Sexual Assault
Sexual assault and abuse is any type of sexual activity that an individual does not agree to, including: rape and attempted rape, unwanted fondling, unwanted sexual contact or attention, verbal assaults of a sexual nature, etc. Rape and sexual assault are never the victim’s fault — no matter where or how it happens.
Information and resources on what to do in the case of a sexual assault:
http://www.womenshealth.gov/FAQ/sexual-assault.cfm#b
http://www.sarcoregon.org/sexual_assault_survivor.asp
Myths and facts about sexual assault
- Myth: Most rapes are committed by strangers
- Fact: In 8 out of 10 rape cases, the victim knows the perpetrator
- Myth: Rape is not a common crime.
- Fact: Every two minutes, somewhere in America, someone is sexually assaulted, and the U.S. Justice Department statistics report that only 26% of all rapes or attempted rapes are reported to law enforcement officials.
- Myth: If a woman agrees to sexual intimacy, but then changes her mind, she is asking for what she gets.
- Fact: All women and men have the right to decide if they want to continue any intimacy, decide what they wish to participate in and with whom they wish to participate with.
- Myth: Women falsely report rape and domestic violence.
- Fact: Statistics show that the number of falsely reported rape are no greater than that of other crimes, that is, about two percent.
- Myth: Women who dress certain ways are asking to get raped or sexually assaulted.
- Fact: No one asks for a violent crime to be committed against himself or herself. This reasoning shifts the blame from the perpetrator to the victim. You would not blame a man for how he was dressed if he was physically or sexually assaulted.
- Myth: Raping a prostitute is a victimless crime because she has sex for a living.
- Fact: Rape is not about sex. Rape is about using power and control to dominate and harm. Rape is emotionally as well as physically traumatizing for any woman or man.
- Myth: Men rape because they cannot control their sexual impulses.
- Fact: Men rape because they choose to. Many rapists are married and have access to regular sex. Sexual assault is an extension of self-entitlement, rage, low self-esteem, dehumanizing of the victim and a vehicle to get sexual pleasure from inflicting pain on others.