On-campus sexual assaults are prevalent among first-year undergraduate and queer female students at American universities, according to researchers.
The Journal of Adolescent Health estimates that by the end of their freshman year, one out of seven female undergraduates will have been assaulted.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, 46% of lesbian women and 75% of bisexual women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetimes. This is reflected on college campuses as well. Queer women are at high risk of sexual assault, with 19% of lesbian women and 32% of bisexual women reporting at least one attempted sexual assault during college, according to an article in The Journal of Interpersonal Violence.
“Queer women have a higher rate of sexual assault because they are explicitly targeted by cisgender straight men as objects of masculinity contests.” said Nicole Bedera, a sexual assault researcher and affiliated educator at the Center for Institutional Courage.
According to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN), 26% of women aged 18-24 do not report their sexual assault and RAINN estimates that LGBTQ+ students are even less likely to report their assaults than their heterosexual peers.
A national survey from the American Association of University Women (AAUW) reported that 73% of LGBTQ+ college students experience sexual harassment, with queer women within the LGBTQ+ community experiencing victimization at even higher rates.
Dr. Catherine Hill, researcher and author of the report ‘Drawing the Line: Sexual Harassment on Campus,” says queer and gender non-conforming students face harassment that not only targets their actual identity, but how their gender is perceived by others.
“Some people, particularly those who are in a gender minority…are going to feel at higher risk given overall social climate…in this country,” Hill said.
While more research on the experiences of queer students has emerged since Hill’s 2005 report, academics say they are still trying to fill some of the gaps.
“Academic literature explains queer women’s higher rate of [experiencing violence] by blaming the LGBTQ+ community for having too many sexual partners and for drinking too much,” said Bedera. “These are homo- and biphobic tropes.”
When it comes to prevention of sexual assault and harassment, universities have long favored preventative measures that are symbolic rather than substantive, according to Bedera
University of Maryland requires incoming first-year and transfer students to complete the “Sexual Assault Prevention Program,” and second-year students to complete the “Sexual Assault Prevention Ongoing: Healthy Relationships Program,” according to the Office of Civil Rights and Sexual Misconduct (OCRSM.) According to OCRSM Director and Title IX Coordinator Angela Nastase, these programs are issued to both undergraduate and graduate students.
UMBC and Salisbury University both require mandatory online training as well, according to their respective equity and inclusion offices.
Schools tend to shift the responsibility away from the universities themselves and primarily onto women, Bedera says, and changes need to be made structurally rather than by pushing ineffective tools like consent training and awareness modules.
“Never Go Out Alone,” an article Bedera co-created with Westminster University associate sociology professor Krisjane Nordmeyer, details the flaws in university-issued safety and prevention guides for sexual violence on campuses. This analysis revealed that of the most-recurring safety tips across 15 American universities that provide resources surrounding sexual assault, only one of them was directed towards men. This tip was “no means no.”
Queer, female undergraduate students not only face a common fear held by survivors that universities may not handle their cases seriously, but the added stress of how their identities will be received by others, according to Bedera. Despite the majority of college students being legal adults, the private lives of queer students are often still entangled with their parents.
“Sexual harassment [for queer students] is different from other forms of harassment,” Hill said. “It hits harder and gets deeper, because it’s so much a part of people’s identities.”
The Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault (MCASA) suggests that in order to prevent sexual violence in college-aged students, prevention should begin in K-12 schools in addition to university education programs. Instead of offering “one and done” orientation modules for new students, MCASA states programming should be conducted throughout the entire school year. The Advocates for Youth project, Know Your IX, provides both K-12 and higher education students with resources on different avenues they can take to receive personalized support from their school.