1 in 6 women sexually assaulted.
By The American Bazaar Staff
WASHINGTON, DC: A startling survey result has revealed that about one in six undergraduate women at MIT said they had been sexually assaulted while enrolled at the university.
MIT is one of the first colleges around the country to attempt to estimate the prevalence of sexual violence on its campus, amid heightened national attention on the issue, reported The Boston Globe.
The results of MIT’s survey — about 17 percent of female student respondents said they had been assaulted — is consistent with a previous estimate by the federal government. The government-funded survey suggested that about 19 percent of female students nationwide have been the victim of sexual violence.
Several other colleges, including Harvard, Yale, and Rutgers universities, Emerson and Dartmouth colleges, and the University of Virginia, are planning to conduct what are commonly called campus climate surveys, according to media reports.
The University of California administered a systemwide climate survey from the fall of 2012 to the spring of 2013. However, the survey covered a range of other topics, including questions about discrimination and diversity, and did not ask about sexual assault in as much detail as MIT’s survey.
MIT rolled out its survey this past spring. About 10,831 graduate and undergraduate students were invited to participate in the survey, and about 35 percent responded. Recent alumni were also surveyed but those results are still being analyzed, said the Globe report.
Among undergraduate women who responded, about 35 percent said they had experienced sexual harassment, rape, sexual assault, and other unwanted sexual behaviors while at MIT.
About 17 percent of undergraduate women respondents said they had experienced unwanted behaviors that included the use of force, physical threat, or while they were incapacitated. The survey asked specifically if students had experienced one or more of the following: sexual touching or kissing; attempted oral sex; oral sex; attempted sexual penetration; sexual penetration.
Nearly two-thirds of respondents who indicated they had an unwanted sexual experience at MIT told someone else about the incident — typically a friend or family member — but fewer than five percent reported the experience to someone in an official capacity, the survey said.
Among students who indicated that they had experienced unwanted sexual behavior while at MIT, close to half said that they had been taken advantage of when they were incapacitated; about 80 percent that the acts happened on campus; and about 72 percent said the acts were perpetrated by another student.
More than one in five undergraduate respondents said they know a perpetrator, and more than half of respondents who knew a perpetrator did not confront the person or take any other action.
Meanwhile, a small number of student respondents, about 1.9 percent, said they had acted in a way that would be considered unwanted sexual behavior, and another 2.2 percent said they were unsure whether they had.