August 9, 2021 – In Breaking News – USA TODAY
It’s the call every parent dreads. It usually begins with “Mom, there’s something I need to tell you.”
What follows is an often disjointed account of sexual assault. What many parents need to know: Victims can find telling them as traumatic as the assault itself.
I’ve spent a lifetime working with college students and studying violence against women. Here’s how you can help them avoid, and recover from, campus sexual assault.
First, get your head out of the sand. The odds of a girl being sexually assaulted while at college can be higher than the odds of getting into the school in the first place.
(Anonymous accounts have been set up at more than two dozen academic institutions in the United States, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and they’re being flooded with student allegations of rape, harassment, stalking and other forms of sexual abuse by fellow students. Courtesy of CBS News and YouTube.)
The most common time is between freshman orientation and Thanksgiving. Girls (I call them that because that’s what they call themselves), as well as TGQN students – transgender, nonbinary/genderqueer, questioning, or not listed – are the primary victims.
A 2019 survey of 181,752 students at 33 leading universities across the country found that 25.9% of undergraduate girls had experienced “nonconsensual penetration, attempted penetration, sexual touching by force, or inability to consent” since they enrolled.
One-in-four odds are too big to ignore.
In an opinion piece for @USATODAY, Susan B. Sorenson of @PennSP2 writes about how parents can talk to their daughters about avoiding and/or surviving sexual assault. https://t.co/Zl3vrUqw7o
— Penn (@Penn) August 11, 2021
Post-COVID anxiety will be intense
Second, the pandemic matters. In 2021, there will be essentially two classes of first-year students on campus: true freshman and those starting their second year after months of virtual instruction.
The eagerness and anxiety that accompany going to college are sure to be more intense post-pandemic.
Plus, after so much physical distancing, we all experience pent up longing for touch and intimacy.
Continue reading… 5 things you and your college-bound daughter need to know about campus sexual assault
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