Only 6% of sexual assaults are reported to the police. Truth: Survivors rarely make false reports about sexual assault. Myth: Survivors lie about being sexually assaulted to get revenge, for their own benefit, or because they feel guilty after having sex. In BC this number is almost double (47%). Statistics also show that one in four Canadian women will be sexually assaulted during her lifetime. Almost 60% of these women were the targets of more than one of these incidents. Myth: Sexual assault does not occur often.įact: A 1993 survey found that one half of all Canadian women have experienced at least one incident of sexual or physical violence. Over 80% of sexual assaults are committed by someone known to the victim (friend, partner, service provider, neighbor, or family member.) Just because a person said yes to a certain activity once, for example, doesn't mean that a partner has a license to engage in that activity whenever they want, he said.Myth: Sexual assault is often committed by strangers.įact: Sexual assault is usually not committed by strangers. Sexual assault is most often not committed by strangers who jump out of bushes or wait in alleys for their victims. Sexual assault can happen in established relationships as well, Pinero added. "They'll think, 'Did I bring this upon myself'? 'Was I sending out the wrong signal'? 'Maybe I do want this'? All of these things may be playing out in a victim's head, and who are we to decide how someone is supposed to react?" Pinero said. Victims may also start to blame themselves in instances of sexual assault, he said. "Imagine being with someone who has power and not feeling like you have a voice to say something," Pinero said. A victim may not fight back they may freeze, or feel as if they have to do it, she said. For example, victims are told to go to the hospital immediately following an assault so that doctors can document any abrasions or bruises, which would point to evidence of a struggle, Moses said.īut a lack of bruises doesn't mean that assault didn't happen, Moses said. However, the idea that the victim needs to have fought back is embedded in our culture. Sexual assault can occur even when the victim doesn't struggle or fight back. Misconception: If the victim doesn't struggle against the perpetrator, it's not assault. Rather, an assault is the result of a choice made by the perpetrator - someone chose to inflict harm upon the victim or chose to push the victim into an unwanted situation, Pinero said. But sexual assault is never caused by what a victim is doing, saying or wearing, he said. It's difficult for some people to believe that another person could commit sexual assault so they may try to pin it on the victim by saying they were "asking for it," Pinero said. Victims don't provoke sexual assault, but " victim blaming" is still common. Misconception: Sexual assault is provoked by the victim's actions. For men and boys, that figure is 1 in 33. One in 6 American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime, according to RAINN. Misconception: Sexual assault only happens to women and girls.Īlthough sexual assault against women and girls is more common, sexual assault can also happen to men and boys. People may think that sexual assault is often committed by strangers because people want to believe that it's not possible that someone close to them could do this, said Brian Pinero, the vice president for victim services at RAINN. Moses, who is also a consultant/trainer for sexual harassment and sexual assault at UC Riverside, said that when she talks to incoming freshmen, she tells them that it's more important to look out for sexual assault from people they know.īut it may be hard for some people to accept that people they know could commit sexual assault. Rather, 43 percent of sexual assaults are committed by friends or acquaintances, and 27 percent are committed by a current or former significant other, according to RAINN. Less than one-quarter of sexual assaults are committed by strangers, according to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN). Misconception: Sexual assault is usually committed by strangers. Here are four more common misconceptions about sexual assault. Sexual assault is at the extreme end of what Moses calls the "sexual harassment continuum." "Harassment goes all the way from words, to intimidation to physical violence," she said.
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