Sexual Assault and Bullying: The Struggles for Power Within Them
Sexual assault and bullying are social ills that have taken place for quite some time, regardless of society and culture. When one considers these phenomena, there are actually quite a few similarities between them. In both instances, there are victims and those who are aggressors. There are also disturbing patterns of both of these behaviors, which can become chronic -- both for the victims and the perpetrators of these acts. When one gets to the root causes of these activities, oftentimes they are about power and the wanton exercise of power over those with less power. This similarity is the most eminent between them, and is the key to both identifying and even preventing such behavior.
The prevalence of sexual assault on college campus, and its many manifestations, reinforces the viewpoint that power is the crux of such behavior. The incidence of sexual assault on college campuses has risen in the last couple of years, as has the notoriety surrounding such activity due to some prominent examples. The report of the alleged gang rape that published in Rolling Stone may have contained a fair amount of embellishments and inaccuracies (Somaiya, 2015). Still, it illustrates the point that on college campuses in which fraternity and sorority activity is a major part of social life, there is a fair amount of autonomy and power that attends young men in these settings. Those attending fraternity functions have to contend with the fact that frequently, these men have numeric advantages in social situations, and follow a bond that oftentimes exists well beyond graduation. These factors equate to power, as does the social standing of these groups on campus -- especially those that have lengthy and decorated histories at particular educational institutions.
Bullying is also frequently about the manifestation of power. Although bullying and sexual abuse can take place anywhere, it is notable that some of the quintessential examples of these actions take place in school settings. The power relationships that are present in sexual assault are also present in bullying in terms of aggressors and victims. However, one of the critical facets of bullying is that oftentimes, bullies are actually the ones that have deep rooted problems and who are in need of help (Margot, 2013). This is a critical aspect of bullying related to power, especially when it is applied to examples of sexual assault. Still, the reason that people bully others -- at least in the case of classic classroom or academic environment bullying -- is because they have some manifestation of unhappiness in their own lives. Research indicates that many bullies have dissatisfying home lives which may involve poverty, sexual abuse, psychological issues, and situations in which they in turn are bullied (Margot, 2013). Therefore, they become bullies because extorting or agonizing someone who has less power than them -- such as students who are smaller, poorer, poorer dressed, etc. -- is one of the only ways that they can exert, or even revel, in the intoxication of power.
The power of the notion that bullies themselves are actually victims does not appear to have immediate parallels in the realm of sexual assault. Sexual assault may be a manifestation of power, but rarely is that exercise of power the sole means by which the perpetrator can experience power. There are numerous examples in which people accused of sexual assault have social power in a number of disparate manifestations. College students who are in prominent fraternities and who are accused or convicted of sexual assault have access to social eminence in other ways. The same notion applies to the sexual assault charges levied against prominent celebrity figures. Bill Cosby, for example, had access to social power in terms of his fame and fortune (Roig-Franzia et al.). One can make the same argument about Mike Tyson, who also served time on sexual assault charges (Muscatine). Thus, the victimization of the aggressor that is evident in bullying does not directly correlate to the victimization of the aggressor in sexual assault. One can possibly categorize this difference as the intoxication of power found in sexual assault versus the perception that bullying is the sole access to power for individuals who otherwise lack it.
At this point it is prudent to detail some of the intricacies of sexual assault, which is itself a somewhat broad category under which a number of offenses are stratified. Perhaps the most notorious manifestation of sexual assault is rape, in which...
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