Nearly 25 percent of women in the United States experience sexual assault at some point in their lives, but most of these women may not know they are victims of a heinous crime.
Several UW-Madison sexual assault experts work on a daily basis to educate students about the reality of the crime and how to debunk common misconceptions.
""As much as people think-—they want to think—that rape is a rare thing, the reality is it … isn't even close to being rare,"" said Kelly Anderson, director of the Dane County Rape Crisis Center.
Anderson said many people believe rape is rare because it is drastically underreported.
Katie Simons, media chair for Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment, a student organization that promotes sexual assault education, said victims are usually hesitant to report the crime because the perpetrator is almost always someone they know.
""We have this idea about this person in the bushes who is going to jump out and rape somebody,"" she said. ""But in reality, based on statistics, they are really people we interact with on a daily basis, an intimate partner or a friend.""
Confusion over sexual assault laws can compound problems with reporting.
""One of the most common calls we get to our center is people saying, ‘I'm not sure if I am calling the right place, I'm not sure if what happened to me was rape,' and what they describe is absolutely rape under Wisconsin statute,"" she said.
Most people are unaware of the definition of sexual consent, which is why victims are often unsure if what they endured was rape, according to Simons.
""Consent is a freely given ‘yes' and not the absence of ‘no,'"" she said. ""A lot of times when you tell people that, they will be like, ‘Wow, I actually have to hear the consent.'""
Although men are commonly viewed as the enemy in sexual assaults, Carmen Hotvedt, student services coordinator at University Health Services, stressed that men, too, can be victims of sexual assault.
""I think we have a lot of cultural denial about male-to-male—we assume all male-to-male sexual contact has something to do with being gay, and that's not always the case,"" she said. ""I think in the next few years we are going to see male victims come forward.""
According to Hotvedt, a major step in ending sexual assault is having a more positive attitude. She said promoting healthy relationships as well as educating students can go a long way toward eliminating many sexual assault misconceptions and ultimately reducing the number of occurrences on campus.
According to Anderson, as a result of the misconceptions, rape is commonly underreported and victims have a hard time coming forward with their stories. They want ""to pretend it never happened.""
""That denial I think is one of the most tragic parts of it, because the window starts to close in terms of being able to get treatment,"" Anderson said. ""Also, the longer it takes for a victim to report, the more likely law enforcement will be to doubt them.""
Many victims of sexual assault do not report the crime because they fear they will receive a citation if they had been drinking illegally. However, Kevin Helmkamp, assistant dean of students, said his office does not punish students if they endure a sexual assault while drinking.
Anderson said a woman who comes forward with her story should be perceived as a hero and not just a girl lying to get someone else in trouble.
""It's not that false reports don't happen,"" she said. ""It's that underreports are by far the bigger issue.""
