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It is important to attend to how the discourse around sexual assault at Reed privileges certain narratives while silencing others. This letter is written to begin that conversation in response to a recent presentation by Assistant Dean of Students for Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Rowan Frost.
Last Friday, during her presentation to the House Advisors on sexual assault, Rowan Frost provided a fact sheet based off of the 2012 Campus Climate Survey and Community Safety reports. According to Community Safety reports dating back to 2010, male perpetrators of sexual assault have outnumbered female perpetrators 25 to 1, while female victims have outnumbered male victims 25 to 1. This general statistical trend aligns with wider national trends according to many surveys cited in “Estimating Incidence of Rape and Sexual Assault,” published in 2013.
The 2012 Campus Climate Survey reported that 11 percent of Reed’s women experienced unwanted sexual contact while at Reed. However, two groups of community members reported even greater incidence of unwanted sexual contact: 18 percent of LGBQ respondents and 14 percent of transgender respondents reported experiencing assault while at Reed.
There seems to be a discrepancy in the types of cases the Sexual Misconduct Board has seen over the past few years and the incidence of assault that are experienced in the Reed community. Why are LGBQ and transgender folks not reporting?
My guess is that assaults involving queer and trans people continue to be underreported for a myriad of reasons, one of which being a feeling of illegitimacy and invisibility within the current discourse. Accepted narratives of assault make those of us who experience sexual violence outside of the traditional and heteronormative script unable to speak up and may also make it difficult for us to recognize when we’ve experienced assault.
I worry that the low rate of LGBQ and trans reporting is an artifact of a discourse and system that has embraced a narrow definition of what assault is and who needs help and support. Paradigms of gender and dominance must be addressed if we are to eradicate sexual violence and violence in general. However, the way gender works as a power dynamic isn’t always as simple as men asserting themselves over women: homophobia and transmisogyny can just as easily play a part in power differentials that can lead to assault.
We should use what we’ve learned about patterns in incidences of assault to better our response, not to limit the extent to which we conceptualize power differentials within human relationships and interactions. I want us to ask ourselves what it means and what it does when we use gendered and heteronormative language in our discussions about assault.