“Why Should I, the One Who Was Raped, Be Forced to Take Training in What Sexual Assault Is?” Sexual Assault Survivors’ and Those Who Know Survivors’ Responses to a Campus Sexual Assault Education Program

Abstract

This study critically examines sexual assault survivors’ (people with histories of sexual assault) and those who know survivors’ (those who know and/or who are close to people with histories of sexual assault) responses to a mandatory online campus sexual assault education program using both quantitative survey data ( N = 1,899) and qualitative narratives ( n = 41) from a sample of students at a large southern university with special attention to gender, sexual identity, race, ethnicity, college group affiliations (student athletics, fraternities/sororities, LGBTQ [lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, queer] ally programs), and the intersections between these identities and affiliations. The quantitative findings show that knowing/being a woman survivor is positively related to supportive attitudes toward the sexual assault education program and inversely, knowing/being a man survivor is negatively related to support of the program. In addition, being a woman, being gay/lesbian, being Black/African American, Asian/Pacific Islander, Native American/Alaskan Native, or another race, and being a sorority member are all significantly related to supportive attitudes toward the sexual assault education program. Furthermore, qualitative analyses revealed that the majority of personal survivors’ narratives indicated traumatic/triggering responses whereas most of those who provided narratives about knowing survivors(s) indicated praiseworthy reactions. Overall, the current study offers empirically driven sexual assault education program implications that acknowledge survivors’ and those who know survivors’ experiences with the ultimate goal of determining how to best meet students’ needs.