A Positive Step For Gallaudet
When I was at Gallaudet, I have encountered many female students who got raped on campus. Just like other universities and colleges, Gallaudet has a serious problem with sexual assaults between the students. I’ve been an advocate for some students while lending my eyes and shoulder to others for support. The handling of the rape cases had been problematic for some time, with a lack of systematic alerts for the students, sexual assualt education for both genders, fair and safe procedures for the survivors and appropriate punishment for the offenders. People Magazine even covered this once in mid 1990’s, portraying few Deaf survivors. When I resurfaced two and half years ago after a long absence, I was dismayed to see these problems still persisting, with the minimal oversight and accountability of the perpetuators, under Jordan/Fernandes Administration.
I am very much encouraged by the proactive steps Gallaudet had taken to address this topic aggressively, making the campus safer for all students. D.C. Rape Crisis Center is a great organization, by the way, staffed by compassionate and professional volunteers and staff.
Myths, truths, and audism addressed in sexual aggression workshops
“According to the D.C. Rape Crisis Center (DCRCC), sexual assault is a very real problem in the deaf community. It reports that the level of sexual abuse against deaf women and girls is twice as high as for those who are hearing, and deaf women are 150 to 200 percent more likely to be abused by their partners and caregivers. Deaf and hard of hearing women also face greater barriers to reporting abuse–and many may not report it at all.”
“With the help of the Deaf Abused Women’s Network, they created the Awareness of Sexual Aggression workshop series and offered it this fall to all Gallaudet students.”
“The workshop series incorporates an awareness of issues facing the deaf community and the barriers caused by audism. Some of the problems arise after sexual aggression occurs, causing challenges to reporting the incident and getting support and resulting in what Clark calls a “second victimization.”"”
“Understanding boundaries isn’t something always taught to young students,” said LaFortune. “They might not understand good touch and bad touch.” Later, as college students, misconceptions can continue.”
For the full article, click on http://news.gallaudet.edu/?ID=14191
D.C. Rape Crisis Center: http://www.dcrcc.org/
When I was at Gallaudet, I have encountered many female students who got raped on campus. Just like other universities and colleges, Gallaudet has a serious problem with sexual assaults between the students. I’ve been an advocate for some students while lending my eyes and shoulder to others for support. The handling of the rape cases had been problematic for some time, with a lack of systematic alerts for the students, sexual assualt education for both genders, fair and safe procedures for the survivors and appropriate punishment for the offenders. People Magazine even covered this once in mid 1990’s, portraying few Deaf survivors. When I resurfaced two and half years ago after a long absence, I was dismayed to see these problems still persisting, with the minimal oversight and accountability of the perpetuators, under Jordan/Fernandes Administration.
I am very much encouraged by the proactive steps Gallaudet had taken to address this topic aggressively, making the campus safer for all students. D.C. Rape Crisis Center is a great organization, by the way, staffed by compassionate and professional volunteers and staff.
Myths, truths, and audism addressed in sexual aggression workshops
“According to the D.C. Rape Crisis Center (DCRCC), sexual assault is a very real problem in the deaf community. It reports that the level of sexual abuse against deaf women and girls is twice as high as for those who are hearing, and deaf women are 150 to 200 percent more likely to be abused by their partners and caregivers. Deaf and hard of hearing women also face greater barriers to reporting abuse–and many may not report it at all.”
“With the help of the Deaf Abused Women’s Network, they created the Awareness of Sexual Aggression workshop series and offered it this fall to all Gallaudet students.”
“The workshop series incorporates an awareness of issues facing the deaf community and the barriers caused by audism. Some of the problems arise after sexual aggression occurs, causing challenges to reporting the incident and getting support and resulting in what Clark calls a “second victimization.”"”
“Understanding boundaries isn’t something always taught to young students,” said LaFortune. “They might not understand good touch and bad touch.” Later, as college students, misconceptions can continue.”
For the full article, click on http://news.gallaudet.edu/?ID=14191
D.C. Rape Crisis Center: http://www.dcrcc.org/
October 28th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
I’m so glad that you brought it up. It’s a very important issue. I heard that there are one out of six female students got raped at Gally after years I left there. Some of girls got raped when they were drunk and some probably weren’t drunk when raped.
Good topic and post! We need to educate boys and girls.
I’m going to send you an email
October 28th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
I saw that article. It’s great. However, isn’t this workshop “voluntary” ?
I think Gallaudet would do well to incorporate that into their orientation for every new student.
Problem is guys still think it is cool to achieve conquests and usually do not think twice when a girl is passed out drunk or just plain functioning drunk or does not understand the meaning of the word NO. Many rapes at Gallaudet is between students that knows each other.
October 28th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Candy’s right. Too many students are arriving with the wrong information or no information at all regarding boundaries, protective behavior and control of situations. Too many guys are bringing attitudes learned from television, aggressive relatives or friends, and lack of input from parents.
This should be a required part of orientation for all incoming students. We can’t assume that the schools and families have done their part.
October 28th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Regardless of the gender of the victim I see this as a serious issue but I’m tired of the generalizations here. Females are far from the only victims. Don’t be fooled by any percentages or proportional numbers thrown your way. There were many rapes by females on either females or males. This apparently lopsided issue needs to become a two-sided issue treated with relentlessly disciplined equity towards humanity. A hard look needs to be done on how numerous sex episodes with consent was later reported as rape only after one breaks up with the other months later. The dark “double standard” side to this issue should come to the forefront.
October 28th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Deb Ann, I agree.
Candy, that’s a good idea. I would be surprised if this isn’t mandatory in orientation class, seeing how rampant the sexual assaults are on the campus. Dianrez agrees, too.
Deaf Anonymous. well. Just like everything, there is abuses of the system. However it’s my understanding the abuses of the system is in a minority. Too often, the sexual assaults among the female students have occurred and too frequently these went unreported due to fears of second victimization of the police, campus staff, and the judicial courts. I’ve personally witnessed a campus judicial system victimizing a rape survivor, much to my astonished dismay. Too many rapes on males from the females? Again I think that’s rare, for two obvious reasons: the muscular strength of the males and their ability to control their bodies, though that did happen. However, there are sexual assaults performed on males by other males, which often goes unreported to profound shame.
Would you mind sharing why you felt this way?
October 28th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
For anyone who is interested, federal law requires that every college (or most of colleges, not sure which one) provides annual report on crimes. Gallaudet University has the reports available at http://www.gallaudet.edu/af/publicsafety_annualcrimereports.xml . RIT, of which NTID is part, also has the annual report at http://finweb.rit.edu/publicsafety/ritsafety2008.pdf .
Comparing Gallaudet Univesity’s annual report with the observation made by Mishka Zena, it seems that the rapes at the university are greatly underreported.
Joseph Pietro Riolo
josephpietrojeungriolo@gmail.com
Public domain notice: I put all of my expressions in this post in the public domain.
October 28th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
JPR,
Yeah, I’m not surprised. It’s always been
under-reported. Most of the time the officers do not take these kinds of “rape” as serious as they do when it’s a “stranger.” Or, the victim might be embarrassed, thinking it was their fault because they got drunk or whatever other reasons there may be. Are Gallaudet’s security forces trained as far as following proper protocols when it comes to sensitive crimes? Were there improvements since that article came out in People’s magazine?
October 29th, 2008 at 7:01 am
Hmmmm… date rapes often go unreported (not only at Gallaudet, but many… maybe most… higher institutes of learning.) Date rapes are often blurry becasue it usually involves intoxicating substances and sometimes with people who know each other.
It is hard though.
October 29th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
Mishkazena: I wonder if potential stigma involved in reporting a female-initiated rape is worse hence the rarity as you described?
Regardless, there’s lots of underlying reasons, such as the above, behind the powerful and often misleading term-rarity. I don’t use this term loosely.
October 30th, 2008 at 7:51 am
MZ biggest thanks for shining a spotlight on this important topic
several years ago RIT noticed a higher rate of reporting of sexual assault and sexual harassment on campus by Deaf victims vs. hearing victims so my dept was assigned to produce a video to help in the aiding of prevention of date and acquaintance rape
to view go to:
http://idea3.rit.edu/paddhd/miscvideos/main/SingleVideos/Videosfiles/TheGreyAreaHisDateHerRape.htm
u might have to copy and paste the link if it gets broken in this pasting
the video while dated in terms of clothing and fashion and a lack of diversity, it is still in use at many Deaf schools and continues to receive positive feedback. (over 300 programs ordered this video when it was first released)
when i would have to present the video and lead post film discussions i would see several women in the audience with blank faces – at first i didnt understand it but one by one folks would see me on campus and pull me aside and share their “bad experience” with me
it was heart breaking and especially difficult to imagine that these folks would be encountering this individual often through out their future lives – whereas in the hearing world a victim can usually distance themselves from their experience and their attacker
i also had the occasion of a male student coming nervously to see me. he was visibly upset and had abruptly left the screening of the film in a class but the teacher had excused it by saying he needed to catch a bus. When he met with me he was shaking and stuttering a bit in ASL. I was rapdily trying to figure out if he was a victim or knew someone personally who had been attacked – clealry the film had impacted him.
I waited…
He finally revealed that in watching the film he came to see what his ex-girlfriend had been telling her. That he had raped him. He would not accept this despite having watched other rape videos at her request, he had never seen a video in which the actors were all ASL users and Deaf cultural norms were incorporated into the film – this broke down the barriers and the ability to detach and rationalize so seeing it all Deaf made etc hit him so hard
he was crying in my office
he confessed that he did coerce his girl friend into having sex with him and as a result he has lost her forever.
he was remorseful and ashamed. he was regretful that he had never seen such a video when he was younger as it might have spared him and his girl friend
it was a very enlightening experience for me
actually the whole project really opened my eyes to my own sexism (i had a bias in thinking women who experienced Date rape should have taken better care of themselves and not put themselves into such positions) but being assigned to do a needs assessment before writing the script – i met woman and woman – Deaf smart bright “together” women who had had a “bad experience” some of our leaders some of our role models and it began to understand more of the dynamic of power and relationships
so my first draft script got revised from telling women how to protect themselves to also telling men what their responsibilities and liabilities are
i had so many really amazing conversations with male and female students after the screening of this film in the first year we were getting it out there and i still continue to get comments here and there from folks that it is still in use (which shocks me smile and prompted me to put it up on line so folks can still access it if desired)
there us much to examine and learn in the area of relationship violence
we have made a 2nd video re: hiv \ aids prevention which is very popular also (all Deaf cast and asl and other visual designs in it etc) and also a series of monologues giving a Deaf voice to various types of relationship violence from the Male sex addict, to the CODA in the middle of domestic violence situation of parents, to the male victim of sexual assault etc – this video is called ME TOO
if anyone would like hard copies of these films (VHS only sorry) and they are affiliated with a school or a program or a library – feel free to contact me to request a copy (specify which program u r interested)
mz – sorry if this is advertising – i dont intend to but i do think this topic is important and that education is crticial and seeing ourselves so we understand ourselves better is extremely effective – hence the power of media
if u rather i post it somewhere else – pls advise i understand completely
paddhd at rit.edu
peace
patti
October 30th, 2008 at 7:57 am
oh boo typo re: the male student meeting with me
i typed: “That he had raped him.”
it should read “That he had raped HER.” pls feel free to edit \ correct if u can easily do so
if not – then post this
my apologies for any confusion
peace
p
October 30th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Karen, date rapes and acquaintances rapes tend to go unreported, yes. Too often the females blamed themselves, especially if alcohol or drugs were involved. Other times they may feel since the assaults were committed by people they already know, their credibility may be challenged. For these people, they struggle with betrayals and loss of trust on top of being assaulted. Many times victims and culprits may not recognize what defines a rape.
Deaf Anonymous, I do not claim to be an expert, though I do have some familiarity in this area. My knowledge was from research and interviews with the advocates of sexual assault survivors. From what I understand, the assaults on males from females do happen on a smaller scale, nothing like males on females. However, I am always learning new things. So if you have statistics, please do feel free to share with me and others here.
Patti, nice to see you. I will check that as I waasn’t aware of the culturally appropriate educational program. You are right. Most of the education on this sensitive topic tailored for hearing people is often not 100% appropriate for people of different cultures, including Deaf Culture. Thanks for bringing that up. By the way, did you ever had a chance to share this with Gallaudet and CSUN, too?
October 30th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
hi mz
i know ohlone has the Grey Area: His Date \ Her Rape (the ntid produced film) i know i sent to Gally after the people magazine coverage as i thought it might be helpful but never heard back from anyone there
i believe CSUN has a copy of the program also
if anyone there knows that they want or need a copy – just holler
again thanks for covering this topic
peace
p
October 31st, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Now that you’ve made this offer still available, they will. I think it’s important that there is a collaboration between the major deaf collegiate programs, as this will benefit all students.