Shatter the silence of sexual violence!
Sexual Assault
Awareness Month
2012
Sexual Assault 101
www.pavingtheway.net
Overview
• Welcome to SAAM 2012
• History of Sexual Assault Awareness
Month
• Sexual Violence Defined
• Myths, Statistics and Definitions of SV
• Your Role in Making a Difference –
Empowerment, Prevention, Intervention
Shatter the Silence of Sexual Violence!
www.ShatteringTheSilence.org
Welcome to SAAM 2012!
Shatter the Silence of Sexual Violence!
www.ShatteringTheSilence.org
SAAM 2012 Events
• Check out PAVE’s website
www.ShatteringTheSilence.org for a complete list
of our sponsored SAAM Events.
• Check your State’s Coalition against sexual assault or
local SV/DV resource centers for events in your
community.
• You can also see a complete list of national events at the
National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website:
www.NSVRC.org or
http://www.nsvrc.org/calendar/2012-04
Shatter the Silence of Sexual Violence!
www.ShatteringTheSilence.org
History of Sexual Assault Awareness
Month
• National Sexual Violence
Resource Center
• First held nationally in
April 2001
• Roots in Take Back The Night
1970s London
Shatter the Silence of Sexual Violence!
www.ShatteringTheSilence.org
WHAT IS SEXUAL
VIOLENCE
Myths, Definitions and Statistics
Shatter the Silence of Sexual Violence!
www.ShatteringTheSilence.org
Sexual Violence Defined
• Importance of understanding the definition
• Any act sexual in nature, whether verbal or physical,
that breaks a person’s trust, violates their safety, or
impedes upon their sexual autonomy. Sexual
violence includes and is not limited to sexual
harassment, sexual assault and rape. It also does not
specify a gender or age and can be understood to
encompass domestic violence or any violence based
on one’s sexual identity.
Shatter the Silence of Sexual Violence!
www.ShatteringTheSilence.org
Sexual Violence Defined
• Sexual Harassment
• Any unwanted attention or advances regarding sexual
gratification, favors or other verbal or physical conduct
of a sexual nature
• Sexual Assault
• A spectrum of sexual violence including any sexual
contact or activity without consent
• Rape
• Any penetration (vaginal, anal, oral) with anything
(penis, fingers, objects) done without consent
Shatter the Silence of Sexual Violence!
www.ShatteringTheSilence.org
Sexual Violence Defined
• Coercion
• Any form of significant pressure employed to overcome
one’s ability to freely and willingly consent, such as by
use of threats, blackmail, imprisonment, etc.
• Consent – YES MEANS YES!
• A clearly and freely given word or overt action
confirming a willing desire towards and limited to a
specific sexual request or experience; consent cannot
be obtained from minors or individuals whom are
mentally impaired, including impairment by intoxication
through drugs or alcohol (voluntarily or involuntarily); it
Shatter the Silence of Sexual Violence!
is also an affirmative response, not
a lack of one.
www.ShatteringTheSilence.org
Myths about Sexual Violence
• Myth: Most sexual assaults are committed by
strangers.
• Fact: 60% – 80% of all sexual assaults are committed by
someone the victim knows (i.e. a relative, friend, neighbor,
or acquaintance). 85% of reported child sexual assaults
are by someone known and trusted by the child. The
attacks occur most frequently in the victim’s home or in
the car.
Shatter the Silence of Sexual Violence!
www.ShatteringTheSilence.org
Myths about Sexual Violence
• Myth: The primary motive for sexual assault is sex.
• Fact: Studies show that the motive for the sexual assault
is power and aggression, not sex and that most
perpetrators have consenting sexual partners (i.e.
boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands, wives). Sexual assault
is a crime of violence, committed by a person who uses
sex as a weapon.
Shatter the Silence of Sexual Violence!
www.ShatteringTheSilence.org
Myths about Sexual Violence
• Myth: A husband/wife cannot sexually assault their
partner.
• Fact: If a spouse forces his or her mate to have sex, then
it is a sexual assault, and it is a crime. Studies show that 1
out of 7 women are sexually assaulted by their husbands.
A person convicted of Spousal Sexual Battery can be
sentenced up to 10 years in jail.
Shatter the Silence of Sexual Violence!
www.ShatteringTheSilence.org
Myths about Sexual Violence
• Myth: Only women are sexually assaulted.
• Fact: One out of every 10 men is a victim of sexual
assault, and 1 out of six boys will be sexually abused by
age 18. Males are socialized to not be vulnerable and not
identify themselves as victims
Shatter the Silence of Sexual Violence!
www.ShatteringTheSilence.org
Myths about Sexual Violence
• Myth: If a victim experiences sexual arousal or
orgasm from sexual abuse, this means he/she was a
willing participant or enjoyed it.
• Fact: Sexual arousal or orgasmic response does not
mean that positive emotions or consent were involved. It
simply means that the body reacted. The act of abuse
assumes or disregards a victim’s feelings. A person can
have an erection or an orgasm even when he/she is
afraid.
Shatter the Silence of Sexual Violence!
www.ShatteringTheSilence.org
Myths about Sexual Violence
• Myth: A rapist is easy to spot in a crowd.
•
• Fact: A rapist could be your neighbor, relative, boyfriend,
girlfriend, cable person, husband, wife or stranger. The
fact is they can be of any race, color or socio-economic
status.
Shatter the Silence of Sexual Violence!
www.ShatteringTheSilence.org
Myths about Sexual Violence
• Myth: Most sexual assaults are committed by
strangers.
• Fact: 60% – 80% of all sexual assaults are committed by
someone the victim knows (i.e. a relative, friend, neighbor,
or acquaintance). 85% of reported child sexual assaults
are by someone known and trusted by the child. The
attacks occur most frequently in the victim’s home or in
the car.
Shatter the Silence of Sexual Violence!
www.ShatteringTheSilence.org
Myths About Sexual Violence
• Myth: If a victim doesn’t scream or fight, it is not a
sexual assault.
• Fact: The perpetrator’s primary weapon is fear. Through
threats of bodily injury or death, the victim is terrorized
into cooperation or immobilized by fear. A victim does not
have to have bruises, cuts or any other physical injury to
prove that she has been sexually assaulted. Submission
is not consent; it is against the victim’s will.
Shatter the Silence of Sexual Violence!
www.ShatteringTheSilence.org
Myths about Sexual Violence
• Myth: Women “cry rape” to get back at men.
• Fact: Fact: Less than 5% of reported sexual assaults are
false accusations.
Shatter the Silence of Sexual Violence!
www.ShatteringTheSilence.org
Myths about Sexual Violence
• Myth: Sexual Assault could never happen to me.
• Fact: This is false. Your mother, father, daughter, son,
girlfriend, boyfriend, neighbor, sister, brother or coworker
and you could become a sexual assault victim. All people
are potential sexual assault victims, regardless of age,
race, religion, occupation, education or physical
description. Studies report that 1 out of every 3 women
and 1 out of every 6 men will be a victim of some type of
sexual violence during their lifetime.
Shatter the Silence of Sexual Violence!
www.ShatteringTheSilence.org
The Facts about Sexual Violence
• Sexual Assault General Statistics
• Every 2 minutes, someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted (US
Dept of Justice)
• 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys are sexually assaulted before age 18
(Finkelhor, 1992)
• 17.7 million women in the United States have been the victim of a
rape or attempted rape at some point in their lives. (National Institute of
Justice and the Centers for Disease Control; Research in Brief, Findings from the National
Violence Against Women Survey. November, 1998).
• One study found that 34% of sexual assaults occurred when
victims were less than 12 years old; 33% occurred between the
ages of 12-17; and 14% occurred between the ages of 18-24. (Sexual
Assault of Young Children as Reported to Law enforcement: Victim, Incident, and Offender
Characteristics. U.S. Department of Justice Statistics, 2000).
Shatter the Silence of Sexual Violence!
www.ShatteringTheSilence.org
The Facts about Sexual Violence
• Child Sexual Abuse
• 67% of all victims of sexual assault reported to law enforcement
were juveniles under the age of 18. More than half (34%) of these
victims were under the age of 12. (Sexual Assault of Young Children as
Reported to Law Enforcement: Victim, Incident, and Offender
Characteristics. U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics,
2000).
• Females comprised 82% of all juvenile victims. 73% of female
victims were under the age of 12. 69% of female victims were
under the age of 6. (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2000).
• In 1999, 47% of child sex offenders were related to the victim, 49%
were acquaintances, and 4% were strangers. (Juvenile Offenders and
Victims 1999 National Report. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention, 1999).
Shatter the Silence of Sexual Violence!
www.ShatteringTheSilence.org
The Facts about Sexual Violence
• Male Sexual Assault
• In 2002, one in every eight rape victims were male. [NCVS 2002]
• About three percent of American men —- a total of 2.78 million
men—have experienced an attempted or completed rape in their
lifetime. [Prevalence, Incidence and Consequences of Violence Against
Women 1998.]
• Of sexually abused children in grades five through twelve, 48% of
the boys told no one about the abuse—not even a friend or sibling.
[Commonwealth Fund Survey of the Health of Adolescent Girls, 1998.]
• In one study, 98% of males who raped boys reported that they were
heterosexual. [Sexual Abuse of Boys, Journal of the American Medical
Association, December 2, 1998]
Shatter the Silence of Sexual Violence!
www.ShatteringTheSilence.org
The Facts about Sexual Violence
• Teen Sexual Assault and Abuse
• Approximately, 1.8 million adolescents in the United States have
been victims of sexual assault. (Kilpatrick, D., Acierno, R., Saunders, B.,
Resnick, H., Best, C. and Schnurr, P. National Survey of Adolescents Executive
Summary. Charlestown, SC: Medical University of South Carolina, National Crime
Victims Research and Treatment Center, 1998).
• 33% of sexual assaults occur when the victim is between the ages
of 12-17. (Sexual Assault of Young Children as Reported to Law Enforcement:
Victim, Incident, and Offender Characteristics. U.S. Department of Justice Statistics,
2000).
• Teens 16-19 years of age were 3.5 times more likely than the
general population to be victims of rape, attempted rape, or sexual
assault. (Bureau of Justice Statistics. National Crime Victimization Survey. U.S.
Department of Justice, 1996).
Shatter the Silence of Sexual Violence!
www.ShatteringTheSilence.org
The Facts about Sexual Violence
• College Campus Sexual Assault
• The most vulnerable population for campus rape is freshman girls
during the first few months of school. (Neimark, Jill. Out of Bounds, the Truth
About Athletes and Rape. Interactivetheater.org, 2000).
• 1 out of 6 college women have been raped or have been the victim
of an attempted rape during the past year. (Weitzman, E., DeJong, W. and Finn, P.
Alcohol and Acquaintance Rape: Strategies to Protect Yourself and Each Other. The Higher Education Center for
Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention. U.S. Department of Education, 1999).
• 1 out of 15 male students raped or attempted to rape a woman
during the past year. (Weitzman, E., DeJong, W. and Finn, P. Alcohol and Acquaintance
Rape: Strategies to Protect Yourself and Each Other. The Higher Education Center for Alcohol
and Other Drug Prevention. U.S. Department of Education, 1999).
• Only 5% of undergraduate women reported their sexual assault to
police. (Schwartz, M. and Leggett, M. Bad Dates or Emotional Trauma: The Aftermath of Campus Sexual
Assault. Violence Against Women, Vol. 5, No. 3, March 1999).
Shatter the Silence of Sexual Violence!
www.ShatteringTheSilence.org
Your Role in Making A Difference
• Everyone has a part in the movement
• Bystander Intervention
• Be Aware of Victim Blaming
• Supporting Survivors in our Lives
TALK ABOUT IT! Shatter the Silence of
Sexual Violence!
Shatter the Silence of Sexual Violence!
www.ShatteringTheSilence.org
This is Not a Women’s Issue, But A Human Issue!
It’s Important to Get Men Involved in Being a Part of the Solution….
If you SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING!
Stopping Sexual Assault is Everyone’s Business!
Shatter the Silence of Sexual Violence!
www.ShatteringTheSilence.org
Bystander Intervention:
The willingness to take action and help someone in time of need.
Two recent media examples of people
failing to intervene include:
① The alleged sexual abuse by Sandusky
at Penn State
②Bernie Fine at Syracuse University Tapes 'reveal his wife watched husband
molest boy in their home’
Bernie Fine has lost his job
as head basketball coach at
Syracuse University amid
child abuse allegation
Shatter the Silence of Sexual Violence!
www.ShatteringTheSilence.org
Shatter the Silence of Sexual Violence!
www.ShatteringTheSilence.org
Help a Survivor!
Studies show that the first person a survivor tells…
If that person reacts well, it can greatly help the
healing process!
Shatter the Silence of Sexual Violence!
www.ShatteringTheSilence.org
Shatter the Silence of Sexual Violence!
www.ShatteringTheSilence.org
That’s it for Today folks!
• Questions or comments?
Upcoming Free SAAM Webinars:
• Wednesday April 11th 12pm – 1pm CST
• Victim Blaming, Supporting a Survivor and Bystander
Intervention
• Wednesday April 18th 12pm – 1pm CST
• Sexual Violence in the Media and Gender Identity
• Wednesday April 25th 12pm – 1pm CST
• Healthy Relationships, Reporting and Shattering The
Silence 101
Shatter the Silence of Sexual Violence!
www.ShatteringTheSilence.org
www.ShatteringTheSilence.org/
SAAM
Shatter the Silence of Sexual Violence!
www.ShatteringTheSilence.org