Lynn Macgillivray
Last month was sexual assault awareness month, but just because April drew to a close doesn’t mean that the need to talk about the hard topic ends.
Sexual assault is a serious issue which affects more people than we may realize. There are many types of sexual assault, ranging from rape and groping to sexual harassment. April is sexual assault awareness month and we have been focusing on this as a part of CelebMix Cares. Therefore to highlight the seriousness of the issue we have gathered some statistics for you.
Firstly, every year in the United States over 300,000 people are sexually assaulted. To put this into some sort of scale, this means that every 98 seconds, somebody in the United States experiences sexual assault. In addition to this, every eight minutes the victim will be a child. However, out of 1,000 offenders, only six will be prosecuted and end up in prison. It is, therefore, easy to see why so many people never come forward to the police.
Young people (those between the ages of 18 and 34) are the age group who are most at risk of sexual assault. Out of all sexual violence attacks, 54% are likely to be from this age group. This compares to 28% being 35 to 64-year-olds, 15% being 12 to 17-year-olds and only 3% being over 65.
As well as this, The Center for Disease Control has been doing some research. It found that 30% of female victims were first victims of assault during their school years (between the ages of 11 and 17). In addition to this, the Justice Department states that in girls between the ages of 14 and 17, almost 20% have been victims of sexual assault or attempted sexual assault. This translates to one in every five girls.
Women at college in the United States who are between the ages of 18 and 25 are 3 times as likely to be a victim of sexual harassment, compared to all women. This number increases by 20% in women who are not in college.
Many people still believe that women are the only people on the receiving end of sexual assault. However, this is not the case. Let us take college students in the United States for example. Among graduates, 8.8% of women and 2.2% of males experience sexual harassment of some kind. This number rises for undergraduates, to 23.1% for women and 5.4% for males. As well as this, men who are at college are 78% more likely to find themselves a victim of sexual assault than those who are not students.
In 2013 the National Crime Victimisation Survey found that in 40,000 homes, 38% of all incidents were against men. This figure would shock many, however, sexual violence against men is a serious problem. Only recently have gender stereotypes began to fade, allowing more men to feel comfortable enough in coming forward.
We hope these statistics have given you some insight into the number of people that sexual assault affects. If you or anyone you know has been affected by sexual assault, please seek any help you might need. There are many great organizations out there, including Victim Support and RAINN among many others.
