Rising Sexual Assault Rates Prove That It's More Than An Occasional Headline
Magana | CLMI
Society might often talk about sexual assault, but it’s not always truly heard. For most, it’s treated as something distant. In recent months, it’s been dissected as a political issue with the discomforting disclosure of the Epstein Files as Congressional investigations and controversies lag on. At the moment, it’s an issue that only exists in headlines or data rather in real life - despite that fact that most Americans (63% in fact) have actually experienced it in some form or another.
Instead, due to a range of emotions regarding sexual assualt - ranging from embarrassment to shame, from guilt to cover-up - most Americans are treating it as something distant and rare. Even with the high profile visibility of the Epstein Files, poll after poll on the issue shows Americans laser-focused on the political and governance dimensions of it as opposed to empathy for the victims of deeply disturbing instances of violence discovered through the investigation.
Not that the political and policy aspects are not important. But when 82% of women and 42% of men have experienced some form of sexual assault (verbal and physical), as this Newcomb Institute at Tulane University study reports, Americans are discovering through an accumulation of their own experiences that behind every number is a person whose story cannot be minimized or ignored. The realization gets worse as sexual assaults in the U.S. sharply rose by 41% since 2021 …
At that rate of frequency, survivors deserve a degree of justice. They deserve public platforms to describe the pain and anguish of sexual assault, along with the psychological harm and deep trauma experienced by it. Yet, with rampant stigmas and lack of education, it’s hard for survivors to speak up when they are met with doubt or the social norm of silence. At that stage the harm doesn’t end … it actually deepens. The Guardian’s Rachel Thompson uses her own unfortunate experience to explain the short and long term ramifications of widespread rape-culture normalcy …
In the short term, survivors may also feel a psychological or social benefit by not acknowledging a rape or assault – such as lower symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder compared with acknowledged rape.“It may enable you to avoid the stigma of being a rape survivor, allow you to maintain relationships with your social group; this could be especially important if the perpetrator is a member of the survivor’s social group,” says Littleton. “It also may make it seem more manageable.”
But the long-term consequences of not accepting that you have been raped can be devastating. Dr Laura Wilson, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Mary Washington in Virginia, says research shows that unacknowledged rape survivors are “less likely to report the crime to police, less likely to seek services – eg medical, mental health – and more likely to be victimised again”.
One bad experience of sexual assault turns much more complex when reporting it as doubt sets in. So many victimes pick silence to avoid judgement: that deep feeling of doubt, ugly recriminations from shared communities or, simply, reliving the trauma through the process of police reporting and judicial testimony. The non-disclosure rates, according to the Tulane University study, are higher than the prevalence rates …
Social Acknowledgement
Taking sexual assault seriously is not just about acknowledging that it happens. It’s much more about changing the way our collective culture responds to it. It requires listening without judgment, recognizing its impact, and being able to understand that dismissing it only allows the problem to continue. Sexual assault incidents, indeed, are on the rise. Response strategies are needed now.
Understanding that sexual assault can happen to anyone is the scary part - and the fact that it doesn’t discriminate, from men to women to children, white, Black, Hispanic, Asian, native American is problematic. Even more problematic is the disparity between different demographic groups and the lack of current data on how destructive sexual assault has been to women of color. We do know that Native American women are twice as likely to be victims of rape than any other major demographic group, but that data point has not been updated in any significant way for more than a decade. The last comprehensive study referencing those differences was in 2012 …
Increasing diversity of the U.S. population requires a better understanding of risk factors for adverse outcomes, such as sexual assault, by race/ethnicity. For adult women, recent data from the CDC report lifetime prevalence of rape as about 1 in 5 for African Americans (22.0%) and whites (18.8%), and 1 in 7 for Hispanics (14.6%). Some studies have shown that the prevalence of forced sexual intercourse among adolescents differs by racial and ethnic groups, while others have found no differences. In the studies that find differences, the results are mixed. For instance, 1 study only found differences among race/ethnic groups for adolescent men, but not adolescent women. In another study, African American adolescents reported the highest proportion of forced sexual intercourse, which is consistent with results from the National Violence Against Women Survey showing that black, Hispanic, and American Indian/Alaskan Native women are at greater risk for rape victimization than white women. Since race/ethnicity is, at best, a marker for those with a high risk, it is important to explore whether particular causal risk factors are associated with race/ethnicity, and whether these risk factors may explain differences in the rates of forced sexual intercourse among the members of various racial/ethnic groups. Identifying the causal factors will enable development of preventive interventions that can then be targeted to the groups at risk.
As for the perpetrators, the overwhelming number of offenders (95%) are men, with 93.5% sentenced for sexual abuse being men. The majority are white (55.1%), but sexual assaults by men of color - Hispanic (15.2%), Black (13.9%), Native American (13%) and 2.8% for other races, along with the average age being 38 years old - indicate the presence of rape as disproportionately prevalent in non-white communities: The percentage of offenders is higher than their respective national population percentages. Offenders in the Native American community, for example, are alarming compared to their overall population numbers. As the U.S. Sentencing Commission reports in its Fiscal Year 2024 report …
93.5% of individuals sentenced for sexual abuse were men.
55.1% were White, 15.2% were Hispanic, 13.9% were Black, 13.0% were Native American, and 2.8% were Other races.3
67.0% of individuals in cases involving production of child pornography were White.4
55.6% of individuals in cases involving travel for prohibited sexual contact were White.
60.5% of individuals in cases involving criminal sexual abuse (rape) were Native American.
85.0% of individuals in cases involving statutory rape were Native American.
48.7% of individuals in cases involving abusive sexual contact were Native American and 23.1% were White.
Interactions With Police
Faulty or infrequent sexual assault reporting could be due to victim discomfort when reporting to police. One 2008 University of Michigan study found that “… as a result of contact with the legal system, 87% of survivors felt bad about themselves, 71% felt depressed, 53% felt distrustful of others and 80% were less likely to seek other help.” While some survivors have encountered supportive officers, many still experience police behavior that has ultimately deepened their trauma and distrust of the justice system, thereby deterring them, and the acquaintances they talk to, from reporting to the police again.
However, much of that is dependent on race and social status. Low-income women of color, primarily Latinas, are very hesitant about reporting to police as the observations above explain. For white women, the experiences are more positive (naturally, as law enforcement officers are generally white), as a 2024 study discovered: “Most women were interested in speaking with police, spoke with police, and reported positive experiences. Latinas and women with lower education and income were less likely to speak with police.” This was the first large scale study of its kind. The first table below shows an overall positive reflection on police treatment …
But it’s critical to begin looking at the racial and income demographic makeup of this study’s grouping to begin building a much more accurate picture of victim and police interaction …
The study found that …
[While] experiences with law enforcement among women who spoke with the police were overwhelmingly positive. Nearly 9 out of 10 women were satisfied overall with how they were treated and more than 9 out of 10 women felt that the police officer believed them and treated them with respect. Experiences with police did not differ by race or ethnicity. However, individuals with a greater burden of childhood or lifetime trauma were less likely to agree that police treated them with respect or believed their story. Women with a higher burden of PTS were also less satisfied with their treatment by police. Police contact rates were significantly lower among Latinas and women with a high school education or less and those with an income of less than $20,000/year. The most common reasons for not contacting the police were embarrassment, fear of the assailant, and uncertainty regarding what happened during the assault.
Blame
Sexual assault victims often face more profound mental health challenges due to rape trauma syndrome, self-blame, dissociation and numbness and cognitive impairment. Some of these experiences lead to substance abuse, and even suicide in some instances. Too often, victims suffer from being blamed, while challenged by mental health issues, and being minimized - all while not feeling safe. Supportive measures must be reinforced to ensure prompt effective responses by institutions, in addition to the need for mandatory reporting requirements that respect survivor confidentiality. Sexual assault victims have a story to tell, and society can help by taking their unfortunate journeys seriously. When we choose to listen, to believe, and to act we create a society where survivors are supported rather than silenced.
ALEJANDRA MAGANA is a Fellow at the Civic Literacy and Media Influence Institute at Learn4Life
