ShowingPresenting Sexual Trauma on Duke’s Campus

&Hiding

Omnipresent, Yet Elusive

57 Chronicle Articles in the past 12 months

Referenced 3 consecutive years in the Me Too Monologues

Studies report 25-30 percent of females will be raped in college

Flyering campaigns

Exhibits in the Bryan Center

Statute of Limitations debate

Greek Women’s Initiative reported 31 percent of Duke Women had received “unwanted sexual contact”

No student at Duke has ever been expelled for sexual assault

You Know these People.

Unsafe SpacesFor an affected student (AS), invisible context is overlayed onto seemingly normal spaces in a highly triggering

manner.

Stationary spaces vs. fluid spaces

Entrance to Perkins Wannamaker bench

Bus stop where I was found unconscious

Stairs down to EdensYearby

Kilgo

Southgate

First Floor Bostock

West Campus Archways

RandolphWilson Gym C-1

Loop

You Know these People.You probably know an AS. You probably know you know an AS.

But you probably also know a perpetrator. And you probably have no clue.

Omnipresent, Yet Elusive

“He takes up so much space, you have to try to fit into the spaces

that are left and sometimes those spaces collide.”AS are highly aware of the possibility of encountering their perpetrator.

Sometimes it is unavoidable: they share a class, or have mutual friends. The AS must navigate these physical triggers usually alone and in silence, in spaces on campus that others view as safe, making a concerted effort to appear unaffected to avoid shame and embarrassment. If an AS in unable to keep her emotions contained, those around her will be thrown off by and question her seemingly bizarre behavior, and by extension the AS herself.

Safe Spaces?• Women’s Center*– Triggering

• CAPS*– Judged, out-of-touch

• Common Ground**– Stagnation in “Survivor Mode*”

Works for Women’s Center

Continued role in CG

Self as a Space“Wearing” a rape.

Revealing clothing* “In the daytime… nobody could touch me.”

Bulimia*“Everything would go away if I weighed 20 lbs less.”

Cutting*“For a moment my head was silent.”

Promiscuous Sexual Activity**“I thought the more sex I had the less important the rape would become*.”

Drug Abuse**“I just wanted to check out for a bit*.”

Excessive alcohol consumption***“When it happened I didn’t drink…and it didn’t fucking matter*.”

Control vs. Internalization of Shame

Safe Spaces?Relationships

Disclosing experiences. If/when. Implications of choosing not to.

Sex: An expected part of a college relationship feels like a punishment*

Fear of emotional attachment.