Sexual violence is a general term that includes any sexual activity inflicted or forced upon a person without his/her consent. In all cases, the victim would not rationally or willingly choose to participate in the activity or the person is unable to give valid consent due to physical, mental or age constraints. Sexual violence comprises crimes such as child sexual abuse, sexual assault from intimate partners, friends, dates or strangers; incest; sexual harassment; stalking; elder abuse; and rape among some of its categories. A key factor in determining whether a sexual act is deemed violent or abusive, lies in the individual’s ability to give valid consent.
What is consent? Legally, it refers to the minimum age at which an individual is considered to be old enough to understand the nature of sexual activities and to participate in them.
In psychological terms, it would also mean that the individual is free of undue pressures and fully understands the nature of the activity and wants to participate in it. Thus, consent also signifies a certain level of maturity. For example, children would not fully understand the nature of sexual activities as their physical, emotional, social and cognitive development have not reached completion. In Colorado, the legal age of consent is 17. At any age, however, whenever an individual is pressured, manipulated, or forced to any sexual activity through either physical force or violence, threats, intimidation, or by being taken advantage of his/her trust, or by being drugged, or by being intoxicated, the person is rendered unable to give valid consent. The abuse or violence can be a single incident or repeated incidents over long periods of time or years. Perpetrators can be adults or youth.
Sexually abusive or violent behaviors include unwanted touching, fondling, groping, sexually charged insults, sexually demeaning comments about a specific gender or group, sexually charged gazes, exhibiting/showing/receiving unwanted nude pictures, stalking, sexual assault, and sexual abuse or assault to subordinates or others under the perpetrator’s authority or power, among others. At the center of these aberrant behaviors is denying the victim of her/his ability to exercise the right to choose.
Prevalence in the USA
A review of the data from various sources (i.e., the National Sexual Violence Resource Center; 1in6.org; RAINN; the Centers for Disease Control; the American Psychological Association; the National Sexual Offender Public Website) indicates that sexual violence as a whole is largely under-reported and that the rates are higher for males than they are for females. On females alone, Dr. Henderson Daniel, president of the American Psychological Association (APA), noted in a recent press release that “sexual assault is likely the most under-reported crime in the United States.”
About two-thirds of female assault victims do not report to the police and many victims do not tell anyone. Sexual assault is a terrifying and humiliating experience. Women choose not to report for a variety of reasons – fear for their safety, being in shock, fear that others won’t believe them, feeling embarrassed or ashamed or expecting to be blamed or judged. A lack of reporting does not however suggest that an assault did not happen or that such was an exaggeration. Research indicates that false claims of sexual assault are very low, between 2% and 7%.
My professional experience over the years strongly supports Dr. Henderson Daniel’s findings. While false accusations can and have surfaced in very rare occasions, these are more likely to occur during intense emotional states usually tied to litigation processes such as custody battles or for some sort of secondary personal gain.
Outside of these very uncommon situations, who would openly and enthusiastically volunteer to seek psychological services for sexual trauma? It is extremely difficult to take that step, to make that call and seek treatment. In my opinion, it is not the clinician’s role to question whether sexual trauma occurred. On the contrary, my professional role is to help the victim reclaim his/her sense of innocence, dignity, value, purpose, meaning and freedom while helping her/him to redefine his/her personal identity and life. She/he is the expert on his/her life.
Returning to the topic of prevalence, the reader is advised to keep in mind that the statistics only reflect low estimates due to the high rate of under-reporting. Among the brave who do report, data shows that for men, one in six have experience sexual abuse or assault, whether in childhood or in adult life (1in6.org). For women, 1 in 3 have experienced some form of sexual trauma in their lifetime, and 1 in 5 will be raped at some point during their lives (NSVRC). For children, 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys will be sexually abused before they turn 18 years old. At the time of their first completed rape, 30% of the girls were between the ages of 11 and 17 and 12% were under the age of 10. For boys, the rate is 28% for their first completed rape under the age of 10.
In addition, 96% of people who abuse children are male and 77 % of abusers are adults. Among these, 34% who abuse a child are family members and only 12% of child abuse is ever reported to the authorities (NSVRC).
Lastly, and to cut short this portion on prevalence, let’s look at college campuses. The data indicates that 20-25% of college women and 15% of college men are victims of forced sex during their time in college (NSVRC). A 2002 study revealed that 63% of men at one university who self-reported attempted rape and completed rapes, admitted to committing repeated rapes.
At this point, the reader is likely absorbing the significance and severity of the problem.
We are living in interesting times, indeed. These are times when women and men come together to loudly denounce these egregious acts more than ever before and yet, these are also the times when these acts are being dismissed, questioned, ignored, justified, likely more than ever before as well. This reminds me of Dr. Blasey-Ford’s courageous testimony in Congress in 2018 against a nominee for the Supreme Court Justice. And the unfortunate result as doing so did not impede the nominee to reach the Supreme Court. Instead, Dr. Blasey-Ford was targeted with death threats and suffered additional trauma.
It is understandable why recipients of sexual violence do stay silent. Speaking up, making “noise” can and have brought about additional suffering. It takes exceptional courage to speak up.
Ana M. Sancho Sama, PhD, Licensed Psychologist, lives in Spain.