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What to do
if you have been a victim of sexual assault:
1. Get to a safe place.
2. Seek medical attention right away.
3. Seek support from friends, family or counselors.
Counseling services are available to all students and can be accessed
on-campus in the Counseling Center (436-3368) and off-campus at the Violence
Intervention Program (432-4855).
What Is It?
Talking About What Happened
• Sexual violence is any form of unwanted, unwelcome, non-consensual*
or coercive* sexual contact.
• Sexual assault includes unwanted sexual contact, attempted intercourse
(no penetration) or intercourse (rape).
• Acquaintance rape occurs when someone you know forces, coerces,
and/or manipulates you to participate in unwanted sexual activity.
Rape is sex without consent. This could mean the use of or threatened
use of force, violence or injury. Having sex with someone who is under
the influence of alcohol or drugs also constitutes rape.
Sexual Harassment is defined as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for
sexual favors, or other sexually degrading verbal or physical conduct.
• The perpetrator can be a friend, someone who lives down the
street, someone you met at a party, someone your friend knows, your intimate
partner, your employer or someone you’ve known for a long time.
• Sexual assault is a crime that happens regardless of one’s
gender, sexual orientation, age, ability, economic status, religion, racial
or ethnic background.
*consent •Willingly giving permission or agreement to a sexual act,
without threat of harm. Consent is not given if you are incapable of consenting
(i.e. unconscious, drunk, stoned, sleeping, etc. )
*coercive behavior doesn’t necessarily mean by physical force. Often
times, coercion can take place in the form of a threat.
If you have been sexually assaulted, we encourage you to seek support to help you sort out your options. There are a number of services available to you. Service providers are trained to protect your confidentiality, to respect and support you.
Victims of Child Sexual Abuse
Researchers estimate that as many as 1 in 6 boys and 1 in 4 girls are
sexually assaulted before the age of 18. Embarrassment and confusion often
keep victims from reporting the crimes that they experienced. Victims
of child abuse develop strong coping skills which often include minimizing
the abuse (pretending that it’s not really that bad), rationalizing
(blaming the abuse on alcohol, looking at the abuse as an expression of
love), denial, forgetting, and in some cases, believing that they deserved
the abuse.
It is important to know that you are not alone and not to blame for what
happened. Healing from the crime of sexual abuse can begin at any time
and you don’t have to do it alone. A counselor at the Student
Counseling Center or at the Violence Intervention Program can help
you find someone you feel comfortable working with.
Statistics
• Over 80% of rapes are committed by people the victim knows.
Some national statistics:
• One of every 6 American women has been the victim of an attempted
or completed rape. One of every 25 college men have experienced unwanted
sexual activity. (US Dept of Justice, 1998).
• Approximately 66% of all rape victims know their assailant. (NCVS,
2000)
• 13% of college women indicated they had been forced to have sex
in a dating situation. (Johnson and Sigler, 2000)
• 75% of the men & 55% of the women involved in acquaintance
rapes were drinking or taking drugs just before the attack. (Warshaw,
R. (1994).
For Women
Coming soon
For Men
When a man has been assaulted...
• Male rape does happen.Most research suggests that 10 to 20 percent
of all males will be sexually violated at some point in their lives and
that 1 in 10 rape victims is male.
• Rape does NOT relate to sexual orientation. Rape is not “gay”
or “straight”. Same sex sexual assault does NOT mean that
the victim or the perpetrator is gay. Men who rape other men are motivated
primarily by a desire to do violence and to assert power.
• Recent studies by the Department of Justice and other governmental
agencies found that victimized men accounted for 6% (9,040 men) of completed
rapes, 9 % (10,270 men) of attempted rapes, and 11% (17,130 men) of completed
and attempted sexual assaults reported.
• Additionally, studies sponsored by gay and lesbian studies programs
at various universities suggest that 12 - 30 percent of gay and bisexual
men surveyed had indicated that they engaged in sexual intercourse when
they did not want to because they felt coerced to do so.
• Recent studies show that more than 86% of male survivors are sexually
abused by another male.
• Experts believe that current male rape statistics vastly under-represent
the actual number of men who are raped each year both because crime statistics
often do not actually include men as potential victims of rape and because
men are less likely to report rape.Research suggests that the rates of
under-reporting among men are even higher than those of women.
• Although male rape does occur, it's often not considered an acceptable
topic for discussion because of the commonly held beliefs that men are
"too big," "too strong," or "too much into sex"
to be sexually assaulted.
• The adverse effects of commonly held gender stereotypes of males
contribute to the stigma, shame, and embarrassment a male survivor goes
through as he begins to cope with what has happened to him.
Myth: Erection or ejaculation during a sexual assault means the male being assaulted "really wanted it" or gave consent.
Fact: These physiological responses may result from
mere physical contact or even extreme stress. They do not imply that the
male wanted or enjoyed the assault and do not indicate anything about
the male's sexual orientation. If a perpetrator is aware of how these
responses can confuse a victim of sexual assault, they may manipulate
their victims to the point of erection or ejaculation to increase their
feelings of control and to discourage reporting of the crime.
For GLBTQ
Coming soon
