Originally posted on Millennial:
Thanks largely to the efforts of survivors-turned-activists Annie Clark and Andrea Pino, the founders of End Rape on Campus, sexual assault on campus has moved to the center of public and political debate. Under the Obama Administration, there has been a push to use federal law to hold schools accountable to address the high levels of rape on campus (See, for example, the 2011 “Dear Colleague Letter” from the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights). The resulting efforts from universities represent important steps to respond to victimized students, hold perpetrators accountable, and promote campus safety. At the same time, the sexual patterns on college campus that have come to be known as “hookup culture” have come under scrutiny by popular media and academics alike. Generally speaking, this “hookup culture” dominates social life on college campuses, especially for students of privilege. In this environment there is an inversion of previously dominant dating scripts: today physical encounters, ranging from kissing to intercourse, typically occur outside the context of or precede dating and relationships. These…