Leanna Papp led this project, with the goal to understand how many terms were in use to describe sexual assault in 2016-2017, and how the specific term “sexual assault” was defined across and within schools. We collected and analyzed publicly available sexual misconduct policies from our sample of 381 schools. We focused our attention on a single document per school and opted, when possible, to code sexual misconduct policies (SMPs) or similar standalone policies (e.g., Title IX policies).
Through our research, we documented a “conceptual morass” around sexual assault; more specifically, we found 125 unique terms. Not only were the defined terms inconsistent across policies, but definitions of “sexual assault” also varied between and within schools. Most schools had a broad definition of “sexual assault,” meaning that the term was used to describe a range of assaultive behavior and was not limited to penetrative acts. Some schools used a narrow definition of “sexual assault,” where sexual assault was defined explicitly as some form of non-consensual penetration. Our findings illustrate a lack of shared understanding in higher education of what sexual assault is and how to describe it in policies. While only higher education policies were coded, our findings mirror misunderstandings among the general public regarding sexual assault and other forms of harassment.
Figure: Visual representation of term prevalence. Text size indicates how often the term was used in the coded policies. Large text indicates the term was coded more frequently, and small text means the term was coded less frequently.
Paper:
Leanna J. Papp, Sandra R. Levitsky, Elizabeth A. Armstrong, and Kamaria B. Porter. (2023). “How Many Terms Does It Take to Define Sexual Assault? Inconsistencies in U.S. Higher Education Sexual Misconduct Policies.” Violence Against Women. DOI: 10.1177/10778012231189477
Team Members:
Acknowledgements: Olivia Drlik, undergraduate research assistant
