Sexual assault is intentional sexual contact with another person without that person’s consent.
Sexual contact includes, but is not limited to, intentional touching of the genitals, buttocks, or breasts; coercion to force someone else to touch one’s genitals, buttocks, or breasts; penetration of an orifice (anal, oral or vaginal) with the penis, finger, or other object in a sexual manner; or sexual intercourse. Sexual contact can occur over clothing.
The definition can be read in full as it appears in Carleton College’s policy against sexual misconduct.
Sexual assault can take subtle forms. If a person uses authority, age, size, or status to manipulate another into having sexual contact, sexual assault has occurred. The use of verbal or other threats, either real or implied, to coerce sexual activity is sexual assault. Failure to stop sexual activity when someone asks for the behavior to stop is sexual assault. The common dynamic of all these behaviors is the abuse of power by one to undermine the control and autonomy of another. All of these violate Carleton policy.
Force is not limited to physical violence. Force can also take these forms:
- Threats that compel someone to do something they otherwise wouldn’t do.
- Intimidation, which can be an implied threat that menaces and/or causes reasonable fear.
- Coercion, which is the application of an unreasonable amount of pressure to obtain sexual access. Coercion will be evaluated based on frequency of request, intensity, isolation of the parties, and duration.
Examples
“I had quite a bit to drink at a party and came back to my room to sleep. Sometime later, another student who had earlier told me I’d had too much to drink came into my room and, while I was passed out, initiated sexual intercourse with me.”
This is an example of “incapacitated sex,” which is prohibited by our policies. The student initiating sex “knew or should have known” that the receiving student was “under the influence of alcohol or drugs such that they could not give meaningful consent”.
“After a SUMO movie and a walk up to the Hill, we walked back to my dorm. I kissed him goodnight and he asked to come in. I told him he could for a little while. We sat down on my bed and started kissing. Then he pressed me down and unzipped my pants. I told him to stop, but he kept touching me. All the while he said, “I won’t do anything you don’t want. Relax — you’ll enjoy this.” When my roommate opened the door, he finally stopped.”
In this example, the student speaking articulated a desire that the sexual touching stop. Though verbal refusal is not essential for an incident to be classified as sexual assault, it makes it clear that consent was not present.
“He was a friend of mine, and we liked to hang out. He kept asking if I wanted to have sex, and I kept saying no. One night, I fell asleep on his couch when I was too tired to walk home, and somehow he ended up on top of me, asking again, several times, if I would have sex with him. I told him no, but after a while, I just felt like I couldn’t fend him off anymore. Since then I’ve felt hopeless and depressed. I don’t have fun with friends anymore — I can’t even get out of bed. I haven’t thought about my classes in weeks — what will I tell my parents?”
This is an example of possible coercion — repeatedly requesting sex and not accepting the other party’s refusal.