The study was conducted to find out the patterns of violence against women as perceived by working -- class females in a Nigerian City. A total of one hundred and fifty respondents were selected from the target population using the multi-stage sampling procedure. A fifteen-item questionnaire tagged "patterns of violence against women…

Bystander intervention offers promise as a sexual violence prevention tool for student affairs administrators on college campuses, but the conceptualization and definition of the approach is in its infancy and needs further development. In an effort to emphasize the potential role of bystanders in the primary prevention of sexual violence, we put…

Few studies have examined sexual victimization among cadets and midshipmen at the three U.S. Military Academies. Self-report data from the 2005 Service Academy Sexual Assault Survey of Cadets and Midshipmen (n = 5,220) were used to examine the extent of unwanted sexual attention, sexual harassment, unwanted sexual contact, sexual coercion, and…

The present study investigates stereotypical beliefs about cyber bullying in terms of myths, a well applied concept in the study of beliefs concerning sexual aggression. The level of acceptance of cyber bullying myths (low vs. high) and the relation of myth acceptance to a number of demographic variables such as gender, field of studies, frequency…

The author serves as the chair of the American Association of University Professors' (AAUP) Assembly of State Conferences, the umbrella organization for individual state AAUP conferences; a moderator for Pandora's Project, a website for survivors of sexual abuse and assault; a volunteer for Veronica's Voice, a support program for women and girls…

The reality of rape and sexual harassment on college campuses has long been a burden that many institutions have struggled to address. The image of fraternity parties gone bad, date rape, and the incidents of stranger encounters on campus are all contrary to the idyllic image most universities want to portray. However, in light of several…

Despite the undeniable, experiential reality of sexual violence in women's lives, sexual violence as a "public reality", and subsequently as a viable topic for social scientific and historical inquiry, did not emerge until this time. The women's liberation movement created the conditions that made possible--and salient--the articulation of the…

This study evaluated the validity of a role-play procedure that uses virtual reality technology to assess women's responses to sexual threat. Forty-eight female undergraduate students were randomly assigned to either a standard, face-to-face role-play (RP) or a virtual role-play (VRP) of a sexually coercive situation. A multimethod assessment…

In a study conducted among more than 980 American four-year and two-year colleges and universities, including institutions such as the University of Michigan, MIT, UCLA and Columbia, security staff and other administrators identified the five leading goals for their security systems: (1) Preventing unauthorized people from entering their…

This report summarises the evidence considered by the Universities UK (UUK) Taskforce to examine violence against women, harassment and hate crime affecting university students, and makes a series of recommendations for universities and UUK. These recommendations cover both prevention activities and how universities can respond to these issues…

Effective strategies aimed at prison sexual assault require inmates to possess the same definition of sexual assault as prison administrations. This article argues that prison culture is rape-supportive and inmates may not define sexual assault as such. After analyzing questionnaire responses given by male and female inmates in a large Southern…

For roughly three decades, policymakers have sought to reduce sexual violence by reliance on a criminal justice approach in which sexually violent acts are dealt with after they occur. Recognizing that prevention efforts could be more valuable, as they work to stop the problem before it begins, researchers have begun to implement a primary…

Approximately 15% to 20% of women have been victims of rape and close to a third report current rape-related PTSD or clinically significant depression or anxiety. Unfortunately, very few distressed rape victims seek formal help. This suggests a need to develop alternative ways to assist the many distressed victims of sexual violence. Online…

Rape, sexual violence, psychological violence, and physical violence, among college students have been a concern. Lifetime events are often studied but not violence that specifically transpires while one is in college. Underrepresented groups such as Deaf and Hard of Hearing students, students who are gay, lesbian, and bisexual, and students who…

Violence is a serious problem on college campuses. The literature on primary prevention of violence does not call for the adoption of specific programs or policies but rather suggests a paradigm shift in the way practitioners approach violence. Primary prevention means asking the question, "Why is violence happening in the first place?" in order…