Fraternities and Rape Statistics

http://www.menweb.org/throop/rape/frat.html

• Bausell and Maloy, "The links among drugs, alcohol, and campus crime: A
  	research report," Paper presented at the Fourth National Conference
  	on Campus Violence, Campus Violence Prevention Center, Towson, MD.  
          Part of the paper deals with fraternity violence.
  
  

   

• Boeringer, Scot B., Constance L. Shehan, and Ronald L. Akers, "Social
  	Contexts and Social Learning in Sexual Coercion and Aggression:
  	Assessing the Contribution of Fraternity Membership," Family 
  	Relations, Jan 1991, 58-64.  Main results: "fraternity members 
  	did not significantly differ from independents in terms of their 
  	self-perceived likelihood of sexually coercive behavior (using 
  	force or committing rape).  However, their mean scores on the 
  	dependent variables that indicate actual use of nonphysical force 
  	and drugs or alcohol to obtain sex were significantly higher than 
  	nonmembers' mean scores.  Finally... fraternity members did not 
  	differ significantly in their reports of having raped a woman."
  
  

   

• Copenhaver, Stacey, and Elizabeth Grauerholz, "Sexual Victimization
  	Among Sorority Women: Exploring the Link Between Sexual Violence and
  	Institutional Practices," Sex Roles, Vol. 24, Nos. 1/2, 1991, 31.
  	Abstract: "This study investigates the incidence and nature of sexual 
  	coercion among sorority women.  Particular emphasis is placed on
  	sexual coercion that occurs within the context of fraternal life.
  	Overall, almost half of those studied had experienced some form of
  	sexual coercion, 24% experienced attempted rape, and 17% were 
  	victims of completed rape.  Almost half of the rapes occurred in 
  	a fraternity house, and over half occurred either during a fraternity 
  	function or was perpetrated by a fraternity member.  This study 
  	provides evidence that fraternities represent a social context that 
  	tolerates, if not actually encourages, sexual coercion of women, 
  	including sorority women." 
  
  

   

• Erhart and Sandler, Campus gang rape: Party Games?, Association of American 
  	Colleges, 1985.  [Vast majority of campus gang rapes committed
  	by fraternity members or athletes.]
  
  

   

• Garrett-Gooding and Senter, "Attitudes and acts of sexual aggression on
  	a university campus," Sociological Inquiry (1987) 59:348-71.  
  
  

   

• Hokanson, Kimberly A.  [Series of papers done for PhD program at Harvard
  	Graduate School of Education on fraternities at small schools
  	in the Northeast.]
  
  

   

• Hughes and Sandler, "Friends" raping friends: Could it happen to you?,
  	Association of American Colleges, 1987.  Part of the paper
          deals with fraternity rape.
  
  

   

• Kanin,
   "Reference groups and sex conduct norm violations," Sociological
  	Quarterly (1967), 8:495-504.  [A bit dated, but arguably still
          relevant.]
  
  

   

• Lisak and Poth, Motives and Psychodynamics of Self-Reported Unincarcerated
  	Rapists, 60 Am. J. Orthopsychiatry 268 (1990).
  
  

   

• Los Angeles Times, 12/22/85, Part 6, page 8.  [Coverage of the Sandler
  	report on gang rape.]
  
  

   

• Martin & Hummer, "Fraternities and Rape on Campus," 3 Gender & Society
  	457 (December 1989).  Questionable methodology.
  
  

   

• Ms. Magazine, September-October 1990, p. 52.
  
  

   

• The Nation, July 4, 1987.
  
  

   

• O'Shaugnessy, Mary Ellen, "Sexually Stressful Events Survey," sponsored
  	by the Office of the Dean of Students, University of Illinois at
  	Urbana-Champaign, January 22, 1990.  "Men reported to be fraternity 
  	members are over-represented as offenders associated with the 
  	more serious crimes.  Fraternity members represent approximately 
  	25% of the undergraduate men enrolled at the UIUC during the 
  	spring semester of 1989.  However, of the 54 sexual
  	assaults committed by men who were reported to be UIUC students, 34
  	(63%) were committed by members of fraternities.  Of the 56 sexual 
  	abuse cases involving men who were UIUC students, 40 (71%) involved 
  	fraternity members.  Additionally, it is noted that three women 
  	reported having been sexually assaulted by more than one man during 
  	a single incident and that all of these incidents involved 
  	fraternity members."
  
  

   

• Parrot and Bechhofer, eds, Acquaintance Rape: The Hidden Crime, Wiley, 1991.
  	[This anthology of papers has several articles mentioning the
  	link between fraternities and rape.  See especially Chris
  	O'Sullivan's paper.]
  
  

   

• Parrot, Sexual Assault on Campus, 1993.  
  
  

   

• Sanday, Fraternity Gang Rape, NYU Press, 1990.  [This book also seems
  	to have mysteriously disappeared off the shelves of nearly every
  	college library.  Case study of a number of fraternities at the
  	University of Pennsylvania.  Also details relationship between
  	male bonding and female objectification.  
  	Sanday is probably *the* expert on the anthropology of rape, 
   	studying over a hundred societies and societal structures to see 
  	what sort of society is more likely to find rape acceptable.]
  
  

   

• U.S.News and World Report, October 7, 1991.   "A 1990 national survey of 
  	more than 12,000 students by the Campus Violence Prevention Center 
  	at Maryland's Towson State University found that about half of all 
  	reported acquaintance rapes were committed by frat members and 
  	athletes."  As the article notes, a number of fraternities have
  	put together anti-rape programs; there is no evidence, however,
  	that these programs have had any impact on fraternity rape rates. 
  
  

   

• Utne Reader, May/June 1990, page 69.
  
  

   

• Warshaw, I Never Called It Rape, Harper & Row, 1988.
  
  

   

• Washington Post, 12/20/85, page B3.  [Coverage of the Sandler report on
  	gang rape.]
  

From  a post by an5544@anon.penet.fi in alt.college.fraternities, edited only
for spelling:

According to the Department of Justice's statistics office (as an
aside, all these numbers are collaborated by the FBI's campus-watch
program, begun in 1983):

A male fraternity member was named as the aggressor in 93% of all university-related reported rapes between 1984 and 1993.

In terms of strict geographic locality, more alleged rapes occur within the property lines of fraternity and sorority houses than any other specific area in the United States (excluding military bases and prisons).

More [legal] action (alleging sexual or violent assault) is brought against fraternities than any other school-related student or faculty organizations in the United States (including campus- related military organizations, such as veterans groups and ROTC).

The rate of hazing deaths has not decreased since a brief hiatus in 1962-67. In fact, marked increases in deaths of college males affiliated with fraternities were seen in 1973, 1979, 1985, 1986 and 1990. Since 1990, the rate has been relatively unchanged.

A woman is more likely to report being raped at or after a fraternity- or sorority-organized event where alcoholic beverages are present than outside, by a stranger in any urban area in the United States, with the exception of Detroit, Michigan (+3% difference).

Hope this clears of any inconsistencies. Part of the reason I wrote this is because I was raped myself when pledging OX at the University of California, Berkeley in 1977.

I am a man, obviously. Obviously women do not bear the pain and horror and embarassment of Fraternity rape alone; many men do as well, but, like myself, do not report it.

For that reason, I hope you don't take offence at my wish to remain anonymous. These figures can be verified via the FBI's Statistic Helpline resource (where I found them) or through most any SPSS criminology database that crossreferences both FBI and Dept. of Justice data.

X at Hastings Law College

http://www.menweb.org/throop/rape/frat.html