How Common is Sexual Assault?

In the Steubenville documentary when the case becomes nationally known, more women come forward with their stories of assault by past football players from Steubenville High. Some from fifty or more years ago. In the Bay, it is pretty uncommon to hear about sexual assaults that happen in our own neighborhoods (other than the Brock Turner case). In March 2018, two boys from Graham Middle School were arrested with sexual assault charges from a female student. Graham is only a fifteen-minute drive from Los Altos, yet this was not brought up. This brings the question of how common sexual assault is present in our country today and why it continues. 

While the rate of sexual assault has fallen by 63% since 1993, the amount is surprisingly shocking when it is put into numbers. Every 98 seconds, an American is sexually assaulted. Each year 321,500 Americans in the general public over the age of twelve are victimized. In total, around 481,000 people have been assaulted in some way. Most of the victims tend to be females, however, 2.78 million (as of 1998) men in America have been a victim. 

When sexual assault is brought up, common questions are asked such as: What was he/she wearing... Were they drunk... Were they dating… Was it during a party? Although in the Steubenville case the assault was at a party, 48% of victims are actually sleeping or doing an activity at home. Another 29% are usually traveling between locations. Shockingly, 7% were at school. 

If sexual assault is morally and ethically wrong, why is it so prevalent in our country? Now some may suggest that the best way to combat this is for victims to come forward with their stories but in reality, our culture has accepted and normalized sexual violence. If they come forward, they are accused of creating a false story with the intent to ruin the life of the perpetrator. Victim blame is influenced by observers and then aspects of the victim(s) and perpetrator(s). The most crucial factor is institutional and societal levels that create the environment around victim-blaming, also known as rape culture. In order to expose the reality of sexual assault and reduce it, rape culture must be eliminated.

Sources: https://www.rainn.org/statistics/scope-problem
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/sexual-assault-statistics_n_58e24c14e4b0c777f788d24f
https://www.mv-voice.com/news/2018/04/12/juveniles-arrested-after-alleged-sexual-assault
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6348335/