So for my “Op-Ed” piece I found this really interesting study that answered some questions regarding sexual assaults and american students who study abroad. The researchers had several hypothesis before starting the actual study. Some things I thought of were how sexual assaults happening in other countries would compare to the United States and did any of these assaults have to do with the female students being from America. After the study they found that there is more of a chance of a sexual assault happening to a female student while she is studying abroad in another country than if she was studying in the U.S. I thought this was interesting because my first initial thought was that there would be more assaults in America just because our country seems to be very corrupt when it comes to sex and how we perceive women but I was wrong. I wondered why? Why are these girls being assaulted more often when they studied abroad? And then I put myself in their shoes. You’re in a new country, away from your parents and your American friends. Studying abroad brings about a new sense of independence that you might not normally feel when you are home. I could venture to say that these students might even feel a sense of invincibility studying abroad but, as you can see from this study, that is very much not true. So what can we do about this? The first thing is education! We have to educate these students on safety and precautions that can keep them from becoming a statistic! I think a lot of times these girls might be more willing to keep their guard down because of the foreign men. It sounds funny but I know when I meet a guy who is foreign (especially from European countries) I seem to fall in love instantly (not really but you know what I mean girls). So does this have something to do with girls being assaulted when studying abroad? We might not ever know the answer to this because it could depend on each situation. But the most important thing for American universities to do is to help prepare these girls when they are planning on studying abroad. Programs and the foreign universities also need to take some more precautions for girls to keep them safe! What do you all think? Were these statistics what you thought they would be or were you surprised by the results? Do you think there are any other reasons why there are more assaults happening while students study abroad? I will include the link for the article below.
http://jiv.sagepub.com.jproxy.lib.ecu.edu/content/early/2014/12/17/0886260514563833.full.pdf+html