Embodied experiences of (in)security and crime perceptions among undergraduate women students in Tucson, Arizona

Abstract

Drawing from trauma-informed interviews with women undergraduate students, this article examines the ripple effects of sexual violence on student (in)security and mobility. Campus sexual violence is exceedingly common, with 1 in 5 women experiencing sexual assault during college. Young women and women of color also experience the highest rates of sexual harassment and fear of sexual violence. Yet, it is still not well understood how such experiences collectively impact women students’ notions of security, spatial mobility, and independence. Focusing on a small, diverse set of women undergraduate students at the University of Arizona in the Southwest U.S., I analyze how perceptions of sexual violence impact behavior and safety strategies. I describe the variety of prevention and safety methods women undergraduates utilize and how they shoulder the burden of safety and care in lieu of university action. Findings suggest that participants often built their spatial behavior around avoiding ‘danger spots’ or places they feared, regardless of whether those were places they had ever experienced harassment or violence. Some students of color also found themselves at the crossroads of experiencing sexual harassment and racial microaggressions and expressed an emotional drain of straddling multiple cultural worlds. Findings further complicate notions that women’s fear of public space is ‘irrational’. This article builds on and extends work in geographies of fear to demonstrate how women students’ safety behavior in the U.S. is informed by harassment, perceived crime, and secondary trauma.

Keywords:

• Campus
• geographies of fear
• sexual harassment
• sexual violence
• trauma
• women

Acknowledgment

I would like to thank Lise Nelson for her encouragement and feedback throughout my project and her ever-present mentorship. I also appreciate the insightful guidance that Lauren Fritzsche provided, as well as the anonymous reviewers of the paper.

Disclosure statement

There are no conflicts of interest to disclose, financial or otherwise.

Ethical approval

This study was conducted with approval of the Human Subjects IRB office located within the University of Arizona. The IRB approval number is 2005698535 and is filed under the name ‘Geographies of Fear on a College Campus’.

Additional information

Funding

The author was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship when writing this article. The UA Graduate and Professional Student Council Research Grant and the UA Social & Behavioral Sciences Research Institute Pre-Doctoral Research Grant provided research funding.

Notes on contributors

Sonia Bat-Sheva Kaufman

Sonia Bat-Sheva Kaufman is a Geography Ph.D. student with a minor in Public Health at the University of Arizona. Her specializations and research interests have centered around gender-based violence, federal policy, and public health policy. She completed her master’s at the University of Arizona 2021, after which she received the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. Kaufman is a graduate of Schreyer Honors College at the Pennsylvania State University.