Rate Of Sexual Assault

Sexual assault, or rape, is a violent crime, not a sexual act. The myth that men who rape women are sexually deprived or pathological is being dispelled and replaced with the understanding that rape is more of an act of power and control than lust.¹

The occurrence of forcible rape in our country appears to be on the rise. The Senate Judiciary Committee in its Majority Staff Report entitled Violence Against Women: The Increase of Rape in America determined that more women were raped in 1990 than in any other year in American history.

The rate of rape will continue to increase without appropriate prevention and response. In 1993, the Senate Judiciary Committee concluded that only two percent of rapists are imprisoned. Attitudes about women who are raped and rapists continue to present barriers to justice.² Because we doubt the validity of victims' experiences, rape remains the silent crime, reported at least less than 15 percent of the time it occurs.

• More than 226,000 children and 104,000 adults are raped every year in Texas.³
• The United States has the highest rape rate of any industrialized nation.⁴
• In one survey, 42 percent of rape victims reported that they had told no one about the assault. Only five percent reported to the police.⁵
• In a survey of college men, 35 percent anonymously admitted they would commit rape if they knew they could get away with it.⁶
• One of every five college women reported being forced to have sexual intercourse.⁷
 

Sources

1. National Center for Victims of Crime and Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center. (1992) Rape in America: A report to the nation. Arlington, VA: Kilpatrick, D.G., Edmunds, C.N. & Seymour A.

2. U.S. Department of Justice. (1997). The prevalence and consequences of child victimization: Summary of a research study by Dean Kilpatrick, Ph.D. and Benjamin Sauder, Ph.D. Washington, DC: Kilpatrick & Saunders.

3. National Center for Victims of Crime and Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center. (1992). Rape in America: A Report to the Nation. Arlington, VA.

4. Allison, J. A., & Wrightsman, L. S. (1993). Rape. The misunderstood crime. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

5. Warshaw, R. (1994). I never called it rape: The Ms. report on recognizing, fighting and surviving date acquaintance rape. New York: HarperPerennial.

6. Briere, J., & Malamuth, N. (1983). Self-reported likelihood of sexually aggressive behavior: Attitudinal vs. sexual explanations. Journal of Research in Personality, 17, 315-323.

7. National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Division of Adolescent and School Health. (1995). Youth risk behavior surveillance: National college health risk behavior survey. Atlanta, GA.

The experience of sexual assault has different meanings for each person. No one knows precisely how an individual will react; however, crisis counselors have found that most people experience sexual assault as a severe emotional and physical violation, usually referred to as Rape Trauma Syndrome.¹ Rape Trauma Syndrome is considered a form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). For sexual assault victims, the emotional and spiritual trauma can be the most difficult to overcome.

Trauma can produce pronounced feelings of helplessness and powerlessness, as well as physical symptoms such as breathing problems, vomiting, extreme trembling, outbursts of anger, nightmares, and the inability to remember events. Phobic anxiety may set in, causing a person to want to avoid any situation that may trigger memories. Victims are also likely to experience depression.

Eventually, the victim may become despondent, demoralized, and preoccupied with pain or disability. He or she could feel that no one understands. If the victim is not validated, as is often the case with rape victims, this may feed into his/her sense of worthlessness and shame.

Note: Research indicates that repeated trauma, including sexual molestation, experienced by children younger than three years old may cause malformation of the brain.²

• Eighty-two percent of victims reported that the rape permanently changed them.³
   
• The chances that a woman will develop PTSD after being raped are between 50 and 95 percent.⁴
   
• Half of rape victims describe being fearful of serious injury or death during the event.⁵
   
• Thirteen percent of rape victims attempt suicide. Thirty percent contemplated suicide.⁶
   

Sources

1. National Center for Victims of Crime and Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center. (1992) Rape in America: A report to the nation. Arlington, VA: Kilpatrick, D.G., Edmunds, C.N. & Seymour A.

2. Perry, B.A., Pollard, R.A., Blakley, T.L., Baker, W. & Vigilante, D. (1995). Childhood trauma, the neurobiology of adaptation and use-dependent development of the brain: How states become traits. Infant Mental Health Journal, 16 (4), 271-291.

3. Warshaw, R. (1994). I never called it rape: The Ms. report on recognizing, fighting and surviving date acquaintance rape. New York: HarperPerennial.

4. Population Information Program. Population Reports: Ending Violence Against Women. (2000). Center for Communications Programs. The Johns Hopkins School of Public Health & Center for Health and Gender Equity.

5. National Center for Victims of Crime and Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center. (1992) Rape in America: A report to the nation. Arlington, VA: Kilpatrick, D.G., Edmunds, C.N. & Seymour A.

6. Ibid.

What is most concerning about these trends, and the lack of attention to this crime, is that most rape victims are younger than 18. The typical victim is a teenage girl who has been raped in a home by someone she already knew.¹

Boys and girls of any age can be victims of sexual abuse. It is estimated that one in three girls and one in six boys are sexually abused². The myth that men and boys cannot be victims of sexual assault is untrue.

In Dallas, Texas, police received 46 reports of male rape in 1989, 20 times higher than they did in 1984. Rapists who rape men are thought to be homosexual, but this is a myth; most rapists are heterosexual and have a willing sex partner at home.

• Approximately 683,000 women are forcibly raped each year.³
• It is estimated that 92,700 males are forcibly raped each year.⁴
• The most common victims of rape are females under 18 years of age.⁵
• In the United States today, 1.8 million teens have already been the victims of serious sexual assault.⁶
• Approximately one-third of all juvenile victims of sexual abuse cases are children younger than six years of age.⁷
• Thirty-nine percent of girls report being sexually harassed at school on a daily basis.⁸
• Eighty-two percent of women report that they fear rape and/or death more than anything else.⁹
 

Sources

1. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (1995). Administration for children and families, Child Maltreatment. Washington, DC.

2. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (1993). Child sexual abuse: Intervention and treatment issues. McLean, VA: Faller, K.C.

3. National Center for Victims of Crime and Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center. (1992) Rape in America: A report to the nation. Arlington, VA: Kilpatrick, D.G., Edmunds, C.N. & Seymour A.

4. U.S. Department of Justice. (1998). Prevalence, incident, and consequences of violence against women: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey. Washington, DC: Tjaden, P. and Thoennes, N.

5. American Academy of Pediatrics, Committee on Adolescence. (1994). Sexual assault and the adolescent. Pediatrics. 94(5), 761-765.

6. U.S. Department of Justice. (1997). The prevalence and consequences of child victimization: Summary of a research study by Dean Kilpatrick, Ph.D. and Benjamin Sauder, Ph.D. Washington, DC: Kilpatrick & Saunders.

7. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (1995).

8. Stein, N., Marshall, N.L.& Tropp, L.R. (1993). Secrets in public: Sexual harassment in our schools. Massachusetts: Wellesley College Center for Research on Women.

9. Randall, M. and Haskell, L. (1995). Sexual violence in women's lives: Findings from the Women's Safety Project, a community-based survey. Violence Against Women, 1(1), 6-31.

There are 4 different types of child abuse including: physical abuse, emotional abuse, neglect and sexual abuse. Child sexual abuse is any form of sexual activity between a child and an adult when the child is being used for sexual stimulation of that adult or another person. Sexual abuse has many forms and may be so subtle that the child doesn’t even know it is happening. Child sexual abuse may include fondling, masturbation, oral-genital contact, digital penetration, vaginal and anal intercourse or the attempt to engage in any of these activities. Child sexual abuse is not solely restricted to physical contact; such abuse could include non-contact abuse, such as exposure, voyeurism, and child pornography.¹

Accurate statistics on the prevalence of child and adolescent sexual abuse are difficult to collect because of problems of underreporting and the lack of one definition of what constitutes such abuse. However, there is general agreement among mental health and child protection professionals that child sexual abuse is not uncommon and is a serious problem in the United States. A 2003 study, A Health Survey of Texans: A Focus on Sexual Assault, reported that 4% of males and 16% of females under the age of 17 have been sexually assaulted.

Child sexual abuse can take place within the family, by a parent, step-parent, sibling or other relative (incest); or outside the home, for example, by a friend, neighbor, child care person, teacher, or stranger. The reality is that your child is most at risk for sexual assault from someone he or she knows. The offender uses their position of trust to gain access to the child, then manipulates and tricks the child into sexual abuse. The process that an offender uses to befriend a child and slowly introduce sexual aspects to that "friendship" is called grooming.

When a child is being sexually abused they often become trapped between affection or loyalty for the abuser and the sense that the sexual activities are terribly wrong. If the child tries to break away from the sexual relationship, the abuser may threaten the child with violence or loss of love. When sexual abuse occurs within the family, the child may fear the anger, jealousy or shame of other family members, or be afraid the family will break up or be dishonored if the secret is told.

The majority of the perpetrators of child sexual abuse are persons known to the child, either as a relative, caretaker, teacher, neighbor, etc. Sexual abuse by strangers is not nearly as common as sexual abuse by family members. Research shows that men perpetrate most instances of sexual abuse. There are cases in which women are the offenders, but determining the exact number or percentage is difficult because sexual abuse of children by women is highly underreported. Despite a common myth, homosexual men are not more likely to sexually abuse children than heterosexual men. One cannot protect their children by only looking for people who fit a certain description or profile. Except for the fact that they like to have sex with children, child abusers look and act pretty much like everybody else.

When sexual abuse has occurred, a child can develop a variety of distressing feelings, thoughts and behaviors. The degree to which a child is impacted depends upon several variables. These include the 1) relationship between the victim and the offender - the more a child trusts and loves the offender, the more traumatic the event may become 2) the duration of the sexual abuse - children who have had to live with regular sexual abuse are more impacted, as their survival becomes connected with the abuse, 3) the type of sex play involved in the molestation - acts that cause physical injury such as sodomy and penetration are often less traumatic to a child. While counter intuitive, traumatic abuse is easier to understand as clearly wrong and not something the child wanted or brought on themselves. More ‘gentle’ abuse often leaves children struggling with feelings of guilt for enjoying some aspects of the abuse and is more difficult for a child to clearly label as wrong. 4) the child’s age and developmental level - younger children may not understand that what the offender did to them was harmful, 5) The reaction of the parents or other important people around the child - children need to know that their loved ones believe them and will reassure and protect them from future abuse.

Sources

1. American Psychological Association

Because of extensive grooming on the part of perpetrators and the quick healing of children’s bodies, there are often no obvious physical signs of child sexual abuse. However, there are some symptoms that could indicate that a child has been a victim of sexual abuse. The list below is not exhaustive nor is it a checklist enabling you to determine if sexual abuse has occurred. A cluster of the following symptoms may indicate that a further investigation is warranted.

Some warning signs include:

• Unexplained pain, swelling, bleeding or irritation of the mouth, genital or anal area; urinary infections; and sexually transmitted diseases;

• Vaginal or rectal bleeding, pain, itching, swollen genitals, vaginal discharge; and/or

• Torn or stained underclothing.

• Copying adult sexual behavior;

• Persistent sexual play with themselves, other children, toys, or pets;

• Displaying sexual knowledge, through language or behavior, that is beyond what is normal for their age;

• Unusual interest in all things of a sexual nature;

• Drawings, pictures, or stories with a strong, unusual or bizarre sexual theme;

• Seductiveness - attempts to seduce adults or other children;

• Hints, indirect comments or statements about the abuse;

• Unusual interest in or knowledge of sexual matters, expressing affection in ways inappropriate for a child of that age; and/or

• Unexplained fear of a person or an intense dislike at being left somewhere or with someone.

• Intolerance to being touched;

• Self-injuring behavior (e.g. cutting the skin, banging head);

• Unusual aggressiveness or anger;

• Inappropriate clothing (too much for season, much high-necked clothing, baggy clothing); and/or

• Suicidal behavior.

• Sudden drop in grades, falling asleep at school, etc;

• Vague somatic complaints (stomach aches, muscle soreness, etc.);

• Changes in behavior such as withdrawal, fearfulness, crying without provocation;

• Appetite disturbances;

• Recurrent nightmares, disturbed sleep patterns, fear of the dark; and/or

• Regression to more infantile behavior such as bedwetting, thumb sucking, or excessive crying.

"Rape? That could never happen to me." Chances are you’ve heard that line before. But you know what? Chances are it could happen to you. In fact, 67 percent of rape victims are under the age of 18.¹ How’s that for reality? And rape isn’t the only form of sexual violence. Sexual harassment, which is unwanted verbal comments, physical touching, or sexual advances, is also a problem for teens. Four out of five teenagers, boys and girls alike, reported being sexually harassed to the point that it intrudes on their daily lives.²

All too often people think of rape and sexual harassment as an issue for adults. Unfortunately, you might know all too well how untrue that is. Teens are in just as much danger as adults of becoming victims of rape. What is really scary is that teens 16 to 19 years old are 3.5 times more likely to be the victims of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault than anyone else in our country³. Twenty-three percent of those who commit these acts are under the age of 18⁴, which goes to show that teens are both the victims and the perpetrators... so it really is an issue for teens. (To read the rest of this article, and to find out more about sexual assault, click here.)

Get Involved!
So, now we know that sexual violence is a major issue for youth. What’s next? Well, we also believe that youth can and must be a major part of the efforts to prevent sexual violence from happening. Research and common sense have shown us that students would often prefer to talk to their peers about sexual violence rather than to adults. If you are committed to finding your voice, protecting those who mean the most to you, and ending sexual violence, click to find out more about the Students Taking Action for Respect (STAR) program.

Stories Of Violence and Healing
A collection of stories and statements from Texas teen survivors of sexual violence, and the family and friends who support them.

The summer before my sophomore year, I was going to my friend’s deer lease for the weekend. We expected it to be a really fun weekend. Saturday morning, my friend and I decided we were going to tube down the river. We met a group of college kids on the shuttle, and we decided to float down the river with them. They were all drinking, and eventually, me, my friend, and one of the college kids separated from the rest of the group. The last thing I remember is asking someone for something else to drink like a coke. The next thing I knew, I woke up and this guy I hadn’t even spoken to before was raping me. When I finally got away, this guy and his friend started laughing at me as I tried to run away and tripped on the rocks in the water.

To read more personal stories, click here

Get Help
If you or someone you know has been a victim of rape or sexual assault, you can and should seek help. There are many places across the community who help survivors in many ways. Here are just a few hotline numbers that will be helpful for you.

Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network 1-800-656-4673

• Provides support 24/7 for victims
• Gives advice, guidance, and someone to listen to survivors, family, and friends

Texas Advocacy Project Legal Hotline 1-800-374-4673

• Provides legal advice and support for survivors
• Gives survivors a chance to speak to an attorney about their legal needs

National Dating Violence/Abuse Hotline 1-800-799-7233

• Available 24/7
• Gives survivors someone to talk to about what they have experienced and what needs they have
• Provides resources and other supportive information for survivors, family, and friends

In Texas, click to find the contact information for the Rape Crisis Center nearest to you.

Additional Resources for Anti-Violence Work and Sexual Violence:

Teen Coalition Against Sexual Assault

Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape for Teens

The National Center for Victims of Crime Teen Victim Project

Texas School Safety Center

Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America - STOP the Violence Program

Sources

1. Bureau of Justice Statistics. (2000). National Crime Victimization Survey. Washington, D.C

2. American Association of University Women Educational Foundation.

3. Bureau of Justice Statistics. (1996). National Crime Victimization Survey Washington, D.C.

4. Snyder, Howard. (2000). "Sexual Assault of Young Children as Reported to Law Enforcement: Victim, Incident and Offender Characteristics." Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice.

• Get to a safe place.
   
• Do not shower, bathe, wash your hands, brush your teeth, use the toilet or clean up in any way. You could destroy evidence. If you have already done any of these things, evidence may still be present for collection.
   
• Do not change or destroy clothing. Your clothes are evidence.
   
• If it was in your home, do not rearrange and/or clean up anything. You could destroy evidence.
   
• Get medical attention as soon as possible. Evidence should be collected when you get to the hospital.
   
• Contact a friend or family member you trust or call the local rape crisis center hotline.
   
• Most of all, know that this is not your fault.

• Determine whether to report the crime to the police,
   
• Ask for a male or female police officer if you choose to report,
   
• Locate an attorney to represent you (the prosecutor is not your attorney),
   
• Sue the rapist in civil court for money,
   
• Refuse to have evidence collected,
   
• Request that someone accompany you in the examination room, and
   
• Be considered a rape victim/survivor regardless of the rapist's relationship to you.

Getting back to normal can take a long time and you may be wondering if there is anyone who can help. Many survivors have found it helpful to talk to rape crisis counselors. You can find the telephone numbers of your local center here or listed in your phone book. You may also call the 24-hour National Sexual Assault Hotline, operated by RAINN, at 1-800-656-HOPE. By calling this number you will be automatically connected to your closest rape crisis center. Rape crisis centers are on call 24-hours a day waiting to help you.
 

When someone you know or care about has been assaulted, it is normal for you to feel upset and confused. At a time when you may want to help most, you will be dealing with a crisis of your own.

You may find it difficult to listen when he/she needs to talk about his or her feelings. You may hope that by not talking about it, the feelings both of you have will go away. You may be tempted to make decisions for the survivor, to be over-protective. You may want to hide the assault from others. You may feel disturbed or confused when the survivor continues to be affected for weeks, months, and even years.

Some partners may want more physical intimacy sooner than the survivor does. Others may feel repulsed.

Maybe you feel guilty and responsible, believing you could somehow prevent the assault. You may also feel anger at the survivor or at everyone in general.

All of these feelings are understandable following the sexual assault of someone you love. Please know that if these feelings are hidden or expressed in hurtful ways, they can interfere with the resolution of your crisis and that of the survivor. The survivor may need your support and understanding. You, however, also need support.

Rape is a violent assault, not a sexually-motivated or gratifying act. The rapist's aim is to dominate, humiliate, control and degrade the victim. Because the same body parts are involved in sexual assault as in making love, many people confuse sex and violence. Some respond to a survivor as if s/he provoked, wanted or enjoyed it.

Many people also believe rape is not traumatic. Not understanding the reality of sexual assault can make the crisis more difficult for both of you. The emotional impact of sexual assault does not disappear, and talking about it can help. Your feelings are normal, and resources are available for you.

The following links are resources to help victims of violent crime, such as sexual assault, address their legal concerns.

• Texas Crime Victims’ Rights – rights guaranteed to all victims of crime in Texas.
• Victim Impact Statements – what they are and how they are used during court proceedings.