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RedZone

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What is the Red Zone?

The period of time at the beginning of the academic year when sexual assault cases on college campuses increase.  It usually starts at the beginning of the fall semester and lasts through Thanksgiving break.  During this time, students are more vulnerable to sexual assault, with over 50% of college sexual assaults occurring in August, September, October, and November.

Some factors that may contribute to the increase in sexual assaults during the Red Zone include:
  • Students are no longer under parental supervision
  • There are more parties related to back-to-school
  • Female first-year students are especially vulnerable as they navigate an unfamiliar campus and social scene
  • Students are unfamiliar with or feel like they are unable to seek resources

 

Consent means you have checked in with your partner and you have enthusiastic, clear, voluntary and ongoing agreement to engage in a specific sexual act. Consent can be shown in a variety of ways including a verbal "yes," someone pulling you closer, head nodding and eye contact.  Individuals who are incapacitated or unconscious cannot consent.  If you aren’t sure you’ve received consent, the best thing to do is ask your partner before engaging in any intimate or sexual act. Consent can be revoked at any time.  Also, prior consent to a specific act does not equal present consent to that act.  Consent is needed with every sexual act, every time, even with a long-term partner like a boyfriend/girlfriend or a spouse.
Sexual assault can take many different forms.  The term sexual assault refers to sexual contact or behavior that occurs without explicit consent of the victim. Some forms of sexual assault include:
  • Attempted rape
  • Fondling or unwanted sexual touching
  • Forcing a victim to perform sexual acts, such as oral sex or penetrating the perpetrator’s body
  • Penetration of the victim’s body, also known as rape

 

Statistics :

  • 13% of all students experience rape or sexual assault through physical force, violence, or incapacitation (among all graduate and undergraduate students).
  • Among graduate and professional students, 9.7% of females and 2.5% of males experience rape or sexual assault through physical force, violence, or incapacitation.
  • Among undergraduate students, 26.4% of females and 6.8% of males experience rape or sexual assault through physical force, violence, or incapacitation.
  • 23.1% of TGQN (transgender, genderqueer, nonconforming) college students have been sexually assaulted.

Stalking is a pattern of repeated and unwanted attention, harassment, contact, or any other course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear.  Stalking behaviors can be experienced physically or through the use of technology.  According to SPARC (Stalking Preventions, Awareness, and Resource Center) 18-24 years olds experience stalking at a higher rate than any other age group and between 6% and 39% of college students report having experienced being stalked since entering college.

Stalking laws and definitions differ from state to state. Stalking behavior can take many forms including:

  • Making threats against someone, or that person's family or friends
  • Non-consensual communication, such as repeated phone calls, emails, text messages, and unwanted gifts
  • Repeated physical or visual closeness, like waiting for someone to arrive at certain locations, following someone, or watching someone from a distance
  • Any other behavior used to contact, harass, track, or threaten someone

Almost half of all sexual assaults involve alcohol use by the perpetrator and/or the victim.  It is common for a person who commits sexual assault to push someone to drink to incapacitation or target a person who is already incapacitated.  Someone who is incapacitated is less likely to be able to resist unwanted sexual acts.  A person who is incapacitated by drugs or alcohol cannot give consent.

Even though there is a relationship between alcohol and sexual assault, sexual assault is never the fault of the survivor.  Sexual violence is always the fault of the person who chooses to interact with someone’s body without consent, regardless of whether that person was using drugs or alcohol, what they were wearing, or how they were dancing or otherwise behaving.

A victim can be blamed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, wearing provocative clothes, or drinking too much.  Interacting with someone’s body in a sexual way without their consent is a choice made by the perpetrator – not the survivor. Sexual assault is never the survivor’s fault.
  1. Be aware of your surroundings.  When exploring your new campus and downtown Pittsburgh, keep an eye on what's going on around you. Consider sticking with a group of people you trust. If you see something happening, say something!
  1. Always have a plan. When going anywhere, whether it is a party or a campus-sanctioned event, make a plan for the whole outing.  Go with your trusted group and stay together.  If the plan changes let everyone in the group know, that way no one finds themselves alone or in an unfamiliar place that can turn unsafe.  Also, it may be a good idea to let someone who isn’t going know where you are and what the plan is, like a roommate or other friend, so you can call them for help if needed.  
  1. If you are of drinking age, protect your drink. Never put your drink down and if possible, keep it covered. Companies like Nightcap make reusable and disposable drink covers.  Never accept a drink you did not see prepared, made yourself, or a bottle you didn’t open.  If you suspect someone put something in your drink, let someone know as soon as possible.  If you suspect someone has been drugged, stay with them until help arrives 
  1. Consent is key. Understanding consent and its ability to be given or taken away at any time is important. Consent must be freely given. Consent cannot be given if the person is incapacitated by alcohol or drugs. Consent is not freely given if coercion or violence is used.  Also, if consent was given in the past, it does not mean ongoing consent is assumed.
  1. Don’t just be a bystander. If you see something happening that looks unsafe, don’t just look the other way. Stepping in when you see an unsafe situation can look different for every person and situation.  While stepping into a situation can make a difference, it shouldn’t put you or anyone else at risk.  Some ways you can step in and intercept an unsafe situation is: 
  • Going to the person who is at risk and talking to them directly. Even if you do not know this person, act like you do. Ask them something like “Are you ready to go grab food, everyone is leaving” or even “The Uber is here, are you ready to go?”. 
  • Asking someone you trust to talk to the aggressor and pull him away from the conversation with a fake emergency or need.  
  • Sometimes going up to a person in a pair or group is even more effective than alone. 
  • If you think it is a more serious situation, you can always grab security, the host of the party or occasion you’re at, or even call the police to intercept.