Study, "Sexual assault resource availability on Texas higher education campuses"

Study, "Sexual assault resource availability on Texas higher education campuses"

While research consistently estimates that one in every four women in higher education will experience rape or attempted rape during their college careers, limited proactive approaches to address the issue are found on Texas college campuses, according to the Crime Victims' Institute at Sam Houston State University.

A study of 74 two-and four-year institutions of higher education in Texas, published by the Crime Victims' Institute, found that while campuses have made strides in addressing sexual assault, efforts continue to be necessary to prevent and respond to the issue. The report was distributed to the Texas State Legislature.

On a positive note, most campuses offer health services, law enforcement, and safety infrastructure, but many fall short on counseling services, victim advocacy, educational prevention, awareness raising efforts, men's programs and bystander intervention, the report said.

"Knowing what is currently being offered to students and student victims on Texas college campuses gives us the unique opportunity to augment what is already being done," said Cortney Franklin, one of the authors of the report. "Universities have traditionally put the onus of prevention on the victim, with less attention on promoting education that instructs would-be perpetrators about why it is inappropriate to coerce sex from women."

According to the Uniform Crime Report in 2011, 45 forcible rapes were reported on the 74 public and private campuses included in the study, with more than half of the colleges reporting no forcible rapes that year. Projections based on reporting practices would estimate, however, that approximately 563 students were sexually victimized that year but did not come forward to authorities, a stark figure that doesn't include those exploited through the use of alcohol.

Here are some of the major findings from the study, "Sexual Assault Resource Availability on Texas Higher Education Campuses."

81 percent of campuses offered counseling services, but only three provided rape crisis or victim advocacy centers on campus, with 15 percent offering resource centers for women and only one campus offering a resource center for men.

While 75 percent of college campuses in Texas provide alcohol prevention programs to warn students against the perils of overconsumption, only seven campuses require mandatory sexual assault prevention programs and one in five campuses among those surveyed have no sexual assault prevention programs.

Few prevention programs target men or encourage bystanders to intervene, despite demonstrated success of such programs in changing behaviors, including encouraging empathy among men and women who have the power to stop violence.

Many campuses are relying on strategies that prevent students from becoming easy targets, such as blue light emergency phones, escort service, changes in landscaping and self-defense, but taken alone, these strategies are less likely to be successful than when combined with prevention techniques and educational campaigns.

71 percent of all campuses provide on-site health clinics and nearly three-quarters of those offer woman's wellness exams, although only 15 percent of the campuses are staffed with an OB-GYN physician.

Sex trafficking and exploitation of minors in the U.S: A reminder that these people are victims not criminals

Sex trafficking and exploitation of minors in the U.S: A reminder that these people are victims not criminals

Commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors are serious problems in the United States with long-term adverse consequences for children and society as a whole, and federal agencies should work with state and local partners to raise awareness of these issues and train professionals who work with youths to recognize and assist those who are victimized or at risk, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council. Minors who are prostituted or sexually exploited in other ways should be treated as victims rather than arrested and prosecuted as criminals, as they currently are in most states, the report says.

"Commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors are often-overlooked forms of child abuse," said Richard Krugman, co-chair of the committee that wrote the report, and vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the University of Colorado School of Medicine. "Our national, state, and local laws and policies should recognize that and provide these children and adolescents with the support they need. Right now, they are often invisible to us, and when we do recognize them, we fail to see them as victims and survivors of abuse and violence. We hope our report will help open our nation's eyes to a serious domestic problem in need of solutions."

Commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors refer to a range of crimes, including recruiting or transporting minors for the purpose of sexual exploitation, exploiting them through prostitution, or exploiting them through survival sex (exchanging sexual acts for something of value, such as shelter or food), among other offenses. Young victims and survivors of these crimes face both immediate and long-term social, legal, and health consequences. As directed by its charge, the committee focused its report on exploitation and trafficking of minors who are citizens or lawful permanent residents of the U.S. and its territories, but urged readers and policymakers to consider the broader implications of its recommendations as they apply to all children and adolescents.

Despite the gravity of the problem, there is no reliable estimate of the scope or prevalence of commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors, the report says; estimates of the number of prostituted children and adolescents in the U.S., for example, have ranged from 1,400 to 2.4 million. These crimes are overlooked and almost surely underreported because they frequently happen at the margins of society and behind closed doors, and the young people involved often do not recognize themselves as victims of abuse. Those especially vulnerable to exploitation include youths who have been neglected or abused; those in foster care or juvenile detention; lesbian, gay, transgender, and bisexual youth; racial and ethnic minorities; and homeless, runaways, and "thrown-away" children who have been asked or told to leave home.

Efforts to prevent the commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of children in the U.S. are largely absent, the report says, and though efforts to respond to these problems are emerging, they are generally insufficient, uncoordinated, and unevaluated. Many professionals who interact with youth -- such as teachers, health care providers, and child welfare and law enforcement professionals -- are either unaware that trafficking and exploitation happen in their communities or lack the knowledge and tools to identify and respond to young people who are at risk.

Commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors should be understood as acts of abuse and violence, the report says. All states have statutory rape laws specifying that a child under a certain age cannot legally consent to having sex and must be treated as a victim of a crime. And federal law on sex trafficking recognizes children as victims. However, in most states, commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors often are viewed through the lens of prostitution laws. As a result, laws allow prostituted minors to be arrested and charged with crimes instead of treating these sexually exploited minors as victims of crimes. These children and adolescents may be subject to arrest, detention, adjudication or conviction, and commitment or incarceration; they may have permanent records as offenders.

The report calls for all national, state, local, tribal, and territorial jurisdictions to develop laws and policies that redirect young victims and survivors of commercial sexual exploitation under the age of 18 away from arrest and prosecution and toward systems, agencies, and services that are equipped to meet their needs. A small but growing number of states have enacted "safe harbor" laws designed to send young victims of exploitation to agencies that provide supportive services instead of sending them to the criminal or juvenile justice systems.

The U.S. departments of Justice, Health and Human Services, and Education, working with other partners, should support national, regional, state, and local efforts to raise awareness of these crimes, the report says. These efforts should include training for professionals and others who routinely interact with minors. Health care and child welfare workers, the education sector, and the private sector have an important role to play in preventing, identifying, and responding to these problems. Efforts should also include campaigns to raise public awareness and specific strategies for raising awareness among children and adolescents. In addition, in the absence of an exhaustive list of resources for victim and support services, a digital information-sharing platform should be created to deliver reliable, real-time information on how to prevent, identify, and respond to the problem.

Despite the hard work of prosecutors and law enforcement in many jurisdictions, individuals who sexually exploit children and adolescents largely escape accountability, the report says. All jurisdictions should review and strengthen laws that hold exploiters, traffickers, and solicitors accountable for their role. These laws should include a particular emphasis on deterring demand, both through prevention efforts and penalties for those who solicit sex with minors.

In addition, the report recommends that the departments of Justice, Health and Human Services, and Education collaborate and partner with others to implement a national research agenda to advance understanding of this kind of exploitation and develop evidence-informed interventions to prevent youth from becoming victims and to assist those who have been exploited.

"It's time to direct greater effort to preventing this kind of abuse, identifying young people who have become ensnared in it, and developing effective approaches that can enable them to reclaim their lives," said committee co-chair Ellen Wright Clayton, Craig-Weaver Professor of Pediatrics and professor of law at Vanderbilt University.

Abused women often fear for pets left behind

Abused women often fear for pets left behind

Veterinarians and women's shelters can make it easier for abused women to decide to leave their homes, particularly when the abuser is using a beloved pet as part of a campaign to control his partner, reports a new University of Illinois study.

He made me stand there and . . . watch [him kill my cat]. And he was like: That could happen to you, one woman in the study said.

"These incidences are very symbolic of what the abuser is capable of doing. He's sending the message: I can do something just as severe to hurt you," said Jennifer Hardesty, a U of I associate professor of human development and family studies.

For the study, Hardesty interviewed 19 abused women about their decisions on what to do with their pets when they were seeking help from a shelter.

A recent study found that 34 percent of women had delayed leaving out of concern for their pets because their abuser had threatened and harmed the animals in the past, Hardesty noted.

"For abused women, a pet can be a treasured source of unconditional love and comfort - maybe even protection - in a time of transition. Many are strongly bonded to their animals," she said.

Hardesty stressed that not all abused women are strongly bonded to their pets, and not all abusers target pets as part of their campaign to control their partner.

She does recommend that shelter personnel ask women if they have pets in their home, if they need help placing the pets somewhere, and if something should be done to protect the animals.

At present, only a few shelters welcome pets. In response, the U of I College of Veterinary Medicine is pioneering a program that provides a safe haven for pets until women in shelters can find housing and reclaim their animals.

"It would be ideal if the pet was able to stay with the woman at the shelter, but you'd need a reasonably well socialized and non-aggressive animal for that, and it would require a major shift in facilities and training for shelter personnel," said Marcella Ridgway, a clinical associate professor in the U of I College of Veterinary Medicine.

According to Ridgway, the U of I program provides up to 30 days of care for pets of women staying at two local shelters. Although many people have a stereotypical idea about pets that have been exposed to violence, the veterinarians typically encounter animals with subtle indicators of a problem, such as having fallen behind on vaccinations or heartworm checks.

"Student volunteers care for the pets and arrange visits between the women and their pets. These students may have some knowledge of interpersonal violence, and they see this as a way to help. Some are able to see the animal come in and then witness the reunion at the end so it's quite fulfilling for them," said Cheryl Weber, student services coordinator and grief educator at the college.

Hardesty advised that domestic violence shelter staff:

Inform women seeking shelter about safe haven programs and other emergency resources for pets, preferably before they arrive at the shelter

Provide opportunities for women to discuss their pets

Incorporate pets into active safety planning efforts

Educate and train staff about sensitive approaches that acknowledge that women have different bonds to their pets Collaborate with community partners to develop safe haven programs or other safe options for pets

Ridgway recommended that veterinary professionals:

Help spread the word about safe haven programs and emergency resources for pets

Become educated and promote awareness about the links between domestic violence and pet abuse

Be knowledgeable and nonjudgmental with clients who disclose domestic violence

Address pet health care issues in an honest and thorough but nonjudgmental manner, using a triaged approach to avoid overwhelming clients

Assist clients in consideration of rational choices for long-term planning for pets

Collaborate with community partners to develop safe haven programs or other safe options for pets

Contribute to broader professional discussions about effective veterinary approaches to domestic violence, including routine screening

"Programs like this one empower abused women. When a woman who has been victimized makes a decision to protect a beloved pet, she's not a victim, and that's important," Hardesty said.

Breast health linked to eating peanut butter and nuts

Breast health linked to eating peanut butter and nuts

By eating more peanut butter during their high school years, girls could be improving their breast health in adulthood, according to a US study published recently in the journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment.

Dr. Graham Colditz, of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and colleagues found that girls aged 9 to 15 who ate peanut butter and nuts twice a week were 39% less likely to develop benign breast disease by the age of 30 than girls who did not.

Benign breast disease includes lumps or tender spots that turn out to be fibrous tissue and/or cysts, as well as other conditions like hyperplasia, an overgrowth of the cells that line the ducts in the glandular breast tissue.

Although benign breast disease is not cancerous, it can raise the risk of developing breast cancer later in life.

Dr. Colditz, associate director for cancer prevention and control at the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine, says:

"These findings suggest that peanut butter could help reduce the risk of breast cancer in women."

For their study, he and his colleagues looked at health data on over 9,000 American schoolgirls recruited to The Growing Up Today Study between 1996 and 2001. This included detailed information about food consumption as captured in food frequency questionnaires that the girls filled in on enrollment.

The data also included reports from the girls between 2005 and 2010, when they were 18 to 30 years old, that indicated whether they had ever been diagnosed with biopsy-confirmed benign breast disease.

When they compared the two sets of data, the researchers found that participants who had eaten peanut butter or nuts twice a week were 39% less likely than peers who never ate those foods to receive a diagnosis for benign breast disease.

The data suggest pulse foods - soy and other beans and lentils - and corn may also be linked to reduced risk of benign breast disease, but because they did not feature as much in the diets of these girls, the evidence was not so strong.

The researchers also note that:

"Girls with a family history of breast cancer had significantly lower risk if they consumed these foods or vegetable fat."

And they concluded that "consumption of vegetable protein, fat, peanut butter, or nuts by older girls may help reduce their risk of BBD [benign breast disease] as young women."

This is not the first study to tie diets rich in vegetable fats - such as those present in peanut butter, nuts and pulse foods - to a lower risk for benign breast disease. But it is the first to find the evidence by comparing data captured during adolescence with followed-up cases of diagnosed disease, as opposed to asking young women to recall what they ate when they were in high school.

Dr. Colditz says girls would do well to eat more peanut butter and nuts and consume less junk foods and sugary drinks, especially in view of the rise in obesity.

Funds from the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) helped finance the study.

Another study published recently in the journal BMC Medicine also suggests eating nuts may cut risk of death from cancer and heart disease.

Written by Catharine Paddock PhD

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