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Defining Sexual Violence

Terminology

In some localities, the terms rape and sexual assault are used interchangeably. However, today sexual violence is a more widely accepted term.

 

 

Definition: sexual violence is any act (verbal and/or physical), which breaks a person’s trust and/or safety and is sexual in nature. It includes over 200 classifications. Any sexual assault is an act of violence where sex is used as a weapon.

Sexual Assault Statistics

  • Every two minutes someone in America is sexually assaulted.

  • 1 out of every 6 women in America has been the victim of rape sometime in her lifetime; attempted or completed.

  • 1 in 33 men are victims of sexual assault in the US.

  • 44% of rape victims are under age 18, and 80% are under age 30.

  • College-aged women are four times more likely to be the victim of sexual assault.

  • 15% of sexual assault and rape victims are under the age of 12.

  • 93% of juvenile sexual assault victims know their attacker. Children usually do not report a crime when it involves people they know - i.e., people with whom they feel comfortable.

  • More than HALF of sexual assaults go unreported.

Victims of Sexual Assault are . . .

...three times more likely to suffer from depression.

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...six times more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.

 

...thirteen times more likely to abuse alcohol.

 

...twenty-six times more likely to abuse drugs.

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...four times more likely to contemplate suicide.

 Perpetrator Relationship to the Victim

In an effort to protect ourselves, we sometimes view the perpetrator as someone we could easily recognize, i.e.,

a creepy looking guy driving a dirty brown van; or as a person coming out of a blind, dark corner, taking us unaware. In contrast to this scenario of false security, more than two thirds of all reported rapes were

perpetrated by a person who was known to the victim.

  • 73% of sexual assaults were perpetrated by a non-stranger:

  • 38% of perpetrators were a friend or acquaintance of the victim;

  • 28% were an intimate partner;

  • 7% were another relative.

DEFINITIONS AND STATISTICS COURTESY OF RAINN:

RAPE, ABUSE, AND INCEST NATIONAL NETWORK

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For more statistics, visit: http://www.rainn.org/statistics

Ephesians 5:14

Arise, O sleeper . . . and God will give you light.

E-mail: volar@socal.rr.com 

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