Date rape is one of the most underreported crimes on college campuses. In 1985, Ms. conducted a three-year study among college-aged women to learn more about their experiences.

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From The Vault: ‘The Story of an Epidemic and Those Who Deny It’ (October 1985) 

It was the beginning of spring break when I was a junior. I was in good spirits and had been out to dinner with an old friend. We returned to his college (dorm). There were some seniors on the ground floor drinking beer, playing bridge. I’m an avid player, so we joined them, joked around a lot. One of them, John, wasn’t playing, but he was interested in the game. I found him attractive.

We talked, and it turned out we had a mutual friend, shared experiences. It was getting late, and my friend had gone up to bed, so John offered to see me safely home. We took our time, sat outside talking for a while. Then he said we could get inside one of the most beautiful campus buildings, which was usually locked at night. I went with him.

Once we were inside, he kissed me. I didn’t resist, I was excited. He kissed me again. But when he tried for more, I said no. He just grew completely silent. I couldn’t get him to talk to me anymore. He pinned me down and ripped off my pants. I couldn’t believe it was happening to me.

Such denial, the inability to believe that someone they know could have raped them, is a common reaction of victims of date rape, say psychologists and counselors who have researched the topic and treated these women. In fact, so much silence surrounds this kind of crime that many women are not even aware that they have been raped.

In one study, Mary P. Koss, a psychology professor at Kent State University, asked female students if they had had sexual intercourse against their will through use of or threat of force (the minimal legal definition of rape). Of those who answered yes, only 57 percent went on to identify their experience as rape. Koss also identified the other group (43 percent) as those who hadn’t even acknowledged the rape to themselves.

“I can’t believe it’s happening on our campus” is usually the initial response to reports such as Koss’. She also found that one in eight women students had been raped, and one in four were victims of attempted rape. Since only 4 percent of all those reported the attack, Koss concluded that “at least 10 times more rapes occur among college students than are reflected in official crime statistics.” (Rape is recognized to be the most underreported of all crimes, and date rape is among the least reported, least believed, and most difficult to prosecute, second only to spouse rape.)

Most victims of date rape initially blame themselves for what happened, and almost none report it to campus authorities. And most academic institutions prefer to keep it that way, judging from the lack of surveys on date rape––all of which makes one wonder if they don’t actually blame the victim, too.

As long as such attacks continue to be a “hidden” campus phenomenon, unreported and unacknowledged by many college administrators, law enforcement personnel and students, the problem will persist.

Of course, the term has become much better known in the three years since Ms. reported on the prevalence of such experiences. It has been the subject of talk shows such as The Phil Donahue Show and TV dramas (Cagney & Lacey)—but for most people it remains a contradiction in terms.

“Everybody has a stake in denying that it’s happening so often,” says Martha Burt. “For women, it’s self-protective. …. If only bad girls get raped, then I’m personally safe. For men, it’s the denial that ‘nice’ people like them do it.”

When he tried for more, I said no. … He pinned me down and ripped off my pants. I couldn’t believe it was happening to me.

Statistics alone will not solve the problem of date rape, but they oculd help bring it out into the open—which is why Ms. undertook the first nationwide survey on college campuses.

The Ms. Magazine Campus Project on Sexual Assault, directed by Mary P. Koss at Kent State and funded by the National Center for the Prevention and Control of Rape, reached more than 7,000 students at a nationally representative sample of 35 schools to find out how often, under what circumstances, and with what aftereffects a wide range of sexual assaults, including date rape, took place. 

Results of the Ms. Study

One quarter of women in college today have been the victims of rape or attempted rape, and almost 90 percent of them knew their assailants. Preliminary results of the three-year study show the following;

• 52 percent of all the women surveyed have experienced some form of sexual victimization.
• One in every eight women were the victims of rape, according to the prevailing legal definition.
• One in every 12 men admitted to having fulfilled the prevailing definition of rape or attempted rape, yet virtually none of those men identified themselves as rapists.
• Of the women who were raped, almost three-quarters did not identify their experience as rape.
• 47 percent of the rapes were by first or casual dates, or by romantic acquaintances.
• Three-quarters of the women raped were between ages 15 and 21; the average age at the time of the rape was 18.
• More than 80 percent of the rapes occurred off campus, with more than so percent on the man’s turf: home, car, or other.
• More than one-third of the women raped did not discuss their experience with anyone; more than go percent did not tell the police.

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