Gender & Violence Sociology of Gender Conference

1. Gender & Violence Sociology of Gender Conference Andrew Carvajal All cartoons taken from www.cartoonbank.com

2. Rapist: what typically comes to mind... • Who is the stereotypical rapist?

3. The Sexual Victimization of College Women A collaboration of the National Institute of Justice (NJS) and Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJN) Authors: Bonnie S. Fisher, Francis T. Cullen, Michael G. Turner U.S. Department of Justice – December 2000

4. General Information • College women face a greater risk of rape and other forms of sexual assault than women in the general population, and women in a comparable age group • Results based on a phone surveys with a random sample of 4,446 college women from all over the U.S. • Sexual victimization measured as respondents’ answers to whether they had experienced a variety of situations during their college experience

5. The Findings • 2.8 % of the sample had experienced either a completed rape (1.7%) or an attempted rape incident (1.1%) during the survey period • 1.8 % for rape and 1.3 % for attempted rape in undergraduates • 0.8% and 0% for non-undergraduates • However, projecting these numbers to a whole academic year, the estimated % of college girls who suffer full rape or attempted rape is 5% • Over the course of a degree (4 or 5 years) the % of completed or attempted rapes among women can climb to 20-25%

6. Rates compared to non-college women

7. More Findings • Most women don’t define the incidents construed as rape by the researchers, as rape themselves • Are researchers overstating the problem, or students understating it? • 15.5% of the women were sexually victimized during the academic year • Either through rape, attempted rape, or threat of rape

8. More Findings

9. When and where does victimization occur? • The vast majority of sexual victimizations occurred in the evening (after 6 p.m.) • 60% of on-campus rapes occurred in residences, 31% in other living quarters on-campus, and 10.3% in fraternities

10. Relation with the Offender • 90% of the victims knew their offender

11. Protective action • In both completed rape and sexual coercion, victims were less likely to take protective action • Using protective action might lead attempts to rape or coerce sex to fail • Fewer than 5% of full or attempted rapes were reported to law enforcement officials • Amongst the reasons cited were fear of receiving hostility from the police and the judicial system • 13.1 % of victims had been stalked since the start of the school year

12. Varied Risks • 4 main factors consistently increased the risk of sexual victimization: • frequently drinking enough to get drunk • being unmarried • having been a victim of a sexual assault before the start of the school year • living on campus

13. Verbal Victimization

14. Visual Victimization

15. So, who is the average rapist in our society?

16. School shootings: A Gender Issue? • Is gender the most critical factor in the latest wave of school shootings?

17. A School Shooter Profile • Following the shooting at Columbine the US Secret Service (2000) offered a report in which they said that there “is no profile” for school shooters • No profile???

18. Barry Loukaitis; Feb 2 1996 White Boy http://img.photobucket.com

19. Luke Woodham; Oct 1 1997 White Boy www.experts.about.com

20. Michael Carneal; Dec 1st 1997 White Boy www. cnn.com

21. Mitchell Johnson & Andrew Golden; March 24 1998 White Boys http://www.baptiststandard.com http://www.keystosaferschools.com

22. Kip Kinkel; May 21 1998 White Boy http://www.jeremiahproject.com

23. Eric Harris & Dylan Klebold; April 20 1999 http://www.olddoom.com www.nndb.com White Boys

24. Andrew Williams; March 5 2001 White Boy http://news.bbc.co.uk

25. John Jason McLaughlin; Sept 24 2003 White Boy www.kare11.com

26. Eric Hainstock; Sept 29 2006 http://www.wrex.com White Boy

27. No Profile? • Maybe it is harder to identify a profile when it is the “norm” • The white, heterosexual, male is often the trait that most often goes unnoticed in our analyses of social problems • It is invisible (see Kimmel’s “What about the Boys”)

28. No Profile? • What would have happened if the perpetrators of these shootings had been mainly women, or black males instead?

29. School shootings: A Surrogate Debate • Family changes, women in the workforce • Bad parenting • Depression/mental illness • Goth subculture • Gun control • Importance of religion, prayer, faith • Disrespectful youth/rebelliousness – absence of traditional values

30. School shootings: A Surrogate Debate • Media, music, videogames, the internet • … • Maybe its time to bring gender into the picture!

31. More AnswersYes: Michael Kimmel“Snips and Snails… and Violent Urges” • Gender as single most obvious and intractable difference in violence in the US • We often talk about school shootings as “youth” and “teen” violence • But the majority of these teens are boys • Men and boys are responsible for 95% of violent crimes in the US • From early age boys learn that violence is an acceptable and admirable way of conflict resolution

32. Yes: Michael Kimmel“Snips and Snails… and Violent Urges” • Most school shooters subject to teasing, bashing and questioning of their masculinity • Some turn inward: depression, drug-abuse, isolation, suicide • Some turn outward: rage, violence • Violence not in male brain or testosterone: boys learn it • Media, sports, culture that glorifies heroic and redemptive violence • Fathers; 50% own guns • We need to look at how ideals of manhood became so entangled with violence • School shooters are “real boys” and want to prove it

33. No: Alvin Poussaint • Major role of depression • Individuals trying to cope with internal anger and rage • Not everyone turns into violence, so those at risk should be referred to psychological counseling • Students should feel comfortable and encouraged to tell teachers about peers carrying weapons and making violent threats • Parents should see alienation, anger, making threats and getting into fights as warning signs • As a neighbour/observer, you should report parents who neglect or abuse their children to social service agencies

34. No: Alvin Poussaint • Offer alternative outlets to channel aggression • Sports, communications with family and friends, anger management • Youth tends to normalize the violence they see in the media, videogames • They don’t see that death is real • Institute programs that combat prejudice and promote tolerance • Schools should pay more attention to warning signs and the need for more moral education