnt what that attacker did to that helpless child crazy and inhumane? Too
many victims of rape are murdered, so why shouldnt the rapist end in death as well?
People see this punishment as unsympathetic, but the mark left on the survivors is just as
harsh, if not more damaging to them in every aspect of life. Although I feel the death
sentence should be the immediate penalty, our justice system needs to perfect the law
when it comes to rapists, so that truly innocent suspects are not charged with the crime,
and more importantly, the death penalty. Colleges nationwide are notorious for sexual
assault attacks, and they are navigating the legal terrain of sexual assault. As Jolie
expresses, As an international community, we are responsible for that. We need to
shatter that culture and make justice the norm- not the exception- for these crimes.

Conclusion
There are many reasons why sexual violence against women should not be
tolerated. The stigma harms survivors, and it causes feelings of shame and

worthlessness. It feeds ignorance, such as the notion that rape has anything to do with
normal sexual impulses. But most of all, it allows the rapists to get away with it (Jolie). I
agree with this statement classified in Angelina Jolies speech, because aside from the
undesirable emotions that come from being raped, the consequential problem is that the
rapists are allowed to get away with their crimes- and usually do. Each year, there are
about 293,000 victims of sexual assault, and these are only the reported cases. 68% of all
assumed sexual assault cases are not reported to the police, or to anyone that can help.
According to these statistics, if 100% of rape cases were reported, there would be an
estimated total of more than 870,000 victims of sexual assault in an average year. These
numbers are outrageous and should infuriate anyone who looks at them and processes
how many sufferers there are in the world. In order to put an end to sexual assaults, the
nation as a whole needs to prevent attacks on women and sternly punish the criminals so
that future victims are not reluctant to speak out and report these traumatic happenings.
Our justice system needs to act more efficiently and aggressively on crimes involving
sexual assaults in order for the number of casualties to significantly decrease across the
nation.

WorksCited

Fudge,Ashley."AngelinaJolieSpeechatOpeningofEndSexualViolenceinConflict
Summit."YouTube.YouTube,10July2014.Web.25Feb.2015.

Crowell,NancyA.,andAnnWolbert.Burgess.UnderstandingViolenceagainstWomen.
Washington,D.C.:NationalAcademy,1996.Print.

Bogdanich,Walt."ReportingRape,andWishingSheHadnt."TheNewYorkTimes.The
NewYorkTimes,12July2014.Web.24Feb.2015.

Kaur,Ravneet,andSuneelaGarg."AddressingDomesticViolenceAgainstWomen:An
UnfinishedAgenda."IndianJournalofCommunityMedicine:Official
PublicationofIndianAssociationofPreventive&SocialMedicine.Medknow
Publications,Apr.2008.Web.23Feb.2015.

Statistics|RAINN|Rape,AbuseandIncestNationalNetwork.Statistics|RAINN|
Rape,AbuseandIncestNationalNetwork.N.p.,n.d.Web.11Feb.2015.