About 90 freshmen at a Texas high school received a homework assignment that asked them to essentially solve a hypothetical rape case, as reported by The Washington Post. A teacher at Klein Collins High School included the question as part of a biology homework assignment on DNA. This assignment came to light because of a parent’s post on social media, according to CNN.
The assignment reads as follows:
“Suzy was assaulted in an alley and is a victim of rape. The police collected a sample of sperm that was left at the crime scene and now have three suspects in custody. Which of the suspects rape Suzy?”
There are a few things to dissect here. First of all, this question could be triggering for countless students, regardless of gender. Roughly one in four girls and one in eight boys are sexually abused before the age of 18. According to RAINN, people are most likely to be sexually assaulted between the ages of 12 and 34. Approximately 60% of black women will experience sexual abuse by age 18. NPR reports that people with intellectual disabilities are assaulted at a rate seven times higher than people without disabilities. According to a report on the statistics of violence against Native women, American Indian and Alaska Native women are two times as likely to be victims of sexual assault or rape compared to other races.
The framing of the question also feeds into a harmful narrative about sexual violence that advocates have been fighting against for decades. Most sexual violence doesn’t actually occur in an alley. Most sexual violence isn’t committed by a stranger. While those crimes do, of course, happen, studies show that people are more likely to be raped by someone they know. How much more likely? The National Sexual Violence Resource Center reports that in eight out of 10 rape cases, the survivor knows the assailant. More than 90% of child sex abusers knew their victim, according to RAINN.
The question also suggests that reporting sexual violence—and actually having law enforcement investigate it—is simple. An average of four out of 10 rapes are reported in the U.S. It’s estimated that up to 200,000 rape kits go untested nationwide. Most perpetrators won’t face justice. According to FBI data, less than one-third of offenders are even charged with a crime. In fact, less than 1% of perpetrators face felony convictions. On the other hand, 94% of women report experiencing PTSD symptoms within two weeks after being raped. It’s estimated that a survivor of adolescent sexual violence will lose an average income of $241,600 in their lifetime.
“It’s upsetting and I know girls this age, just the thought ... they know that rape is forced non-consensual sex and that upsets them,” Cookie VonHaven, whose daughter is in the 10th grade, said to KPRC 2. “That’s why I can’t fathom a teacher putting that on a test.”
It’s, without a doubt, difficult to fathom. Did the teacher want to address sexual violence to raise awareness? Did they just want to come up with a unique assignment? Was there more context given around the question than has been released? Information is limited, so we simply don’t know.
"The assignment is not part of the District's approved curriculum and is by no means representative of the District's instructional philosophy," Klein Independent School District spokeswoman Rachel Trotter told CNN. "The District has investigated the source of the materials and appropriate corrective action has been taken."
Nothing about getting justice for sexual violence survivors is simple—and certainly not as simple as a multiple-choice homework assignment.
