Alcohol Culture
(IN PHOTO) Chris Ewing (L) plays beer pong with Tom Brady (C) and Colin Anderson during spring break festivities in Panama City Beach, Florida March 12, 2015. Unwilling to evict spring break, a crucial season in a community where tourism brings in more than $1 billion annually, the city has passed new rules to counter the worst excesses. Bars must stop serving alcohol at 2 a.m. in March, two hours earlier than before. Partygoers must have a valid ID to drink on the beach, and the practice of digging deep holes in the sand for drinking games and sex is banned. Picture taken March 12, 2015. Reuters

Reginald Stewart, a recent male graduate of Pennsylvania University, filed a lawsuit last week seeking $450,000 damages. The victim filed the case in connection with a sexual assault he suffered in the hands of a Phi Kappa Psi fraternity member after a recruitment party in January 2013.

The party involved drinking a lot of alcohol that Stewart, who was then a sophomore, was so drunk that Charles Gibson, a fellow recruit and underage, offered to accompany him to his dorm at 3820 Locust Walk. Stewart woke up with Gibson allegedly sodomoising him, but the victim claims he lacked the physical power to stop the anal penetration.

Because of the alleged rape, the victim said he had to undergo reconstructive surgery on his rectum. Stewart also blames acquiring HPV, a sexual transmitted ailment, on the rape.

Gibson admitted penetrating the victim, but insisted it was consensual sex, according to Phillymag. Gibson also denied that he caused Stewart to contact HPV. Stewart, who graduated a year after Gibson, filed the lawsuit against the fraternity and Gibson.

The lawsuit is the latest scandal to hit university fraternities accused of abetting rape or sexual molestation of new recruits due to the alcohol culture in educational institutions. Stewart was 19 then and could not legally drink then. Gibson was likewise underage at that time, but the fraternity served them and the other recruits alcohol.

Gibson admitted that the fraternity served them alcohol despite being underage at that time. However, he called the lawsuit frivolous. Meanwhile, Phil Kappa Psi fraternities across the US are notorious for sexual assault and hazing accusations. In 1984, a gang rape happened at the fraternity house at the University of Virginia which resulted in conviction. The latest incident was hazing at the University of West Virginia in 2013. It led to the filing of criminal charges and the suspension of the Greek-letter society.

According to Physicians for Human Rights Tools & Resources, anal rape could cause pain and bleeding for days or weeks, and often leads to constipation. Abovetopsecret.com reports that victims of male rape like Stewart comprise only 5 to 10 percent of rapes reported to service providers such as rape crisis centres and police departments. About 90 to 95 percent of men raped do not report the incident.

To contact the writer, email: vittoriohernandez@yahoo.com

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