Exposing the Exposees- Mapping UMD

The podcast episode discusses the issue of indecent exposures on the University of Maryland's College Park campus. The dates of all the emails regarding these incidents are mentioned, highlighting the frequency of the problem. Women on campus have been taking precautions such as carrying pepper spray and sharing their location with friends. The issue affects student life as all the victims have been UMD students. Indecent exposures on college campuses are a global problem, but the university's president does not acknowledge it. A study shows that nearly half of women have been victims of indecent exposure, with many experiencing it multiple times. The number of indecent exposures on campus has increased compared to the previous year. Women often do not report these incidents due to fear of not being taken seriously. The emotional and psychological impact on victims is significant. The university's decision to defund live surveillance cameras decreases safety. There are concerns that th Welcome to Mapping UMD, a podcast that discusses life and history on the University of Maryland's College Park campus. In this episode, Exposing the Exposees, we will discuss indecent exposures. August 22nd, September 3rd, September 29th, October 5th, October 25th, November 17th, November 21st. These are the dates of all the emails regarding indecent exposures at UMD so far this semester. Some of them are only four days apart. The issue we are discussing in this project is the series of indecent exposures that have been on UMD's campus recently. We've noticed that women have been talking about being more vigilant when walking home, carrying pepper spray or mace, and sharing their location with a friend just in case anything happens. This problem affects student life because it is something that happens on campus, and to UMD students specifically. All of the victims of indecent exposures have been students on campus who were going about their day and then had to experience a form of sexual harassment. The indecent exposures have happened on campus and seem to be a UMD specific problem. All over the world, women on college campuses often become targets for sexual assault. We hear story after story about the dangers of being a woman on a college campus. Today on campus, we came across a poster on the side of the diner at North Campus that said Pine says no sexual assault problem here, with statistics on 213 sexual assault reports and 11 sexual assault investigations, disproving his statement. Even the president here at UMD doesn't acknowledge this blatant problem and dismisses it. We receive constant emails about indecent exposures on and around campus, to the point where they are commonplace. These kinds of emails should not be considered normal, and awareness and change is highly necessary. Indecent exposures are a very big problem. A study done by Sharon Riordan used a cross-sectional sample of women that was representative of women of all ages, races, and more, and it gave results in which 48.6% of the women had been victims of an indecent exposure, almost half. And of these, 37.1% had been victims more than once. 42.9% of the victims never reported the offense with the fear that they would not be taken seriously. And 68.1% of the victims claimed to be fearful during and after the incident, demonstrating the negative emotional and psychological impacts that indecent exposures have on victims. However, almost every woman in the study had a fear of sexual crimes, regardless as if they were victims or not. In an article written by Victoria Savage for the Diamondback, it is stated that there have been 17 indecent exposures in 2022, which is almost double the amount that was reported in 2021. This article also classified indecent exposures can be classified as power-based violence, where someone tries to control someone else in order to cause harm. This is a problem that needs to be addressed by the university. In an article written by Nick Anderson, Susan, and Scott Clement, they state that almost a quarter of female college students have experienced some sort of sexual harassment, like public indecency, since they have stepped foot onto college campus. To add on, the females feel as though what they've experienced isn't a big deal for them to report or are too embarrassed to admit that they are another one of the many females who have experienced unwarranted sexual advances. In a Diamondback article by Grace Yarrow, College Park attempts to defund live surveillance camera footage for the entire campus. Not only does this decrease safety, but it also takes away the 50 jobs of the original people working on this footage. Live surveillance footage helps to ensure that victims of assault or harassment have proof. The University of Maryland wants to take that proof away. Today's episode is sponsored by Glossier. Glossier is our favorite makeup and skincare brand, and their products leave us feeling so clean and refreshed. For more information, go to Glossier's website and use the code UMD10 for 25% off of your order. Today I'm here with Damiana Colley, the historian for Preventing Sexual Assault, or PSA, a student organization here on UMD's campus. Hi, I'm so excited to be here today. Our first question is how have you seen women on campus directly impacted by the frequency of indecent exposures? So I think that a lot of the women on campus have been affected by the number of reports of indecent exposures. It seems like it's kind of a joke on our campus, especially among men and male populations, but when I hear women talk about it, it's not a joke for them, and it's something that's like, oh my God, another indecent exposure. I know the reports that the police put out also have the location, and there have been some repeats of location or some similar locations in these reports. So I think a lot of times, especially with my friends and I, we mark that location and know that, oh, this is an area where something like this might happen again. So I think that for a lot of the women, it makes them very wary of being alone on campus, but also being in certain areas on campus, even if it is in groups, because with indecent exposures, they're not necessarily like they have one victim. They can be multiple victims in this type of sexual misconduct. So I think that for a lot of women, it's an overall scary thing for them, whereas for men it's just like, oh, ha ha, it's another indecent exposure on campus. That was a great response, and I think we all completely agree. So leading into our second question, is there anything specific you can think of that can explain why there has been such an increase in indecent exposures this year? I don't necessarily think there's a specific reason. As far as I could see, once the first three indecent exposures, their reports for them this year, I think that's when it really started to catch attention on Yik Yak, UMD, Maryland Chicks, for example, or Barstool, and them posting that as more of a joke than an actual issue. So I think just talking about it in a way that isn't serious kind of leads to more indecent exposures in the sense that it's regarded as not a crime and more as something silly, I guess you could say. But along with that, UMD is the number one school for indecent exposures. So it seems like, because that's also been in the media overall, that it's just something that's being circulated and not talked about in a constructive way and instead talked about as a joking matter. So I think allowing that culture to continue is kind of what's allowing indecent exposures to continue happening on our campus. Thank you for that response. We totally agree. So for our next question, do you think that the men mentioned in the indecent exposure emails could create larger problems in the future, such as partaking in domestic violence, sexual assault, rape, et cetera? I'm not sure specifically these men who have done it, but like I said earlier, too, I think it creates a culture where it can escalate to more serious problems, like intimate partner violence, sexual assault, rape, et cetera, just because, again, we're not talking about it in a constructive way and we're kind of just letting it go on as this running joke. I think that there is definitely potential for these perpetrators and the past offenders to participate in more violent acts of sexual misconduct. Not to be cliche, I guess, but it's kind of like a gateway drug almost. Like if you're willing to show yourself to other people, to strangers in public, and you're targeting specific populations when you're doing this, I think it's definitely a possibility that like in the future you would be more willing or you would – not you – these perpetrators actually commit more violent acts. Thank you so much. That was very insightful. Our next question is, what means can we take to try and reduce the amount of indecent exposures as an attempt to keep victims safer? I think this is kind of what I've been saying throughout, but starting a conversation and talking about these instances in a way that's more educational, because indecent exposures are talked about a lot. Again, not in a constructive way, but there's other types of sexual violence that aren't talked about at all because of how uncomfortable the topics are. So I think even in starting and talking about indecent exposures and why it is so harmful to victims is a good place to start for the future and talking about other forms of sexual violence. Also, for example, on sex education, the show on Netflix, there was an indecent exposure there, and you could see how affected Maeve, the character – not Maeve, I don't know her name – but you could see how affected the character was by her victimization. So I think even showing that, even showing media clips or instances, how that can actually affect you, or even looking at the psychological effects, et cetera, I think that can definitely lead to decrease or showing prevention strategies. Also just not only prepping, not prepping the victim, like, here's what you can do to protect yourself. It also comes along with telling men and the cultural norms that are among these perpetrators, kind of dissembling the masculine norms in that sense and being like, there's no reason to do this, basically. But I think starting, again, with a constructive conversation, even through lighter media like sex education or similar instances like that, I think could definitely help. That was very well said. Thank you. Now that we've heard what we can do to better ourselves and to keep victims safer, what measures have been taken so far to reduce the public indecency through PSA and the other organizations on campus? Yeah, so I think, like, first of all, like, the Diamondback being, like, one of the first people to cover this act kind of, like, really put it out in a sense, like, the first time that it wasn't a choking matter, despite, like, what has been seen on, like, GitGac, like I said earlier, or, like, Instagram, Snapchat, et cetera, Reddit – Reddit's a big one. And I think, like, an actual, like, news source, like, putting this out there is, like, the first step in, like, hey, we're spreading awareness about this issue because it's harmful, specifically for PSA, too. In that one article mentioned earlier, like, with the indecent exposures, I actually talked to the girl, so I'm in that. But, so, yeah, I think, like, PSA has also just been, like, spreading awareness. And, like, organizations that are dedicated to talking about sexual violence and ending rape culture on campus, et cetera, just, like, kind of making our presence more known and covering these instances of indecent exposures and just, like, kind of, like, making it more, like, clear of the problem that we have here on campus, like, through – I know we collaborate a lot with, like, the care office, and they have, like, really good resources for survivors or just in general if you have something that you need to talk about with mental health. So I think they're also a very good resource, and they have made, like, these instances clear as well. I think spreading awareness is, like, the first step that you can do in, like, showing a problem because, like, a lot of the time, like, people don't know that this is an actual problem, and like I said earlier, it's not just a joke. We really enjoyed that answer. Our next question is what organizations are on campus to help women after they are victims of indecent exposure? Yeah, so in addition to PSA, there's also an organization called One Love on campus, which is, like, dedicated to fostering, like, healthy relationships and, like, intimate relationships that kind of provide, like, a lot of the same resources and work in conjunction with us. There's also, like I said, the CARE office, there's the Title IX office if survivors feel, like, inclined to report on the indecent exposure as, like, a criminal offense against a perpetrator if they know who it is. I don't know. I don't really know how the Title IX office works that well, but anyways, that's also a resource for instances of sexual violence. And then there's the counseling center, which provides counseling after instances of violence. I would also say, like, the LGBTQ equity center, especially if there's, like, non-binary individuals who have experienced this because, perhaps, of, like, their marginalized identity. And there's also, like, the Black Student Union, which provides, like, resources also related to this as well, again, if they are victimized because of their marginalized identity specifically. So, there is really, like, a lot of resources as far as, like, mental health and knowing what, like, you can do after victimization, like, locally or, yeah, like, more broadly, I guess you could say, like, in PG County and just, like, in general. RAINN is a really great resource for survivors. So, I forget what it stands for. But nonetheless, it is, like, a very good network for communicating instances of sexual violence. They have a hotline. So, even if you want to just talk to someone about your experience, not report anything, et cetera, that is great. And I do want to mention, like, the care office is also confidential. So, whatever you say in there stays in there, basically. A lot of the other resources throughout, like, PG County, like, if you report to the police, if you go to the counseling center, or even if you talk about it with other professors, they do have mandatory reporting laws. So, if you're not comfortable with reporting this or you decide that's not the route that you want to go, just keep that in mind and kind of redirect, like, your need for help to these more confidential resources. So, RAINN and CARE, I would say, like, are the two best options for that. Thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate your responses and hope that our listeners take them into consideration and account. Thank you so much for having me. It's so good to be here. Apart from this, you're probably wondering, what can we do as listeners? The Brandy Pugh and Patricia Becker study suggests that one particular issue when it comes to establishing consent is that people focus too often on how the victim responds rather than how the perpetrator speaks in ways that indicate coercion and their intention. For example, in an instance of indecent exposure, administrators in schools should approach the situation by focusing on the perpetrator and what he or she said to the victim, rather than asking the victim if they agreed to it, as this could be interpreted in different ways. So, when universities teach consent, they should focus on the word of the perpetrator rather than that of the victim. And this is something that you should definitely push your administration to do. Another study that we researched by Victoria L. Banyard discusses ways in which colleges or universities can improve in their responses and prevention of sexual assault and implementation of multiple layers of prevention plans across all years of college through students, staff, administrators, and faculty. One aspect of this is policy creation, such as promoting trust in campus administrators, increasing support in funding to train staff, finding tools that are more effective prevention tools, and implementing changes when necessary. We need to push our administration to implement these policies and make combating this issue a priority. Email administration, call them, and pressure them until we achieve it. Today's episode is also sponsored by Trader Joe's. Go visit the College Park location today and say, Mapping UMD at the register for 10% off select items. In an effort to make women and other individuals feel safer on campus, we all need to work together to reduce the issue of indecent exposures and make an attempt to limit them as much as possible. We strongly believe that groups and organizations like PSA will be able to make advances to decrease exposures and other tragedies of sexual assault on campus. Through reading articles and learning from these clubs and student organizations, UMD has the potential to become a safer campus without the daily notification of another indecent exposure. That is all for this episode of Mapping UMD. Next week, tune in as we discuss voting rights and the recent election. This has been Shira, Sanjana, Avani, Rhea, Laura, and Julie!