Maya Washburn/ Staff Writer
Sexual assault is at risk of being overlooked due to the bystander effect, according to FIU’s Women’s Center.
Nashira Williams, director of the university’s Women’s Center explained this phenomenon during the Sexual Assault and Bystander Effect workshop on Tuesday, Mar. 9.
“The bystander effect is a tendency for people not to intervene in situations where others are present,” said Williams. “We, as bystanders in a group of people, tend to do what the rest of the group is doing.”
The event was held as part of FIU Honors’ Women’s March to Empowerment Week, which includes events honoring women’s stories and experiences for Women’s History Month. The university’s Honors College, Center for Student Engagement and Women’s Center organized the virtual event.
Women between the ages of 18-24 who are college students are three times more likely to experience sexual assault than other women, according to a 2014 study by the U.S. Department of Justice.
At the event, students were encouraged to participate in open and respectful dialogue on sexual assault and the bystander effect.
Williams explained that a witness of sexual assault can either intervene or do nothing. She said the difference between being an active or passive bystander depends on situational and individual variables.
“In a situational context, [you] try to figure out the severity of the need of help,” said Williams. “Individual variables are things that you have within you that you believe would allow you to help in a situation.”
Bystanders often do not have enough information to help sexual assault victims. Williams said observing the victim’s surroundings is the best method to combat misinformation in assault cases.
“The more information you have, the better you will feel about intervening and becoming an active bystander,” she said during the event. “The ways that you resolve ambiguity is [to] ask questions, collect information, look around [and] gather the scene through your five senses.”
A major contributor to the bystander effect is the diffusion of responsibility. Williams said this means the greater amount of people present, the more individuals will believe that another person will handle the problem.
“[As a group] we tend to believe that someone else will step in and help because that person is somehow more qualified or better prepared to handle the situation,” said Williams. “Recognizing that most people are more capable of helping than you realize is very, very important.”
Conformity in a group may also contribute to the bystander effect. That conformity correlates with pluralistic ignorance, said Williams.
Pluralistic ignorance is when individuals in a group have misconceptions about the rest of the group’s beliefs, according to Reed College.
“When bystanders assume that no one else is upset or concerned…they are a lot less likely to act, [and] people want to preserve relationships,” Williams said. “They might not express concern or speak up because of that.”
Williams encouraged students to consider practical ways they can assist sexual assault victims.
“I ask everyone to individually think about some of the things that might inhibit you from intervening, but also think about the things that might motivate you,” Williams prompted the audience.
The FIU Panthers Care bystander intervention training program, Step Up!, teaches students a five-step model for successful intervention: notice the event, identify the problem, assume personal responsibility, know how to help and implement the help.
The team offers free Step Up! workshops to students, staff and faculty upon request.
Williams closed the event with a metaphor, comparing the role of an active bystander to a lifeguard.
“Do not underestimate the power that one person can have,” said Williams. “Being an active bystander is like throwing a floatation device like a lifeguard; [it’s] really just trying to get [a person] out of immediate danger as safely and effectively as possible.”
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