Sexual Misconduct
What is sexual misconduct?
Sexual misconduct includes a range of different behaviors.
According to the Loyola Community Standards, sexual misconduct is sexual activity of any kind and between any two persons without consent. Sexual misconduct can occur to anyone regardless of sexual orientation, sex, or gender expression or identity. Sexual misconduct offenses prohibited by Loyola include but are not limited to those categorized as follows:
Sexual assault
Sexual exploitation
Sexual harassment
What is sexual assault?
Sexual assault as defined in Loyola's Community Standards includes two types of non-consensual sexual acts:
Non-Consensual Sexual Penetration
Non-consensual sexual penetration (commonly known as rape or sexual assault) is defined as:
- any sexual penetration (anal, oral, or vaginal, including any contact between mouth and genitals)
- however slight
- using any body part
- or object
- by a person upon another person, regardless of sex or gender identity
- without consent
Non-Consensual Sexual Contact
Non-consensual sexual contact (also a form of sexual assault) is defined as:
- any intentional sexual contact
- however slight
- using any body part
- or object
- by a person upon another person, regardless of sex or gender identity
- without consent
Sexual contact includes intentional contact by any body part or object with the breasts, buttocks, groin, or genitals; or making another individual touch you or themselves on the breasts, buttocks, groin, or genitals using any body part or object. Sexual contact may also include other intentional bodily contact that is done in a sexual manner.
What is sexual exploitation?
According to Loyola's Community Standards,
Sexual exploitation occurs when an individual takes non-consensual or abusive sexual advantage of another or exceeding the boundaries of consent. The behavior may not otherwise fall under the definition of other sexual misconduct offenses. Examples of sexual exploitation include, but are not limited to:
- prostituting oneself or another
- soliciting or receiving payment or compensation in exchange for sexual activity
- non-consensual video or audio-taping of sexual activity
- letting someone watch you engage in sexual activity with another, but without the other person’s knowledge or consent
- posting sexual photos without permission to do so
- peeping (watching someone without their knowing)
- knowingly transmitting a sexually transmitted infection to another individual
- sexual activity that would be considered incest under Illinois law
- sexual activity between any person and a person under the legal age of consent by law
What is sexual harassment?
According to Loyola's Community Standards,
Sexual harassment is broadly defined as unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature (including but not limited to unwelcome sexual advances; requests for sexual favors; exchange of sexual acts for preferential treatment; and other verbal, nonverbal, or physical sexual conduct) that is serious or pervasive (repetitious) enough to substantially interfere with or limit a reasonable person’s ability to participate in or benefit from the University’s educational programs or services, thereby creating a hostile environment
How common is sexual assault?
A 2007 campus sexual assault study by the U.S. Department of Justice found that around 1 in 5 women are targets of attempted or completed sexual assault while they are college students, compared to about 1 in 16 college men. The Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network reports that college-aged women are four times more likely than any other age group to face sexual assault.
How often is alcohol involved in sexual assault?
Alcohol is the most widely used date-rape drug; 89 percent of assaults occur when the survivor is incapacitated due to alcohol.
Loyola's Community Standards defines incapacitation as a state in which an individual cannot understand the nature of an act (meaning they cannot comprehend the “who, what, when, where, why, or how” of an interaction) to the extent that they do not have command over their own decisions. Examples of incapacitation may include, but are not limited to: a person who consumes alcohol or other drugs to the extent that they are severely impaired; a person who has a severe mental or physical disability that hinders their ability to understand the nature of a sexual activity; or a person who is asleep or has passed out. Evidence of incapacitation may include, but is not limited to: stumbling, experiencing a black-out, demonstrating a loss of coordination, vomiting, slurring of words, or other abnormal behavior. Engaging in sexual activity with a person who you know or reasonably should know is incapacitated is sexual misconduct
Sexual assault is never the fault of survivors, regardless of whether they were using drugs or alcohol (voluntarily or against their will). Use of alcohol or drugs by perpetrators is no excuse for their actions.