Nonconsensual Sex: How Colleges Rebranded Rape
From Aljazeera America: Why are hundreds of campuses now using the term ‘nonconsensual sex’ instead of ‘rape’ or ‘assault’?
Nonconsensual sex is sexual assault. Several schools make that clear. In Princeton University’s policy, for example, next to the category “non-consensual sexual penetration,” it states in parentheses that the act is “commonly referred to as rape.” And next to “non-consensual sexual contact,” the act is “commonly referred to as sexual assault.”But the reason that hearing boards winced at the word “rape” is the exact reason activists think the term is important: It’s violent and powerful, and does justice to the violation that victims experience. Anti-rape campaigners have pressed their communities to understand what rape is, and how much it happens. Many see “nonconsensual sex” as a harmful euphemism.
Rape is a serious crime. And colleges aren’t in the business of determining what is a crime. They can’t send a rapist to prison. They can only decide if a student violated school rules, and the worst they can do is kick the kid off campus. In making that decision, most colleges use a much lower burden of proof than a criminal court—“preponderance of evidence,” or “more likely than not,” as opposed to “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
It’s rare for a college to seriously sanction a student who commits sexual assault. According to a 2010 investigation by the Center for Public Integrity, only 10 to 25 percent of students found “responsible” for sexual assault were permanently kicked off campus.
For school hearing boards, the term “nonconsensual sex” has opened up a space for there to be sex that didn’t have affirmative consent, but isn’t assault exactly. There can be degrees of “rapiness,” with different punishments to match.
Schools can be super victim-friendly on paper, they say, without actually expelling students who violate the rules. But everyone agrees that words are important, even if just as a way to start the conversation.
Read the entire story here and learn more about rape on campus on Aljazeera America.