April is Sexual Violence Awareness Month: Myth vs. Fact

 
A whole manual could be written about rape myths and their functions in our society. These myths affect both perpetrators and victims, since we all believe them to one extent or another.

To end the violence of sexual assault, we must all understand what we believe to be true about rape. Below are some of the more popular myths we hold, not only as individuals, but also as a society.

 

Graphic Source

Myth: Most sexual assault victims were “asking for it,” (i.e., the assault was provoked by the victim in some way).
Fact: To say that someone wants to be raped is the same as saying that people ask to be mugged or robbed. In fact, 60-70% of rapes are at least partially planned in advance, and the victim is often threatened with death or bodily harm if she resists. The responsibility for raping always lies with the perpetrator, not the victim.

Myth: Most women are raped by strangers.
Fact: According to Rape in America: A Report to the Nation, only 22% of rape victims were assaulted by someone they had never seen before or did not know well. The breakdown of non-stranger offenders in this study was: 9% by husbands or ex-husbands, 10% by boyfriends or ex-boyfriends, 11% by their fathers or stepfathers, 16% by other relatives, and 29% by other non-relatives, such as friends or neighbors. In addition, rapists include doctors, lawyers, therapists, clergy, police officers, and other authority figures. Because of their social and financial positions, these men are seldom prosecuted for their acts of violence, and their actions are seldom publicized.

Myth: Most victims sustain serious physical injuries.
Fact: Over two-thirds (70%) of rape victims reported no physical injuries, and only 4% sustained serious physical injuries, with 24% receiving minor physical injuries. However, it is important to note that many victims who did not sustain physical injuries nonetheless feared being seriously injured or killed during the rape. Almost half of all rape victims (49%) described being fearful of serious injury or death during the rape. (It is important to note here that just because a victim may not look injured physically, she is still the victim of a violent crime.)

Myth: A corollary to the above myth is that women who submit during sexual assault have not been forcibly raped.
Fact: Again, victims often submit without struggle due to fear of physical threat, or if the assailant is armed with a deadly weapon. Many times, the victim is incapable of either consenting or resisting, such as when she is unconscious, sleeping, drugged or drunk, a child, or has a physical or cognitive disability.

Myth: Rapists are sexually frustrated men, carried away with desire and passion.
Fact: Many rapes are not impulsive acts, but are planned events. In a 1971 study, Menachem Amir found that 71% of rapes are premeditated. Amir also found that 60% of offenders were married and having consensual sexual relations while assaulting other women. The myth that the rapist is carried away by uncontrollable sexual desire, and that his behavior is a natural masculine trait, serves only to excuse men who rape and place blame on the victim.

Myth: Most sexual assaults involve a black man raping a white woman.
Fact: Amir's study cited above found that in 93% of assaults, the rapist and victim were of the same race. In 3.3% of the cases, black men did rape white women, while in 3.4% white men raped black women. It is more comfortable for most white women and men to believe a potential attacker is a man of color. It is more difficult to face the reality - most attackers are of the same race and many are professionals whom the community trusts.

(c) Copyright 2014 Robyn King. All Rights Reserved.

Source:  Moving to End Sexual Assault
(c) Robyn King. All Rights Reserved.

April is Sexual Violence Awareness Month: Statistics

 

 

How often does rape happen to women?

•  One in four college women report surviving rape (15 percent) or attempted rape (12 percent) since their fourteenth birthday.
•  In a study by the U.S. Centers for Disease control of 5,000 college students at over 100 colleges, 20% of women answered "yes" to the question "In your lifetime have you been forced to submit to sexual intercourse against your will?" Thus, one in five college women has been raped at some point in her lifetime.
•  In a typical academic year, 3% of college women report surviving rape or attempted rape. This does not include the summer, when many more rapes occur.
•  In the year 2000, 246,000 women survived rape and sexual assault. This computes to 28 women every hour.
•  A survey of high school students found that one in five had experienced forced sex (rape). Half of these girls told no one about the incident.
•  Rape is common worldwide, with relatively similar rates of incidence across countries, with 19%-28% of college women reporting rape or attempted rape in several countries. In many countries, survivors are treated far worse than in the U.S.

Are men raped?

•  3% of college men report surviving rape or attempted rape as a child or adult.
•  In a study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control of 5,000 college students at over 100 colleges, 4% of men answered "yes" to the question "In your lifetime have you been forced to submit to sexual intercourse against your will?"

Who are the perpetrators?

•  99% of people who rape are men, 60% are Caucasian.
•  Between 62% (4) and 84% (1) of survivors knew their attacker.
•  8% of men admit committing acts that meet the legal definition of rape or attempted rape. Of these men who committed rape, 84% said that what they did was definitely not rape.
•  More than one in five men report "becoming so sexually aroused that they could not stop themselves from having sex, even though the woman did not consent."
•  35% of men report at least some degree of likelihood of raping if they could be assured they wouldn't be caught or punished.
•  One out of every 500 college students is infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
•  First-year students in college tend to believe more rape myths than seniors.
•  Sexual assault offenders were substantially more likely than any other category of violent criminal to report experiencing physical or sexual abuse as children.
•  In one study, 98% of men who raped boys reported that they were heterosexual.

Who are the survivors?

•  41% of college women who are raped were virgins at the time.
•  42% of rape survivors told no one about the rape.
•  False reports of rape are rare, according to the FBI, occurring only 8% of the time.

Circumstances of rape

•  57% of rapes happen on dates.
•  75% of the men and 55% of the women involved in acquaintance rapes were drinking or taking drugs just before the attack.
•  About 70% of sexual assault survivors reported that they took some form of self-protective action during the crime. The most common technique was to resist by struggling or chase and try to hold the attacker. Of those survivors who took protective action, over half believed it helped the situation, about 1/5 believed that it made the situation worse or simultaneously worse and better.
•  84% of rape survivors tried unsuccessfully to reason with the man who raped her. (1)
•  55% of gang rapes on college campuses are committed by fraternities, 40% by sports teams, and 5% by others.
•  Approximately 40% of sexual assaults take place in the survivor's home. About 20% occur in the home of a friend, neighbor, or relative. 10% occur outside, away from home. About 8% take place in parking garages.
•  More than half of all rape and sexual assault incidents occurred within one mile of the survivor's home or in her home.

What happens after the rape?

•  In a study done in the 1980s, 5% of rape survivors went to the police.
•  Throughout the last 10 years, the National Crime Victimization Survey has reported that approximately 30% of rape survivors report the incident to the police
•  Of those rapes reported to the police (which is 1/3 or less to begin with), only 16% result in prison sentences. Therefore, approximately 5% of the time, a man who rapes ends up in prison, 95% of the time he does not.
•  42% of rape survivors had sex again with the rapist
•  30% of rape survivors contemplate suicide after the rape
•  82% of rape survivors say the rape permanently changed them
•  The adult pregnancy rate associated with rape is estimated to be 4.7%

(c) Copyright 2014 Robyn King. All Rights Reserved.

Source:  One In Four
(c) Robyn King. All Rights Reserved.