Karen G. Weiss

Male Sexual Victimization Examining Men’s Experiences of Rape and Sexual Assault

This study examines men’s sexual victimization experiences in the United States using a nationally representative sample of victim narratives from the National Crime Victimization Survey. An analysis of men’s incidents reveals many similarities to women’s rapes and sexual assaults as well as some rather gendered differences, particularly in regard to offender sex, victims’ willingness to report to officials, and a few uniquely masculine ways in which some men frame their experiences. The study begins an important exploration of men’s descriptions of their sexual victimization experiences and responses and encourages future empirical and theoretical research of this understudied population of victims.

Too Ashamed to Report: Deconstructing the Shame of Sexual Victimization

This article deconstructs the shame of sexual victimization by highlighting shame as a culturally mediated response triggered by threats to victims’ gendered selves. An exploration of victims’ narratives from the National Crime Victimization Survey reveals that 13% of respondents who experience rape or sexual assault express shame (i.e., self-blame, humiliation, or fear of public scrutiny) in their narratives. Looking separately at women’s and men’s shame narratives, the study delineates the cultural ideologies regarding gender and sexuality that contribute to victims’ definitions of their situations as shameful, and ultimately, to their reluctance to report incidents to the police.

Intoxication and Crime Risk Contextualizing the Effects of “Party” Routines on Recurrent Physical and Sexual Attacks Among College Students

Despite low overall crime rates, physical and sexual attacks are not uncommon at many American residential universities and colleges based, in part, on a strong association between intoxication and crime risk. Drawing upon concepts from a routine activities perspective and using ordinal logistic regression, this study contextualizes the effects of students’ “party” routines on their risk of recurrent crime victimization while at college. Findings show that, for women, spending time at bars doubles their risks of repeat physical attack and unwanted sexual contact. For men, crime risk is better predicted by types of substances used. Specifically, alcohol and pharmaceutical drugs increase men’s risk of repeat physical attack, whereas marijuana decreases risk. Still, marijuana use is the only routine that increases risk of repeat rape for both women and men. Implications of findings for student safety and strategies for reducing recurrent victimization within a party context are discussed.

Mandatory Reporting of Sexual Misconduct at College: A Critical Perspective

ABSTRACT Many universities and colleges now require all “responsible employees,” including faculty, to report known or suspected sexual misconduct to designated Title IX administrators. The intention of these mandatory reporting policies is to ensure institutional accountability and compliance with Title IX’s prohibition against sexual and gender-based discrimination. Yet, critics argue that such policies are overreaching, paternalistic and, ironically, discriminatory. Drawing from prior research on sexual victimization and original exploratory data on gender-based college harassment, this article provides a critical perspective that delineates both the intended goals and unintended consequences of Title IX’s mandatory reporting policies, specifically focusing on three overlapping issues: ambiguous definitions, reporting risks, and faculty’s role in disclosure. We conclude by proposing alternative strategies for achieving Title IX’s objectives.

Contextualizing the Drink-Spiking Narrative That “Everyone Knows”:

Accounts of drink tampering and subsequent sexual assault are commonly shared among students on college campuses, with more than a third of college students in one study claiming to know someone who has been drugged without their knowledge. This phenomenon has produced two schools of thought. A risk mitigation approach attempts to isolate and measure the risks of drink-spiking as a real problem, whereas a social constructionist approach treats drink-spiking as a cultural narrative, even a myth, that symbolizes broader social anxieties. This article critically assesses both arguments and proposes a theoretical middle ground that attempts to contextualize drink-spiking narratives as a site for critical inquiry. We argue that researchers are hampered by an unwillingness to see drink-spiking as both a cultural phenomenon and a problem of consequence. In our critical discussion, we propose a theoretical framework that contextualizes drink-spiking narratives that “everyone knows” as learned, shared, and reified within select social spaces, namely, “party scenes” rife with ambiguity and conflict. Within these contexts, narratives of drink-spiking are constructs that have both utility and consequence. As such, drink-spiking narratives present a problem worth inquiry.

Marijuana, Gender, and Health-Related Harms: Disentangling Marijuana's Contribution to Risk in a College “Party” Context

This study examines marijuanas contribution to “risky partying” and the health-related harms experienced by college students in a “party” context. Data from a self-report survey of 787 undergraduate students at a large residential university show that marijuana users are more likely than non-users to drink excessively, use other drugs and, in turn, experience health-related harms (illness, blackouts, injury from accidents, and injury from fights). But it is primarily the frequent and heavy use of alcohol by marijuana users, and additional drugs for men, that contribute to these harms. Within a party context, students who use alcohol, marijuana and other drugs (AMD users) experience the most harms, and female AMD users experience more harms than men, despite using less. But even as marijuana use increases womens harms (specifically, blackouts and injuries from accidents), marijuana has no contributory effect on men. Implications for future research are discussed.

Discretion and the Sex Dyad: Exploring the Interactive Effects of Offender and Victim Sex on Reporting and Arrest of One-on-One Assaultive Crime

Gender has been hypothesized to affect how violent offenders are treated within the criminal justice system, but studies have tended to ignore the role of the victim in decision making. This study explores the interactive effects of offender and victim sex (i.e., the sex dyad) on reporting and arrest of one-on-one assaultive crime. Using data from the National Crime Victimization Survey and National Incident-Based Reporting System, findings show that male-on-female offenses are reported to police more often than other dyads, but female-on-male offenses result in more arrests. Meanwhile, female-on-female offenses result in fewer arrests, despite nonsignificant differences in reporting. Implications of findings for theory and future research on gender discretion are discussed.

“Fights Happen . . . It’s Just What Drunks Do”: Alcohol and the Situational Normalization of College Student Fighting

Fights are common at many U.S. residential universities and colleges and often seen as “normal” by students who witness them. This study explores the normalization of college fighting by using a situational learning approach that highlights definitions as learned and shared within a drinking context. Exploratory analysis of survey data finds that nine in 10 fights at college occur when at least one participant is intoxicated, and more than half of fights take place at drinking hot spots (e.g., bars, parties). Fights that occur at drinking hot spots are also twice as likely to be seen as normal (e.g., ordinary, harmless) by students who witness them, even after controlling for the seriousness of the fight (as measured by injury, number, and gender of fighters). Students who drink are four times as likely as nondrinkers to normalize fights. Yet, fights are no more likely to be normalized when fighters or witnesses are intoxicated, suggesting expectations related to intoxication and the drinking context may have a greater impact on definitions than alcohol itself. We conclude with a discussion of the theoretical and practical relevance of situational learning in future research on fighting and violence more broadly.

Studentification and Disorder in a College Town: STUDENTIFICATION AND DISORDER IN A COLLEGE TOWN

This study uses interview and focus group data to examine how residents perceive and cope with studentification, disorder, and neighbor conflict in a college town. First, we find that nonstudent residents perceive studentification as the cause of neighborhood decline, but mainly blame larger forces and local actors, such as the university, city officials, and local developers, rather than the students. Second, we find that one way that residents adapt to disorder is by using active strategies to defend their neighborhoods, but they believe this role has been forced upon them by the failure of social institutions to address the local problems. Third, given the limited effectiveness of social control efforts and given the structural barriers to fostering order, residents have come to adopt passive strategies that normalize disorder and allow them to avoid further conflict with neighbors.

Lifetime Likelihood Computations With NIBRS

This article explores the conditions and assumptions under which it is possible to use National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) in lifetime crime computations, particularly for nonfatal violent crimes. We describe methods for using NIBRS to study lifetime risk for a variety of crimes and show how researchers and policy makers can apply these methods using readily available software such as Microsoft Excel. Finally, we demonstrate in two different studies how NIBRS can be used to estimate lifetime risk at the state and national levels. In doing so, we introduce the concept of the “average person” in each age–sex–race grouping to calculate the risk of victimization for this hypothetical person only.