Post by DOOMS on Sept 5, 2019 12:09:43 GMT -5
Not to throw shade on Duke at all because every college has its issues, but I was completely in shock at the numbers cited in the article.
www.dukechronicle.com/article/2019/09/190903-oshrain?ct=content_open&cv=cbox_sidebar
Take it from me, a psychiatrist: Duke has a serious sexual assault problem
To know that a storied and moneyed institution like Duke has a 50% sexual assault rate among female students and even the males are close to 15% is shocking to me. I can only imagine what schools with lesser resources are dealing with on campus. The article discusses some of the psychological changes that take place that cause sexual assault to occur.
It probably needs to be its own standard required class at college campuses (maybe even high schools) across the country.
www.dukechronicle.com/article/2019/09/190903-oshrain?ct=content_open&cv=cbox_sidebar
Take it from me, a psychiatrist: Duke has a serious sexual assault problem
A survey published in the Chronicle last year showed that 48.5 percent of female students and 13.5 percent of male students reported a sexual assault during their time at Duke. These are staggering numbers, and data shows that sexual assault is typically underreported.
To know that a storied and moneyed institution like Duke has a 50% sexual assault rate among female students and even the males are close to 15% is shocking to me. I can only imagine what schools with lesser resources are dealing with on campus. The article discusses some of the psychological changes that take place that cause sexual assault to occur.
Here is some science to ponder. Duke professor Dan Ariely did a profoundly intriguing, disturbing study about the effect of sexual arousal on judgment and sexual decision making in college age men. The results are stunning. For example, sexual arousal increased willingness to engage in morally questionable sexual behavior such as drugging women to have sex and continuing to try to have sex even after a date says, “no.”
Alcohol and sexual arousal also impacts the decision making capacity of women. When they want to make friends, are in a new place, are feeling insecure. There is the choice to leave a party with someone, thinking that you’ll just kind of fool around but not have sex, that when you’ll say no, they will listen.
The other critical neurologic inflection point is when the midbrain enters “freeze” mode rather than fight or flight mode you learned about in biology. Like possums playing dead when threatened, like the gazelle caught by the lion, our brains can also release a flood of neurotransmitters in a dangerous situation, so that we don’t feel ourselves being harmed, raped or eaten alive, as in the case of said gazelle. It’s an adaptive mechanism, at times. I have worked with so many students who described being unable to escape, either because their assaulter was stronger, because they felt ashamed or felt that they had invited this, or most frequently, because they had entered this dissociative state. “I couldn’t cry out,” “I just lay there waiting for it to be over,” “I had said no and he didn’t listen and I couldn’t move,” are themes I hear repeatedly.
They then hold the trauma in their bodies, experiencing a lifetime of anxiety, depression, hypervigilance or other symptoms of PTSD. These students spend time and money on treatment, if they are fortunate to have access and resources and make the choice to do so. The perpetrators are often unaware that they have caused this, as confrontation or disclosure is risky for many reasons.
Alcohol and sexual arousal also impacts the decision making capacity of women. When they want to make friends, are in a new place, are feeling insecure. There is the choice to leave a party with someone, thinking that you’ll just kind of fool around but not have sex, that when you’ll say no, they will listen.
The other critical neurologic inflection point is when the midbrain enters “freeze” mode rather than fight or flight mode you learned about in biology. Like possums playing dead when threatened, like the gazelle caught by the lion, our brains can also release a flood of neurotransmitters in a dangerous situation, so that we don’t feel ourselves being harmed, raped or eaten alive, as in the case of said gazelle. It’s an adaptive mechanism, at times. I have worked with so many students who described being unable to escape, either because their assaulter was stronger, because they felt ashamed or felt that they had invited this, or most frequently, because they had entered this dissociative state. “I couldn’t cry out,” “I just lay there waiting for it to be over,” “I had said no and he didn’t listen and I couldn’t move,” are themes I hear repeatedly.
They then hold the trauma in their bodies, experiencing a lifetime of anxiety, depression, hypervigilance or other symptoms of PTSD. These students spend time and money on treatment, if they are fortunate to have access and resources and make the choice to do so. The perpetrators are often unaware that they have caused this, as confrontation or disclosure is risky for many reasons.
It probably needs to be its own standard required class at college campuses (maybe even high schools) across the country.
