Alcohol isn’t the only date rape drug…
As part of a recent cover story, TIME magazine defined rape and sexual assault as a veritable crisis in higher education. Business Insider agrees, confirming in a post earlier this month, “People are talking about college sexual assault more than ever.”
Amid all this talk, what are the facts?
Cue Christina Gaudio. Along with being a veteran first responder and a former rape care community outreach coordinator, Gaudio is an adjunct professor of victimology at Rosemont College.
She has frequently assisted and counseled sexual assault survivors and spoken to college students, law enforcement and the public about the dangers and effects of sexual violence on and off campus.
Below are five facts about sexual violence Gaudio feels every student — and parent, professor, campus safety officer and school official — should know before setting foot again on their campuses this fall.
1. Everyone has the right to know how many and what kind of reported incidents are occurring at or near their school.
As Gaudio explains, “The Clery Act says every university and college that receives any type of financial aid by law has to provide statistics on sexual assault and violent crime on their campus and in the nearby vicinity of their campus. This security report comes out every year on Oct. 1 and provides information on the last three years. It is available to anyone who wants to see it at any time … Campus safety, for example, cannot refuse to show you their copy. It’s federal law. They have to give it to you.”
2. Evidence in a rape or sexual assault can be collected up to five days after it has occurred.
“Most people think it’s only 24 hours,” Gaudio says. “It’s actually five days. Of course you want to tell people don’t bathe, don’t douche, don’t shower, don’t change your clothes. A lot of time people will end up doing some or all of those things. But it doesn’t mean they can’t still collect evidence.”
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3. Alcohol is only one of a growing number of date rape drugs.
In general, date rape or acquaintance rape drugs are easy to acquire or make, very tough to detect and more common than many people realize.
Gaudio confirms that alcohol remains the number one date rape drug, involved in roughly 90% of all acquaintance rapes and sexual assaults. But other drugs are increasingly becoming involved.
Three biggies to look out for: ketamine or special K; rohypnol or roofies; and gamma hydroxybutyrate or GHB.
As an example, Gaudio describes GHB as an “odorless, colorless and pretty much tasteless liquid that is put into someone’s drink.”
In her words, “People make it in their basements after getting a recipe off the Internet. All it takes is one or two drops in someone’s drink and it leaves the person completely incapacitated — we’re talking really dizzy, falling over, appearing extremely drunk and then passing out. That person has absolutely no memory of what occurs to them next. Most people are knocked out for about 12 hours. Sometimes within the next few days or few weeks they will have flashbacks. Certain little pieces, but they can never put the puzzle fully back together.”
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4. In the wake of a sexual assault, a survivor’s symptoms may vary and linger long beyond the assault’s immediate aftermath.
“After a sexual assault or rape, it’s not just the physical act that has happened to a survivor,” Gaudio says. “These people are going through physical, psychological and emotional issues afterward. Especially if they haven’t gotten help, most people are very depressed. There at times can be suicidal thoughts. Survivors sometimes feel very alone. They feel like nobody believes them. There are physical problems. Eating disorders are very common afterwards. Survivors may hurt themselves to get the attention they feel they need or that they didn’t get after what happened to them.”
5. Survivors often decide how and whether they will get help based on the reaction of the first person they tell about their sexual assault.
According to Gaudio, “If someone ever comes to you and tells you they were sexually assaulted or have been raped, keep something very important in mind: You may be the very first person they are talking to about this. You need to listen. You need to pay attention. You need to be there for them. Because the very first person someone talks to about what’s happened to them will be the person who shapes whether they will get the help they need. Because if they think you don’t believe them, they’ll think no one will believe them.”
Along with offering your personal empathy, Gaudio suggests directing them to an individual or organization that can offer additional support.
“Let them know about the agencies in your area that help with advocates or accompaniments to hospitals, police stations, trials,” she says. “… Your counties will have a sexual assault, domestic violence or victim services’ center.”
In addition, Gaudio recommends two national organizations: the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC).
Dan Reimold, Ph.D., is a college journalism scholar who has written and presented about the student press throughout the U.S. and in Southeast Asia. He is an assistant professor of journalism at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, where he also advises The Hawk student newspaper. He is the author of Journalism of Ideas (Routledge, 2013) and maintains the student journalism industry blog College Media Matters. A complete list of Campus Beat articles is here.
Filed under: CAMPUS BEAT Tagged: Campus Beat, Campus Rape, College Sexual Assault, Dan Reimold, date rape, Rosemont College