Sexual Assault at Duke

Duke has been an exemplary campus in the fight to reduce sexual assault. Prior to arriving at Duke, all incoming students are required to complete HAVEN, an online training aimed at educating students about sexual assault on campus. Through the Women’s Center, the university also has numerous voluntary training and education programs such as P.A.C.T. (Prevent. Act. Challenge. Teach.) and Let’s Talk Consent! The goal of these programs is to engage students in learning about sexual violence and consent, and give them an opportunity to discuss and practice healthy, positive sexual communication.

Despite the prevention efforts, the rate of undergraduate women at Duke who experience sexual assault remains pervasive at 40%, which is twice the national average. Prevention and education strategies have been unsuccessful because their limited scope and largely voluntary nature has failed to foster a lasting campus conversation and understanding surrounding consent.

At the core of the problem are entrenched societal norms that perpetuate a gender imbalance that institutionalizes and normalizes misogynistic behavior. These systemic issues are exacerbated by a lack of proper education on what constitutes sexual assault and how students can discuss consent. The Duke Women’s Center must take a more proactive approach in their education around consent in order to engender a campus environment where students discuss consent prior to engaging in sexual activity.

Deeply embedded misogyny generates misperceptions about consent

Men derive a majority of their knowledge about sex from pornography and popular culture. They are taught that aggression is the norm, women serve at the pleasure of men, and that no does not actually mean no. They do not learn to differentiate between bad sex and sexual assault. Obtaining consent is never mentioned, in fact, it is essentially discouraged.

Many sexual assault cases at Duke have been situations in which the woman repeatedly says no, the man persists, and eventually she stops saying no and acquiesces. From the man’s point of view, the woman’s passivity signals consent. However, from the woman’s point of view and in the eyes of the law, she did not consent. This is sexual assault, but when men are brought in for questioning, many of them had no idea they were committing a crime. This false perception of acquiescence as consent is deeply entrenched and commonly held. Interestingly, during the questioning, many men will say that upon reflecting on the situation and hearing the woman’s perspective, they come to realize that what occurred may not have been consensual after all. This highlights the need to educate men as soon as they get to campus on what consent actually looks like. The men’s change of perspective after hearing the woman’s point of view demonstrates that change is possible with proper education.

Alcohol exacerbates confusion

Alcohol and drug use was reported as a factor in more than half of sexual assaults that occur at Duke. Alcohol flows freely in Duke’s social scene, leading to confusion and danger. In cases where alcohol is involved, obtaining authentic consent is complicated. Many victims report being too drunk to know what they wanted or were assaulted while blacked out. At Duke, “an individual is unable to freely give consent when the individual is incapacitated,” which includes from the use of alcohol. Alcohol blurs the lines of what constitutes consent. Even if a woman says something is okay when she is intoxicated, this does not count as consent since she is incapacitated. This makes it difficult for men to determine what is acceptable in the moment, and makes investigating and prosecuting cases like these complex.

Even if the situation meets the criteria for sexual assault, many women do not necessarily view it as such. Both men and women report confusion over many assaults that involve alcohol. In fact, many women who have been assaulted will answer no when asked because they are not sure whether or not they consented. Men who are accused in many of these cases do not admit guilt but rather report confusion because they had perceived the situation as consensual.

Policy options to educate students about consent at Duke

In the absence of the option to completely eliminate misogyny and alcohol on Duke’s campus, there are a number of opportunities to eliminate the confusion surrounding consent and spur a lasting conversation among students. In order to reduce the alarmingly high rates of sexual assault on campus, Duke must take steps to clarify what consensual sex looks like. As current methods such as HAVEN, P.A.C.T. and Let’s Talk Consent! have been unsuccessful in fostering authentic discussions about consent, the university can only benefit from experimenting with various strategies to teach and enforce real consent.