Women's Center: Sexual Assault

Stats and Facts:

1. Last year in Bergen County alone, there were 1055 clients using the services at the Rape Crisis Hotline (Bergen County Rape Crisis Center).
2. A woman is raped every 2 minutes in the United States (U.S. Department of Justice).
3. In a national study of college students, 15.4% of female respondents said they had been the victim of rape, and 53% had suffered some form of sexual aggression (Koss, “ Hidden Rape: Sexual Aggression and Victimization in a National Sample of Students in Higher Education”).
4. The United States is one of the most rape-prone countries in the world, with the rate of reported and attempted rape nearly 18 times higher than in England (Rape Abuse and Incest National Network).
5. 68% of rape victims know their assailant: 35% were acquaintances, 28% were boyfriends or husbands, and 5% were other relatives (U.S. Department of Justice).
6. In a 1988 study of unwanted sexual activity among men, it was found that 2/3 of the men surveyed reported having engaged in unwanted intercourse, primarily because of male peer pressure or wanting to be popular. Other studies show as many as 14% of men are forced to have sex against their will. [Berkowitz, “A Review of Recent Research.” Journal of American College Health, 40 (1992): 175-81.]
7. 55% of all female victims of sexual abuse that occurs in the home are girls under the age of 11 (NJ Division on Women).
8. 1/3 of all juvenile victims of sexual abuse are children under the age of 6 (NJ Division on Women).
9. The use of alcohol or drugs increases the chances that: sexual intent will be misperceived; communicating one’s intentions will be more difficult; sexual aggression will be justified in the perpetrator’s mind. [Abbey, Psychology of Women Quarterly 11 (1987): 173-94.]
10. Assault and abuse have often been linked to the way men are socialized to become “masculine” especially when being masculine means being in control and sexually aggressive. But not all men rape or abuse—so what accounts for those who do? According to the Centers for Disease Control, men who perpetrate assault tend to have the following common traits, beliefs and experiences:
    
    -A belief that violence is an acceptable way to resolve conflict, especially in dating relationships
    -High degree of investment in traditional gender roles, adoption of hyper-masculine traits
    -Tendency to take an active role in dating situations (e.g., initiating, driving, paying)
    -Adversarial beliefs about relationships
    -Belief in common rape myths
    -Previous intimacy with the victim
    -Use of alcohol and drugs

Studies of both incarcerated and non-incarcerated rapists show that these men score significantly higher than control subjects on standardized measures of:

-Hostility toward women
-Dominance as a motive for sexual interaction
-Hyper-masculinity

A study of juniors and seniors at a major Southeastern University conducted by psychologists David Lisak and Susan Roth found that there were significant differences between men who had committed acts which met the legal definition of rape and those who had not. Men who had committed rape reported having poorer relationships with their fathers than non-rapists. The study concludes that those who were raised in traditional European-American families where the father was physically present but emotionally distant had significantly greater needs to “define themselves in opposition to women” and greater propensity toward violence against women (In Confronting Rape, eds. Mary Odem and Jody Clay-Warner, pp. 145-62.)

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