The Price of Being Poor:
Sexual assault in low-income communities in comparison to campus sexual assault
Taylor Jackson
Sexual assault is a term that has risen in popularity in the last several years: media personnel, political officials, and the general public are all interested in discussing the high sexual assault rates and why these horrific acts occur. However, most do not know how to define sexual assault, and the usage of the term is often limited to campus sexual assault or violence specifically affecting college students. Although not uniformly agreed upon, for this paper, the term will be as defined as “a sexual act that is committed or attempted by another person without freely given consent of the victim or against someone who is unable to consent or refuse” (Basile, Smith, Breiding, Black, & Mahendra, 2014, p. 11).
Sexual assault, although often primarily discussed in relation to college campuses, is an issue that affects a large percentage of American women: a 2010 survey conducted by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that “nearly 1 in 5 women (18.3%)... in the United States have been raped at some time in their lives” (Black, et al., 2010, p. 1) and “nearly 1 in 2 women (44.6%)... experienced sexual violence victimization other than rape at some point in their lives” (Black, et al., 2010, p. 19). These statistics prove that the issue of sexual assault is not limited to college campuses, and the incidents are often much more frequent in low-income communities. In order to bring justice to the area of sexual assault—in the form of increased resources, increased access to services, and better reporting procedures—the conversation surrounding it must expand to include low-income women and women who are not on college campuses.
Primary Political Discourse: Sexual assault on college campuses
In the majority of political and social discourse, the primary context for discussing sexual assault is on college campuses. Statistics show that an estimated one in five women will be sexually assaulted while living on a college campus (NSVRC, 2015), and in over 80 percent of these sexual assault cases, the woman knows her attacker (Sinozich & Langton, 2014, p. 1). Despite these overwhelming statistics, sexual assault on college campuses largely went ignored by institutions until the release of the “Dear Colleague” letter by the Department of Education in 2013. This letter was written in response to larger institutions historically criminalizing female students for reporting sexual assault; instead of offering resources to these students, universities gave them “honor code violations” or other forms of discipline to discourage reporting (Kingkade, 2013). In this letter, the Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights states that the way universities treat victims must change in order for this problem to change. This begins by respecting their willingness to report:
Discriminatory practices are often only raised and remedied when students, parents,
teachers, coaches, and others can report such practices to school administrators without
the fear of retaliation. Individuals should be commended when they raise concerns about
compliance with the Federal civil rights laws, not punished for doing so. (United States Department of Education, 2013)
In response to this letter, various upper-level institutions began implementing new policies and practices, and the federal government increased its requirements for universities regarding sexual assault reporting and procedures. Most recently, in April of 2015, the Federal Government mandated that each university have a full-time, independent Title IX coordinator who has the “qualifications, training, authority, and time to address all complaints throughout the institution, including those raising Title IX issues” (United States Department of Education, 2015). Previously, many universities, including Saint Louis University, simply tacked on the title of Title IX Coordinator to another position. However, combining this position with another creates problems, such as insufficient attention paid to incredibly important issues. Although the one in five statistic is shocking and problems do still exist, progress has been made in the area of sexual assault on college campuses. However, because this has been the primary political discourse surrounding sexual assault, the United States has paid insufficient attention to an area of even larger concern and with even more shocking statistics.
Sexual Assault in Low-Income Communities: Why poverty increases vulnerability
Statistics show that “women without a high school diploma are sexually victimized at a rate 53 percent higher than women with a high school diploma...and more than 400 percent greater than those with bachelor’s degrees or more” (Rennison, 2014). Considering that “nearly a third of youth from low-income families (29 percent) fail to earn high school diplomas” and “only one in ten youth from low-income families (10 percent) go on to graduate from a four-year college,” (United States Department of Health and Human Services, 2009) it is likely that these women without high school diplomas are from low-income communities. Therefore, these statistics prove that women in low-income communities are significantly more likely to be sexually assaulted during their lifetime. Yet, the main political discourse does not address this issue. The Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault reports that “over 50 percent of women receiving public assistance report having experienced physical abuse at some point in their adult lives (Lyons, 2000)” (Edmund & Bland, 2011, p. 204) and that “92 percent of homeless women have experienced severe physical or sexual abuse at some point in their lives” (Edmund & Bland, 2011, p. 204).
Those who live in low-income communities find themselves even more vulnerable than women in college. Vulnerability is often discussed surrounding sexual assault, usually referring to women as a more vulnerable population, whether that is due to a lack of physical strength or the lack of systemic power in this country. However, although women tend to be a more vulnerable population than men, poor women are significantly more vulnerable than most women due to a lack of education and resources. The Encyclopedia of World Poverty defines vulnerable populations as individuals who “while not facing immediate problems, may do so on very short notice…[including] those reliant upon obtaining casual daily employment who, if they cannot find work, cannot afford food or housing; or who are reliant on a single, variable source of income” (2006, p. 1140). This disproportionally affects women of color, who are more likely to be low-income. One study says, “Latina and African American women who are sexually assaulted bear an additional burden because they are already disproportionately affected by income- and asset poverty and face limited access to legal, medical, and social support services that may aid in violence prevention and recovery” (Loya, 2014, p. 1300). Therefore, an increase in vulnerability increases one’s likeliness of sexual assault.
How Sexual Assault Reinforces Poverty
However, poverty does not just make women more vulnerable to sexual assault; sexual assault also makes women more vulnerable to poverty by reinforcing its cycle. There are various reasons that sexual assault reinforces the poverty cycle, including the physical and mental consequences of sexual assault, as well as a lack of resources:
Sexual assault has devastating physical, psychological, and behavioral consequences that
can diminish labor market performance, disrupt earnings, and create economic instability
for survivors who lack access to assets. Women of color face particular risk in this regard
due to limited access to appropriate post-assault resources (Campbell, Wasco, Ahrens,
Sefl, & Barnes, 2001; Lira, Koss, & Russo, 1999), compounded by their overwhelming
lack of asset ownership (Chang & Lui, 2010; Jaggar & de Renzy, 2008; Kochhar, 2004).
(Loya, 2014, p. 1300)
Because low-income women lack access to recovery resources, they are less likely to receive help and be able to escape these violent situations. Therefore, poverty and sexual assault work together in a cyclical nature: poverty makes individuals more vulnerable to sexual assault because they lack resources to get help or prevent it, and sexual assault makes individuals more vulnerable to poverty for the same reasons.
Differences in Barriers
Although statistics clearly show the higher prevalence of sexual assault in low-income communities, it is important to discuss the specific ways in which sexual assault differs for women on a college campus versus women in a low-income community. When discussing sexual assault on college campuses, individuals often discuss the barriers to reporting that women face. According to Anna Kratky, Title IX Coordinator, and Kim Sahr, Sexual Assault Investigator, both at Saint Louis University, there are several primary barriers to reporting sexual assault, including fear of peer judgment, fear of institutional discipline (often because underage drinking is involved), distrust of the system, and self-blame (Was it my fault? Could I have prevented this?) (A. Kratky & K. Sahr, personal communication, October 14, 2015). These claims are supported by recent studies and data: when asked to rank barriers to reporting, students in one study ranked the top three as shame and guilt, concerns about confidentiality, and a fear that they would not be believed (Sable, Mauzy, & Gallagher, 2006). These barriers influence a student’s decision to not report sexual assault, and according to statistics, “More than 90 percent of sexual assault victims on college campuses do not report the assault” (NSVRC, 2015, p. 2).
Although the barriers for women on college campuses are strong and prevent many women from coming forward, it seems that the barriers for women in low-income communities are much more physical and concrete. In her book Reporting Sexual Assault: A Social Ecology Perspective, author Kim Ménard (2005) argues that location affects sexual assault reporting in low-income communities. Location affects women physically by limiting their abilities to access recovery and prevention resources. Often, an attribute of poverty is a lack of adequate transportation, and if resources (such as counseling facilities, police offices, courthouses, hospitals, etc.) are too far from one’s house, they are not accessible. On a college campus, these resources are readily available: Student Health and Counseling is on-campus, the Department of Public Safety is always patrolling, and even the Title IX office is located on-campus. Though students may not reach out to these departments out of fear, they have easy physically access to them. A lack of physical access to resource is a unique problem facing women in low-income communities.
However, in addition to general location in relation to resources creating a barrier for women, the type of location in which they live affects reporting, as well:
Compared to urban areas, rural locations are characterized by greater acquaintance
density (i.e., more acquaintances in the community), greater physical isolation, and a social climate that fosters greater informal control, mistrust of government, and a propensity to conceal personal problems (Weisheit, Wells, & Falcone, 1995). (Ménard, 2005, p. 12)
Although each of these factors affects low-income women’s willingness to report, acquaintance density is the strongest factor influencing reporting. It does this in two ways. Studies show that if a woman knows her attacker, she is significantly less likely to report the assault or label it as such (Ménard, 2005, p. 12). Therefore, with greater population density, a woman living in a rural community is more likely to know her attacker and less likely to report it. However, acquaintance density affects reporting in another way, as well. In close-knit communities, people are more likely to personally know their police officers. Reporting a sexual assault to a stranger over a hotline is difficult enough, but women find that it is nearly impossible to report when they will likely know the person who answers the hotline. Although barriers persist for low-income women in both cities and rural communities, including a distrust of police that is prominent in both areas, the location and density of rural communities often puts low-income women at an increased risk of not reporting.
Barriers exist for women everywhere given that the United States operates as a patriarchal, capitalist society that privileges the privileged and oppresses the marginalized. However, there is a key difference in the types of barriers that affect different types of women. Women on college campuses face barriers that, although valid, are primarily wrapped up in fear of discipline or peer judgment. The resources are available for them and, although not perfect, generally accessible, and yet women do not access them. In low-income communities, women often physically cannot access them given their location or human capital. However, because these barriers are more concrete, they are also more movable. Although it is difficult to change the culture of fear on college campuses, it is possible to bring resources to women in low-income communities, and yet we do not discuss this in our political discourse. By ignoring the severe sexual assault that exists in these communities, society is not only perpetuating the cycle of poverty, but also the cycle of violence and discrimination. The conversation surrounding sexual assault must become more inclusive.
Room for improvement: A call to social action
Sexual assault prevention and recovery is poverty prevention. As previously argued, sexual assault and poverty both reinforce one another: poverty makes women more vulnerable to sexual assault, and sexual assault makes women more vulnerable to continued poverty. In addition to changing the discourse surrounding sexual assault, there are also concrete ways to stop this cycle. By adapting many of the proposed solutions to campus sexual assault, we can also start to fix this problem in low-income communities.
One study in particular, “A Deficiency in Addressing Campus Sexual Assault: The Lack of Women Law Enforcement Officers,” (Oehme, Stern, & Mennicke, 2015) argues that one reporting barrier for college women is a lack of representation in law enforcement. Most commonly, in situations of emergency, women will report their sexual assault to the Department of Public Safety; however, because these departments are predominantly male, women feel less comfortable reporting:
Most notably, research indicates that women officers may respond more effectively to incidents of violence against women, a crime that represents approximately half of all violent crime calls to police. 132 Researchers studying the impact of female police officers who investigate gender-based crimes have found that women can be especially effective when working with those victims. (Oehme, K., Stern, N., & Mennicke, 2015, p. 13)
Increasing female representation in police forces can increase reporting and lessen the burden of sexual assault on college women
The need to increase appropriate representation in local police departments can be proven, as well. In St. Louis County, only 13.2 percent of officers are female, and 13.4 percent of officers are of color (Bouscaren, 2014). In contrast, St. Louis County is 52.6 percent female and about 20.4 percent people of color (U.S. Census). These demographics show the lack of community representation in the police forces, and in a city where most low-income income women are women of color, it is important that both individuals of color and women are represented in its police departments, and that these individuals are well-trained in sexual assault cases. This is one concrete way to improve the lives of low-income women and increase reporting, ultimately working to reduce the number of sexual assault incidences in their communities.
With increased conversations surrounding sexual assault on college campuses, university administrators have tried to better their sexual assault policies and reporting procedures. They have begun to educate campus members—faculty, staff, students, campus safety, and more—about ways to prevent sexual assault and assist students who have reported it. Saint Louis University regularly partners with community organizations, such as the YWCA and Safe Connections, to provide trainings, both for the university and for the community organizations. While this is a good first step, it is not enough in assisting women who cannot regularly access resources. In order to bring justice to the area of sexual assault in low-income communities, institutions with a multiplicity of resources—counseling, health services, trainings, etc.—must work closer with community organizations to increase accessibility to and improve the resources available. Universities, especially those with a claim to social justice, must share their resources with women in communities, bringing health clinics, legal trainings, counseling services, and more to their communities.
Conclusion
With the rates of sexual assault in low-income communities much higher than those on a college campus, the political discourse surrounding sexual assault must change. Society must begin to talk about how to increase accessibility to resources for low-income women and how to remove many of the seemingly concrete barriers that exist. This is not to say that there does not need to be justice in the area of campus sexual assault—as statistics show, there is still a high incident rate on college campuses—but these conversations surrounding justice must expand to include women in low-income communities. Although my project this semester did not necessarily bring direct justice to these areas, it started a dialogue surrounding sexual assault and what barriers exist for women in reporting. By starting this conversation, individuals can unite around a common idea and work for justice in both of these areas—in low-income communities and on college campuses—benefitting all women, not just those with a college degree.
References
Basile, K., Smith, S., Breiding, M., Black, M., & Mahendra, R. (2014). Sexual violence surveillance: Uniform definitions and recommended data elements, version 2.0. Atlanta, GA: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Black, M., Basile, K., Breiding, M., Smith, S., Walters, M., Merrick, M, Chen, J., & Stevens, M. (2011). The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS): 2010 Summary Report. Atlanta, GA: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Bouscaren, D. (2014, August 13). St. Louis area police forces are less diverse than communities they serve, statistics show. St. Louis Public Radio. Retrieved from http://news.stlpublicradio.org/
Dessel, A., Rogge, M., & Garlington, S. (2006). Using intergroup dialogue to promote social justice and change. Social Work, 51(4). 303-315.
Edmund, D., & Bland, P. (2011). Trauma: A Common Denominator. In D.Edmund, & P. Bland, Real Tools: Responding to Multi-Abuse Trauma (pp. 204-206). Juneau, Alaska: Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. Retrieved from http://www.nationalcenterdvtraumamh.org/wpcontent/uploads/2012/09/RealTools_RespondingtoMultiAbuseTrauma_BlandandEdmund.pdf
Jackson, T. (2015). The beginning of the social change process. Unpublished manuscript. Saint Louis University.
Kingkade, T. (2013, April 29). ‘Dear Colleague’ letter on retaliation against sexual assault victim-advocates puts schools on notice. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from www.huffingtonpost.com
Loya, R. (2014, November). The role of sexual violence in creating and maintaining economic insecurity among asset-poor women of color. Violence Against Women, 20(11), 1299-1320. doi:10.1177/1077801214552912
Ménard, K. S. (2005). Reporting Sexual Assault: A Social Ecology Perspective. New York, New York: LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC.
National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC). (2015). Statistics about sexual violence.
Retrieved from http://www.nsvrc.org/sites/default/files/publications_nsvrc_factsheet_media-packet_statistics-about-sexual-violence_0.pdf
Oehme, K., Stern, N., & Mennicke, A. (2015, July). A Deficiency in Addressing Campus Sexual Assault: The Lack of Women Law Enforcement Officers. Harvard Journal of Law and Gender, 38, 337-372.
Rennison, C. (2014, December 21). Privilege, among rape victims: Who suffers most from rape and sexual assault in America? The New York Times. Retrieved from www.nytimes.com
Sable, M., Danis, F., Mauzy, D., & Gallagher, S. (2006, November). Barriers to reporting sexual assault for women and men: perspectives of college students. Journal of American College Health, 55(3), 157-162.
Sinozich, S., & Langton, L. (2014). Rape and sexual assault victimization among college-age females, 1995–2013. U.S. Department of Justice. Retrieved from http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/rsavcaf9513.pdf
United States Census Bureau. (2014). Quickfacts: St. Louis County, Missouri. Retrieved from http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/29/29189.html
United States Department of Education. (2013). Dear colleague letter. Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201304.html
United States Department of Education. (2015). Dear colleague letter on Title IX coordinators. Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201504-title-ix-coordinators.pdf
United States Department of Health and Human Services. (2009). Youth from low-income families. Retrieved from
Walsh, J. (2006). Vulnerability. In M. Odekon (Ed.), Encyclopedia of World Poverty (Vol. 3, pp. 1140-1142). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Reference. Retrieved from http://ezp.slu.edu/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX34698007 59&v=2.1&u=sain44199&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w&asid=5f7001abadd1164f91350145639b270a
Sexual assault, although often primarily discussed in relation to college campuses, is an issue that affects a large percentage of American women: a 2010 survey conducted by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that “nearly 1 in 5 women (18.3%)... in the United States have been raped at some time in their lives” (Black, et al., 2010, p. 1) and “nearly 1 in 2 women (44.6%)... experienced sexual violence victimization other than rape at some point in their lives” (Black, et al., 2010, p. 19). These statistics prove that the issue of sexual assault is not limited to college campuses, and the incidents are often much more frequent in low-income communities. In order to bring justice to the area of sexual assault—in the form of increased resources, increased access to services, and better reporting procedures—the conversation surrounding it must expand to include low-income women and women who are not on college campuses.
Primary Political Discourse: Sexual assault on college campuses
In the majority of political and social discourse, the primary context for discussing sexual assault is on college campuses. Statistics show that an estimated one in five women will be sexually assaulted while living on a college campus (NSVRC, 2015), and in over 80 percent of these sexual assault cases, the woman knows her attacker (Sinozich & Langton, 2014, p. 1). Despite these overwhelming statistics, sexual assault on college campuses largely went ignored by institutions until the release of the “Dear Colleague” letter by the Department of Education in 2013. This letter was written in response to larger institutions historically criminalizing female students for reporting sexual assault; instead of offering resources to these students, universities gave them “honor code violations” or other forms of discipline to discourage reporting (Kingkade, 2013). In this letter, the Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights states that the way universities treat victims must change in order for this problem to change. This begins by respecting their willingness to report:
Discriminatory practices are often only raised and remedied when students, parents,
teachers, coaches, and others can report such practices to school administrators without
the fear of retaliation. Individuals should be commended when they raise concerns about
compliance with the Federal civil rights laws, not punished for doing so. (United States Department of Education, 2013)
In response to this letter, various upper-level institutions began implementing new policies and practices, and the federal government increased its requirements for universities regarding sexual assault reporting and procedures. Most recently, in April of 2015, the Federal Government mandated that each university have a full-time, independent Title IX coordinator who has the “qualifications, training, authority, and time to address all complaints throughout the institution, including those raising Title IX issues” (United States Department of Education, 2015). Previously, many universities, including Saint Louis University, simply tacked on the title of Title IX Coordinator to another position. However, combining this position with another creates problems, such as insufficient attention paid to incredibly important issues. Although the one in five statistic is shocking and problems do still exist, progress has been made in the area of sexual assault on college campuses. However, because this has been the primary political discourse surrounding sexual assault, the United States has paid insufficient attention to an area of even larger concern and with even more shocking statistics.
Sexual Assault in Low-Income Communities: Why poverty increases vulnerability
Statistics show that “women without a high school diploma are sexually victimized at a rate 53 percent higher than women with a high school diploma...and more than 400 percent greater than those with bachelor’s degrees or more” (Rennison, 2014). Considering that “nearly a third of youth from low-income families (29 percent) fail to earn high school diplomas” and “only one in ten youth from low-income families (10 percent) go on to graduate from a four-year college,” (United States Department of Health and Human Services, 2009) it is likely that these women without high school diplomas are from low-income communities. Therefore, these statistics prove that women in low-income communities are significantly more likely to be sexually assaulted during their lifetime. Yet, the main political discourse does not address this issue. The Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault reports that “over 50 percent of women receiving public assistance report having experienced physical abuse at some point in their adult lives (Lyons, 2000)” (Edmund & Bland, 2011, p. 204) and that “92 percent of homeless women have experienced severe physical or sexual abuse at some point in their lives” (Edmund & Bland, 2011, p. 204).
Those who live in low-income communities find themselves even more vulnerable than women in college. Vulnerability is often discussed surrounding sexual assault, usually referring to women as a more vulnerable population, whether that is due to a lack of physical strength or the lack of systemic power in this country. However, although women tend to be a more vulnerable population than men, poor women are significantly more vulnerable than most women due to a lack of education and resources. The Encyclopedia of World Poverty defines vulnerable populations as individuals who “while not facing immediate problems, may do so on very short notice…[including] those reliant upon obtaining casual daily employment who, if they cannot find work, cannot afford food or housing; or who are reliant on a single, variable source of income” (2006, p. 1140). This disproportionally affects women of color, who are more likely to be low-income. One study says, “Latina and African American women who are sexually assaulted bear an additional burden because they are already disproportionately affected by income- and asset poverty and face limited access to legal, medical, and social support services that may aid in violence prevention and recovery” (Loya, 2014, p. 1300). Therefore, an increase in vulnerability increases one’s likeliness of sexual assault.
How Sexual Assault Reinforces Poverty
However, poverty does not just make women more vulnerable to sexual assault; sexual assault also makes women more vulnerable to poverty by reinforcing its cycle. There are various reasons that sexual assault reinforces the poverty cycle, including the physical and mental consequences of sexual assault, as well as a lack of resources:
Sexual assault has devastating physical, psychological, and behavioral consequences that
can diminish labor market performance, disrupt earnings, and create economic instability
for survivors who lack access to assets. Women of color face particular risk in this regard
due to limited access to appropriate post-assault resources (Campbell, Wasco, Ahrens,
Sefl, & Barnes, 2001; Lira, Koss, & Russo, 1999), compounded by their overwhelming
lack of asset ownership (Chang & Lui, 2010; Jaggar & de Renzy, 2008; Kochhar, 2004).
(Loya, 2014, p. 1300)
Because low-income women lack access to recovery resources, they are less likely to receive help and be able to escape these violent situations. Therefore, poverty and sexual assault work together in a cyclical nature: poverty makes individuals more vulnerable to sexual assault because they lack resources to get help or prevent it, and sexual assault makes individuals more vulnerable to poverty for the same reasons.
Differences in Barriers
Although statistics clearly show the higher prevalence of sexual assault in low-income communities, it is important to discuss the specific ways in which sexual assault differs for women on a college campus versus women in a low-income community. When discussing sexual assault on college campuses, individuals often discuss the barriers to reporting that women face. According to Anna Kratky, Title IX Coordinator, and Kim Sahr, Sexual Assault Investigator, both at Saint Louis University, there are several primary barriers to reporting sexual assault, including fear of peer judgment, fear of institutional discipline (often because underage drinking is involved), distrust of the system, and self-blame (Was it my fault? Could I have prevented this?) (A. Kratky & K. Sahr, personal communication, October 14, 2015). These claims are supported by recent studies and data: when asked to rank barriers to reporting, students in one study ranked the top three as shame and guilt, concerns about confidentiality, and a fear that they would not be believed (Sable, Mauzy, & Gallagher, 2006). These barriers influence a student’s decision to not report sexual assault, and according to statistics, “More than 90 percent of sexual assault victims on college campuses do not report the assault” (NSVRC, 2015, p. 2).
Although the barriers for women on college campuses are strong and prevent many women from coming forward, it seems that the barriers for women in low-income communities are much more physical and concrete. In her book Reporting Sexual Assault: A Social Ecology Perspective, author Kim Ménard (2005) argues that location affects sexual assault reporting in low-income communities. Location affects women physically by limiting their abilities to access recovery and prevention resources. Often, an attribute of poverty is a lack of adequate transportation, and if resources (such as counseling facilities, police offices, courthouses, hospitals, etc.) are too far from one’s house, they are not accessible. On a college campus, these resources are readily available: Student Health and Counseling is on-campus, the Department of Public Safety is always patrolling, and even the Title IX office is located on-campus. Though students may not reach out to these departments out of fear, they have easy physically access to them. A lack of physical access to resource is a unique problem facing women in low-income communities.
However, in addition to general location in relation to resources creating a barrier for women, the type of location in which they live affects reporting, as well:
Compared to urban areas, rural locations are characterized by greater acquaintance
density (i.e., more acquaintances in the community), greater physical isolation, and a social climate that fosters greater informal control, mistrust of government, and a propensity to conceal personal problems (Weisheit, Wells, & Falcone, 1995). (Ménard, 2005, p. 12)
Although each of these factors affects low-income women’s willingness to report, acquaintance density is the strongest factor influencing reporting. It does this in two ways. Studies show that if a woman knows her attacker, she is significantly less likely to report the assault or label it as such (Ménard, 2005, p. 12). Therefore, with greater population density, a woman living in a rural community is more likely to know her attacker and less likely to report it. However, acquaintance density affects reporting in another way, as well. In close-knit communities, people are more likely to personally know their police officers. Reporting a sexual assault to a stranger over a hotline is difficult enough, but women find that it is nearly impossible to report when they will likely know the person who answers the hotline. Although barriers persist for low-income women in both cities and rural communities, including a distrust of police that is prominent in both areas, the location and density of rural communities often puts low-income women at an increased risk of not reporting.
Barriers exist for women everywhere given that the United States operates as a patriarchal, capitalist society that privileges the privileged and oppresses the marginalized. However, there is a key difference in the types of barriers that affect different types of women. Women on college campuses face barriers that, although valid, are primarily wrapped up in fear of discipline or peer judgment. The resources are available for them and, although not perfect, generally accessible, and yet women do not access them. In low-income communities, women often physically cannot access them given their location or human capital. However, because these barriers are more concrete, they are also more movable. Although it is difficult to change the culture of fear on college campuses, it is possible to bring resources to women in low-income communities, and yet we do not discuss this in our political discourse. By ignoring the severe sexual assault that exists in these communities, society is not only perpetuating the cycle of poverty, but also the cycle of violence and discrimination. The conversation surrounding sexual assault must become more inclusive.
Room for improvement: A call to social action
Sexual assault prevention and recovery is poverty prevention. As previously argued, sexual assault and poverty both reinforce one another: poverty makes women more vulnerable to sexual assault, and sexual assault makes women more vulnerable to continued poverty. In addition to changing the discourse surrounding sexual assault, there are also concrete ways to stop this cycle. By adapting many of the proposed solutions to campus sexual assault, we can also start to fix this problem in low-income communities.
One study in particular, “A Deficiency in Addressing Campus Sexual Assault: The Lack of Women Law Enforcement Officers,” (Oehme, Stern, & Mennicke, 2015) argues that one reporting barrier for college women is a lack of representation in law enforcement. Most commonly, in situations of emergency, women will report their sexual assault to the Department of Public Safety; however, because these departments are predominantly male, women feel less comfortable reporting:
Most notably, research indicates that women officers may respond more effectively to incidents of violence against women, a crime that represents approximately half of all violent crime calls to police. 132 Researchers studying the impact of female police officers who investigate gender-based crimes have found that women can be especially effective when working with those victims. (Oehme, K., Stern, N., & Mennicke, 2015, p. 13)
Increasing female representation in police forces can increase reporting and lessen the burden of sexual assault on college women
The need to increase appropriate representation in local police departments can be proven, as well. In St. Louis County, only 13.2 percent of officers are female, and 13.4 percent of officers are of color (Bouscaren, 2014). In contrast, St. Louis County is 52.6 percent female and about 20.4 percent people of color (U.S. Census). These demographics show the lack of community representation in the police forces, and in a city where most low-income income women are women of color, it is important that both individuals of color and women are represented in its police departments, and that these individuals are well-trained in sexual assault cases. This is one concrete way to improve the lives of low-income women and increase reporting, ultimately working to reduce the number of sexual assault incidences in their communities.
With increased conversations surrounding sexual assault on college campuses, university administrators have tried to better their sexual assault policies and reporting procedures. They have begun to educate campus members—faculty, staff, students, campus safety, and more—about ways to prevent sexual assault and assist students who have reported it. Saint Louis University regularly partners with community organizations, such as the YWCA and Safe Connections, to provide trainings, both for the university and for the community organizations. While this is a good first step, it is not enough in assisting women who cannot regularly access resources. In order to bring justice to the area of sexual assault in low-income communities, institutions with a multiplicity of resources—counseling, health services, trainings, etc.—must work closer with community organizations to increase accessibility to and improve the resources available. Universities, especially those with a claim to social justice, must share their resources with women in communities, bringing health clinics, legal trainings, counseling services, and more to their communities.
Conclusion
With the rates of sexual assault in low-income communities much higher than those on a college campus, the political discourse surrounding sexual assault must change. Society must begin to talk about how to increase accessibility to resources for low-income women and how to remove many of the seemingly concrete barriers that exist. This is not to say that there does not need to be justice in the area of campus sexual assault—as statistics show, there is still a high incident rate on college campuses—but these conversations surrounding justice must expand to include women in low-income communities. Although my project this semester did not necessarily bring direct justice to these areas, it started a dialogue surrounding sexual assault and what barriers exist for women in reporting. By starting this conversation, individuals can unite around a common idea and work for justice in both of these areas—in low-income communities and on college campuses—benefitting all women, not just those with a college degree.
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