Research & Bibliography

The CCE program builds upon research in sociology, social psychology, and social linguistics to make our programming as effective as possible. The following resources are particularly central to our work, and may be useful to other programs.

Topics:

Campus Sexual Assault: The Numbers

Hill, Catherine, and Elena M. Silva. “Drawing the Line: Sexual Harassment on Campus.” American Association of University Women Educational Foundation, 2005. http://www.aauw.org/resource/drawing-the-line-sexual-harassment-on-campus/. (Full Text)

A large survey with 2,036 respondents from multiple schools. Two thirds of respondents indicated that they had been sexually harassed while at college or university. This article has many useful charts documenting students’ experiences and reactions to sexual harassment. The executive summary is on pages 2-4.

Krebs, Christopher P., Christine H. Lindquist, Tara D. Warner, Bonnie S. Fisher, and Sandra L. Martin. “Campus Sexual Assault (CSA) Study, Final Report.” RTI International, October 2007. https://www.ncjrs.gov/app/publications/abstract.aspx?ID=243011. (Full Text)

A very large quantitative study on the rates and typologies of sexual assault on college campuses.  Research was conducted in 2006 through surveys at two large public universities, one in the Midwest and one in the South.  The data set is drawn from 5,446 female and 1,375 male student respondents; sample weighting was done to correct for possible response bias.  Basic statistics can be found on pages xii-xvii and 5-5, 5-6.  

Campus Sexual Climate

Armstrong, Elizabeth A., Laura Hamilton, and Paula England. “Is Hooking Up Bad for Young Women?” Contexts 9, no. 3 (August 1, 2010): 22–27. http://ctx.sagepub.com/content/9/3/22.abstract (Full Text)

This short article explores common perceptions about hookups, which it compares to young women's actual experiences of casual sex. It discusses some of the ways in which casual sex can be damaging to young women. However, it also notes that there are downsides to relationships, and argues that greater gender equality is necessary to improve both casual sex and relationships.

Bay-Cheng, Laina Y., and Rebecca K. Eliseo-Arras. “The Making of Unwanted Sex: Gendered and Neoliberal Norms in College Women’s Unwanted Sexual Experiences.” Journal of Sex Research 45, no. 4 (2008): 386–97. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18937130

Qualitative research on what study participants describe as unwanted but consensual sex—i.e., experiences that these women label as “fine” despite describing acts that sound much like sexual coercion or even violence.  The analytic frame of the article tries to work through this apparent contradiction, which showed up in the self-reports of 22/40 women in their study. Their narratives help illuminate the obstacles to naming a sexual encounter “rape” or “assault”—and help explain why many victims initially work to understand an encounter as “fine” or “ordinary,” only later (if ever) applying the harsher labels.

Wade, Lisa, and Caroline Heldman. “Hooking Up and Opting Out: Negotiating Sex in the First Year of College.” In Sex for Life: From Virginity to Viagra, How Sexuality Changes Throughout Our Lives, edited by Laura Carpenter and John DeLamater, 128–45. New York: New York University Press, 2012. http://lisawadedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/wade-heldman-2012-hooking-up-and-opting-out2.pdf

Qualitative research on the dynamics of campus sexual culture as experienced by first year students.  Small, non-representative sample (n=44), but with the advantage of nuanced discussion of the ways in which sexual coercion becomes normalized.  While some students enjoy the sexual freedoms of “hook up” culture (5%), others participate reluctantly (50%); a final group decides that the costs are too high, and decide to opt out (32%).  (The remaining 8% were in relationships throughout their first year.)

Communication and the Myth of Miscommunication

Beres, Melanie. “Sexual Miscommunication? Untangling Assumptions about Sexual Communication between Casual Sex Partners.” Culture, Health & Sexuality 12, no. 1 (January 2010): 1–14. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19637068

A qualitative study on young people’s capacity to communicate and perceive sexual consent or refusal.  Beres finds that men and women are both highly literate in a shared set of communicative tools.  Building on earlier research in linguistics as well as on the dynamics of sexual violence and sexual interaction, Beres argues that miscommunication is unlikely to be the cause of sexual violence, despite beliefs to the contrary.  Like other researchers, she finds no evidence to suggest that such an extreme degree of miscommunication would be possible.

Kitzinger, Celia, and Hannah Frith. “Just Say No? The Use of Conversation Analysis in Developing a Feminist Perspective on Sexual Refusal.” Discourse and Society 10, no. 3 (July 1999): 293–316. http://das.sagepub.com/content/10/3/293.abstract.

This article uses conversational analysis to demonstrate that refusals are not composed of simple verbal "no"s, but are in fact very complex conversational interactions. Study participants were highly competent at identifying refusal signals, even when they did not include an explicit "no." The authors therefore argue that sexual violence prevention education that rests on a "just say no" model can be harmful, as it implies that other refusal tactics are open to reasonable doubt.

O’Byrne, Rachael, Susan Hansen, and Mark Rapley. “‘“If a Girl Doesn”t Say “no”. . .’’: Young Men, Rape and Claims of ‘Insufficient Knowledge.’” Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology 18 (2008): 168–93. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/casp.922/abstract. (Full Text)

This article examines the ways in which young people draw on widely shared accounts ("interpretive repertoires") of rape to exculpate rapists, with particular focus on the ways in which students used a miscommunication model to excuse rape. Although the sample is small and non-representative (n=9, all self-selecting men), the article illustrates the miscommunication model in action and explores both the theoretical and practical implications of the prevalence of the model.

Bystander Intervention

Banyard, Victoria L., Elizabeth G. Plante, and Mary M. Moynihan. “Bystander Education: Bringing a Broader Community Perspective to Sexual Violence Prevention.” Journal of Community Psychology 32, no. 1 (January 2004): 61–79. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jcop.10078/full. (Full Text)

This article includes an extensive review of the literature on bystander intervention programs. It emphasizes the importance of community-based bystander intervention education, rather than programs that work at the individual levels or focus only on men. Using this literature, it proposes a theoretical model of sexual violence prevention that includes bystander intervention education.

Carmody, Moira. “Ethical Erotics: Reconceptualizing Anti-Rape Education.” Sexualities 8, no. 4 (October 1, 2005): 465–80. http://sex.sagepub.com/content/8/4/465.refs.html

A survey of existing sexual violence prevention programming found that most programs focus on raising awareness of the prevalence of sexual violence and teaching refusal skills, tactics that place the primary responsibility for preventing rape on women. Carmody argues that rather than relying on such tactics, which focus on danger, programs should center on helping all young people develop ethical and respectful sexual practices.

Who Are You?, 2011. http://www.whoareyou.co.nz/.

This brief video is central to the Bystander Intervention workshops that the CCEs run for all sophomores. The video traces the night of a young woman, beginning with her going to a bar with her friends and ending just before she is sexually assaulted. The video then reverses to demonstrate times at which four people could have made easy, safe, low-level interventions and prevented the sexual assault. The film is an accessible and effective teaching tool.

Alcohol and Sexual Culture

Abbey, Antonia. “Alcohol’s Role in Sexual Violence Perpetration: Theoretical Explanations, Existing Evidence and Future Directions.” Drug and Alcohol Review 30, no. 5 (September 1, 2011): 481–89. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1465-3362.2011.00296.x/abstract (Full Text)

Critical review of the relevant alcohol administration and survey research literature.  Many details, but general consensus that alcohol primarily leads to sexual aggression in people who are already sexually aggressive. 

Lindgren, Kristen P, David W Pantalone, Melissa A Lewis, and William H George. “College Students’ Perceptions about Alcohol and Consensual Sexual Behavior: Alcohol Leads to Sex.” Journal of Drug Education 39, no. 1 (2009): 1–21. http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC2774900

This study used focus groups of undergraduates (n=29) to explore college students' perception of the connections between drinking and consensual sex. Both men and women saw a strong causal relationship between alcohol and consensual sex. Men felt that alcohol helped them to make sexual advances. Women noted that while alcohol can be used as a sexual overture, it also complicates sexual interactions, and can have negative impacts. Though the sample size is small, the study offers a snapshot of some student perspectives on alcohol and sex.