Curiosities

Sexual Assault on Campus

It's hard to pin down the numbers on sexual assaults on college campuses. Women often don't report attacks to authorities, and studies vary on how they define an assault. Figures range from rates as low as 3% to as much as 20%. But even using the most conservative numbers, that means nearly 2,500 women attending college in Utah will experience rape or attempted rape this year. RadioWest hosted a three-part series on the complicated issues surrounding sexual assault. We talked about the culture that may be contributing to the problem, about prevention and how Universities respond when the unimaginable happens.

Sexual Assault in the Mormon Context

KUER 90.1 | By Doug Fabrizio

Published April 26, 2016 at 11:00 AM MDT

Carrillon Tower, BYU Provo. Photo by Ken Lund, CC via Flickr, http://bit.ly/21dE3M9

This month, The Salt Lake Tribune has been following the story of BYU students who say they’ve been punished under the school’s honor code because they reported sexual assaults. Some of the questions these women are facing have been experienced around the country: will they be believed, shamed or blamed for being a victim? Tuesday, we’re asking how LDS culture and theology of chastity complicates this, and if there are lessons from the Mormon experience that might help challenge assumptions about rape in America.

Guests:

Erin Alberty, Justice and Safety Reporter for The Salt Lake Tribune
Andrea Radke-Moss is a historian at BYU Idaho and a contributor to the Mormon history blog Juvenile Instructor. She recently presented a paper in which she revealed one of the "founding mothers" of Mormonism, Eliza R. Snow, was a possible victim of rape during the Mormon-Missouri War of 1838.
Cynthia Bailey Lee is a lecturer of Computer Science at Stanford University. She blogs for the Mormon focused By Common Consent.
BYU News: President Worthen calls for study of Title IX reporting processes and structure