Sexual Violence
Post date: 2006-10-27
Every three minutes a woman is raped in the United States. According to figures derived from FBI statistics, one of every three women will be raped in her lifetime and forcible rape is one of the fastest growing violent crimes committed in this country. In 1993, 1,405 sexual assault survivors sought assistance from sexual assault programs in New Hampshire.
Sexual assault is forced, manipulated or coerced sexual activity. It includes stranger rape, acquaintance rape, marital rape, child molestation and incest. Sexual assault is a violent crime, not a sexual one. Assailants use sex to humiliate and to inflict violence on victims, or to exert power and control over them.
The victim of sexual assault can be any age, race, or social background. Victims have been as young as six months and as old as ninety three. The threat of rape is a reality for all women.
Rapists can be anyone. Most are married or have ongoing relationships with women. The rapist is motivated by the need for power and the need to dominate someone weaker.
In over half of all reported rapes, the victim and the rapist know each other. Child victims know the rapist in 80% of all cases. Two thirds of all rapes are planned in advance and more than eight out of ten rapists have raped before.
The causes of rape are rooted in a society that teaches men to seek power through domination of others and that has traditionally presumed that the victim has a role in provoking the sexual assault. Many men rape because they so often can get away with it, and many women do not prosecute because they are afraid that the rapist will retaliate, that the prosecution will be unsuccessful, or that they are somehow to blame for the rape. Until society begins to hold rapists account able for their acts of violence, rape will continue to be a daily fear in every woman's lifeMental and Emotional Impact on Individual Survivors:
Mental health costs of sexual assault are very high. Estimates indicate that 25-50% of rape and child sexual abuse survivors receive some form of mental health treatment as a result of the victimization. (Victim Costs and Consequences: A New Look. 1996. Ted R. Miller, Mark A. Cohen, Brian Wiersama. U. S. Dept. of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute ofJustice.)
Almost one-third (31%) of all rape survivors develop Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) sometime during their lifetimes. Rape in America -- A Report to the Nation. 1992. National Victim Center and Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center, University of South Carolina, Charleston.)
Rape survivors are 13 times more likely than non-crime victims to attempt suicide and 6.4 times more likely to have used cocaine or other hard drugs. Rape in America: A report to the Nation. 1992. National Victim Center and Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center, University of South Carolina, Charleston.)
The U.S. Public Health Service Office on Women's Health reports that 50-75% of women in substance abuse treatment programs are survivors of sexual violence.
Child and adult histories of sexual and physical abuse appear frequently to be the first experience in a sequence that leads to homelessness for both women and men. (Homeless, Addictions and Mental Illness. 1997. Catherine M. Anderson and Katherine B. Chiocchio. In Sexual Abuse in the Lives Qf Women Diagnose with Serious Mental Illnes . Maxine Harris, (ed., p.p. 21-3 7.)
Impact on the Mental Health System:
On average only 5% to 8% of sexual assault victims ever engage the services of Rape Crisis Centers. (The Rape Victim: Clinical and Community Interventions. 1991. Mary P. Koss and Mary R. Harvey. 2 "d edition. Sage Library of Social Research, Vol. 185, Sage Publications.)
• In one NYC comparative study, rape survivors seen by a rape crisis center advocate during their initial emergency room visit reported the fastest recovery path from their psychological injuries and returned soonest to normalized daily routines. (Study Finds Rape Crisis Programs Do Work. 1997. Sexual Assault ReJ2ort Vol. 1, 2. p.p. 17,3 0.)
• Numerous nationwide studies consistently show prevalence rates of sexual abuse histories at 22% - 54% among women receiving case management mental health services and 50% -70% among women in inpatient psychiatric facilities. On Record: Facts about Mental Health & Physical and Sexual Abuse. 1994. U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Center for Mental Health Services)
• A Queens, NY study of women in an outpatient psychiatric facility revealed a 45% prevalence rate of sexual abuse histories, consistent with the national figures. Childhood Abuse and Neglect Among Women Outpatients with Chronic Mental Illness. 1993. Kristina Muenzenmaier, Ilan Meyer, Elmer Struening, and Jane Ferber. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, Vol. 44,7, pp. 666-670.)
• Estimates of the total annual cost of mental health care for victims of attempted or completed rape is $863 million. Estimates of the same costs for adult survivors of child sexual abuse are even higher, $2.1 billion. Victim Costs and Consequences-A New Look 1996. Ted R. Miller, Mark A. Cohen, Brian Wiersama. U. S. Dept. of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice.)
Excerpts from the New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Rape and Sexual Assault: The Mental Health Impact, August 1998.
The 14 member groups of the NH Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence assist survivors of sexual assault, and domestic violence, and- members of their families, with 24-hour crisis lines, emergency shelter, counseling, support groups and help dealing with police, medical and court personnel. The programs provide speakers and educational programs to community groups. In 1997, Coalition groups assisted 1,073 sexual assault survivors. They helped hundreds of women obtain restraining orders against their abusers. | 
