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ABSTRACT
Alcohol-related sexual assault is the most common form of sexual victimization on college campuses. Bystander intervention has been suggested as effective in preventing sexual assault, but its usefulness in sexual assaults that involve alcohol in particular has not yet been examined. The current study draws from intensive interviews with 30 undergraduates at a large Midwestern university to understand how students’ perceptions about sexual victimization and alcohol use affect their bystander behavior. Findings suggest that in alcohol-involved situations, the ambiguity of whether the woman is at risk and her perceived worthiness are significant barriers to intervention. Policy implications are discussed.
Notes
1 While the authors do not assume that men cannot be victims of sexual assault, due to the fact that the vast majority of rape victims are women, and the majority of perpetrators are men (Fisher et al. Citation2000), interview questions were asked in this way. Analysis procedures and presentation of results also align with this scenario.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Brandie Pugh
BRANDIE PUGH is a Research Associate at CASAColumbia in New York City. Her master’s thesis was titled “Reporting of Rape by Victims and Third Parties: Evidence from the National Crime Victimization Survey: 1992–2013.” Her research interests are in criminology, violence against women, addiction, and mental health. She has plans to pursue her Ph.D. in Sociology, with an emphasis in criminology, in Fall 2016.
Holly Ningard
HOLLY NINGARD is a current doctoral student in the Department of Sociology at the University of Tennessee. Her research interests include criminology, sexual victimization, social media, bystander constructions of crime, and corporate and state harm. She currently works for the editorial office of the journal Crime, Media, Culture.
Thomas Vander Ven
THOMAS VANDER VEN is Professor of Sociology and Director of Criminology at Ohio University. His recent publications include “Crime and Coercion” (with Mark Colvin in the Oxford Handbook of Criminological Theory, 2013) and Getting Wasted: Why College Students Drink too Much and Party So Hard (NYU Press, 2011).
Leah Butler
LEAH BUTLER is pursuing a Master’s degree in Sociology from Ohio University. She obtained Bachelor’s degrees in Sociology-Criminology and English from Ohio University in 2014. Her current research is focused on marijuana use among college students.