Sexual Assault - Get It Straight

[Redheadedlady]

There have been many questions lately concerning sexual assault which indicate that the broad majority of people are largely ignorant about sexual assault issues. This is sadly representative of the greater community (wherever you live). For those people who have an opinion on sexual assault, or think they may have been sexually assaulted, this article is for you.

Firstly, a quick analysis of the components of sexual assault:
1. An act of indecent sexual behavior: this can be anything from indecent exposure, cunnilingus, looking at pictures to full blown penetrative sex (either anal or vaginal). For any Aussies reading this, refer to Part 3 of the Crimes Act 1900.

2. Lack of consent: while the most obvious lack of consent is verbal (spoken), you can have implied lack of consent too. Think of a situation where a woman is being raped by an abusive man; she may not want to say no but she just lies there and cries.

3. Consent can be withdrawn at any time during the act: therefore, even if you consented initially, you can still withdraw consent before the man ejaculates. For example, you might have consented initially, but then he becomes rough and abusive so you withdraw consent by saying ‘no’. If he continues it is legally classified as sexual assault or rape.

4. Consent is subjective: meaning that it is something that the person and that person alone feels. Not how a reasonable person would act in the same situation.

Secondly, there are published facts about sexual assault that would be beneficial to mention. Please note that I have not just made these up but they are based on other people’s extensive research on sexual assault. Methodologies such as surveys, victimization reports, police data, focus groups etc were used to collect this information. Moreover, this information is reasonably representative of Western communities, but the statistics are higher in non-Western communities such as Africa for example.
•80-90% of sexual assault is against females in the age bracket of 15-30
•90-99% of offenders are male, with a median age of approximately 33.
•Approximately 60% of assaults are by a person known to the victim
•60-70% of assaults by known assailants occurred in the home. 55% of assaults committed by a stranger still occurred in the home. Please note, however that it may not be your home where the assaults are occurring, but a residential setting nonetheless.
•99% of assaults do not involve a weapon of any kind
•85-90% of sexual assaults go unreported

Thirdly, there are several myths about sexual assault which need to be dispelled:
1. The woman ‘asked for it’: This is never accurate. No matter what she was wearing, whether they were in a stable relationship or not, a woman never asks to be assaulted. If it feels wrong, it is wrong.

2. Rape happens because men can’t control their sexual urges: There is no evidence suggesting that men can’t control their urges and the vast majority of sexual assault is about control and power over another person not sexual desire.

3. Sexual assault is about sexual urges: Sexual assault is about violence, anger and power, not passion.

4. Sexual offenders are ‘creepy’: There is no way to ‘spot’ a sex offender and they come from all ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds.

5. Women often report rape to ‘get even’: only 2% of reported assaults are ‘false’ and keep in mind that only 10-15% of sexual assaults get reported.

6. For more myths, see Sexual Assault Myths

So please, for the people that like to get on their high horse about rape, make sure your facts are accurate. And for the ladies (or men) that have been sexually assaulted, please report it. It was not your fault and people will not judge you for being assaulted in any way shape or form. Just because you have been assaulted does not make you into a slut, no matter what anyone says.

Sexual assault happens. It happens to smart people, dumb people, sexually promiscuous people or virgins. It can happen to children or grandparents, men or women. There is no need to further shackle people with false, misleading and misguided information as it just perpetuates a level of acceptance.

[Gregs]

Now I'm going through the Brouwer, G. E. (2006). Improving responses to allegations involving sexual assault. Victoria: Ombudsman Victoria. report, ON WHAT PAGE DOES IT SAY THAT only 2% of reported assaults are ‘false’, I don't see it anywhere, and how the hell is that possible when the conviction rate for sexual assault is so small, how does that make any sense at all? Are you really trying to convince people that 90%+ of the men who were found innocent of rape, 88% are lying to get out of it?

[AllAboutTheX]

Society permits a female hitting a male and often celebrates it. Watch any tv show or commercial.
Male sexual assault is often passed of as "good for him" or is laughed off, shamed or ignored.
Hundreds of female teachers sexually assault underage boys every years with little consequence. These are all things you will see daily in media and then if one male does something, it is made into a massive story and used as a method to push the propaganda.

[JulyAndrews]

All we want is freedom to live and dress the way we please. Whether that's covered from head to toe or showing more flesh.
Unwanted attention you also get in baggy pants and a sweater. If you really think only girls or women in skimpy outfits get undesired attention, you're terribly wrong. So instead of advising women to dress less provocatively, maybe men should be adviced to stay inside the house if they can't keep themselves under control. ;)

[NotHisEnemy]

@selenator (continued) What you wear doesn't matter in rape. Whether you dress in very skimpy, thin, revealing clothes or many thick layers and a burka, if you're going to get raped, you're going to get raped. All your clothes can do is make it more difficult for it to happen. And sexual assault and sexual battery aren't always rape, either.

[LogicBomber]

What you are wearing does matter. Yes rape happens regardless (less than 0.1/1000) but if a rapist (I mean an actual rapist, not a male accused because the girl regretted it, or felt “obligated”) but if an actual aggressive rapist has options between a girl in jeans or a girl in a mini-skirt with no panties on... what you wear is going to matter. Just like a lion will attack a gazelle regardless, if it sees a gimpy one limping, it’s going to take down the easy target.

[NotHisEnemy]

@selenator (Continued) Every person has their own idea of it and all a woman wants is to not be judged by the way she dresses. You want people to dress appropriately--well, for them, they do. It may not be your idea of appropriate, but it's theirs and that's what counts.

[NotHisEnemy]

@Selenator
You keep saying women should dress "appropriately". And while that in itself is not victim blaming, that kind of way of thinking has led to victim blaming. It's not about what anyone wears. And what exactly is "dressing appropriately"?

[JackWSmith]

That 2 percent statistic was pulled out of thin air, many years ago. It is not the result of scientific study. The first thing you should have realized when you heard that statistic is that it is not possible for anyone to know the answer to that question so it must be meaningless. Also it is irrelevant. Benefit of belief for the accuser and the presumption of innocence for the accused are mutually exclusive. In this country, the burden of proof is on the state and the accuser.

[Redheadedlady]

Dear Anon-the-Anonymous, Please firstly learn the difference between "then" and "than". Secondly, this article was written from an Australian legal background. The figures used in here were accurate (according to several published, documented and peer-reviewed research papers) at the time of writing the article. Much of the information was taken from various governmental and other recognised departmental studies and/or research. Thank you for your comments.

[Redheadedlady]

"A high false report rate can result even if a tiny portion of the population may lie. For example, if 2% of women may lie about being raped; 2% of those lie once in a given year; 0.27% are raped; and 50% of those report the crime -- the false reporting rate would be 17.5%, even though 98% of women do not lie about rape."

[Redheadedlady]

While I may be prepared to admit that 2% is not the only set false reporting rate, and that false rates may vary, more research has found that false reporting is minimal. Considering the low reporting rate for sexual assault anyway, it seems unlikely that there would be a high false reporting rate.

It is also important to ensure that the study is conducted effectively:

(from https://rapesurvivor.pbworks.com/reporting)

[Redheadedlady]

Right, just a quick addition to that are the following articles which I did not use to write the above, but which correlate with the low reporting rate:

https://www.omsys.com/mmcd/courtrev.htm

https://www.safefromabuse.com/assault_myths.html

https://abyss2hope.blogspot.com/2008/10/debunking-debunking-of-2-percent-false.html

https://www.ibiblio.org/rcip//stats.html

[Redheadedlady]

Also; I had a look at that website with the false reporting rates. Its a bit of a joke, sorry. One of the links on their home page deals with whether Ananda is a cult. If you can find me a peer-reviewed or Government backed study I might consider your viewpoint and give it more weight.

[Redheadedlady]

The Australian Government (2008). ACSSA Newsletter 17. Australian Institute of Family Studies. Accessed online, refer: https://www.aifs.gov.au/acssa/pubs/newsletter/acssa_news17.pdf.

Happy reading. I hope it opens your eyes to the realities of sexual assault.

[Redheadedlady]

Phillips, J. (2006). Measuring domestic violence and sexual assault against women: A review of the literature and statistics. Parliament of Australia, refer https://www.aph.gov.au/library/intguide/sp/ViolenceAgainstWomen.htm.

Taylor, N. (2007). Juror attitudes and biases in sexual assault cases. Trends & Issues in criminal justice, 344:1-6.

[Redheadedlady]

Lievore, D. (2004). Prosecutorial decisions in adult sexual assault cases: An Australian study. Canberra: Office of the Status of Women, refer https://www.aic.gov.au/documents/8/C/1/%7B8C1609DA-6C67-4BAB-BF86-5D92564410E1%7Dtandi291.pdf.

Lievore, D. (2004). Victim credibility in adult sexual assault cases. Canberra: Australian institute of Criminology.

Neame, A. & Heenan, M. (2003). What lies behind he hidden figure of sexual assault? Issues of prevalence and disclosure. Australian Institute of

[Redheadedlady]

Government of South Australia (2005). Statistics on rape and sexual assault. Yarrow Place, refer: https://www.yarrowplace.sa.gov.au/booklet_statistics.html.

Lievore D (2003). Non-reporting and hidden recording of sexual assault: an international literature review. Canberra: Office of the Status of Women.

[Redheadedlady]

Brouwer, G. E. (2006). Improving responses to allegations involving sexual assault. Victoria: Ombudsman Victoria.

Carroll, J. L. (2010) Sexuality now: Embracing diversity (3rd Ed). USA: Wadsworth Cengage learning.

Crimes Act 1900

Fitzgerald, J. (2006). The attrition of sexual offences from the NSW criminal justice system. (Crime and Justice Bulletin, 92). Sydney: Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research New South Wales

[Redheadedlady]

Seeing as you are so obtuse and disbelieving, I am going to provide a list of references here. I would also like to point out that I am neither a lesbian nor a man-hater, as you so rudely insuinated. I'm so very glad you didn't get personal with your comments and sayed only civil.

Borzycki, M. (2007). Pilot study on sexual assault and related offences in the ACT: Stage 3. Research and Public Policy Series, AIC, 79:1-49.

[Redheadedlady]

I'm sorry but I just can't be bothered trying to talk you round to the hard evidence. You are either a guy who seems to think that no means yes or you have sexually assaulted 'retards that go to a guys hotel room at 3am in the morning, get drunk and take drugs'. I don't have the time nor the inclination to try and convince you beacuse you are so narrow minded that you can only see one thing. If you want a list of references I will email them to you, but they will not fit in 500 characters.

[Redheadedlady]

Please stop being so closed minded about this - you are only further perpetuating the myths about rape which this article was trying to dispel. If you don't want to have a proper conversation about this by friending me, then please stop being a close-minded person who just regurgitates community myths which have no basis whatsoever in fact.

[Redheadedlady]

Gregs, I got the information from a book - remember those? Therefore I can't link it. I am not a feminist but I do stand up for what I believe in; whether that is women staying home and looking after a baby or getting facts out about sexual assault. My article is gender neutral; I mentioned both men and women where relevant and acknowledged that men can be raped too.

Your reactions to this article prove that people are so uneducated and unwilling to change their bias where rape is concerned.

[Redheadedlady]

More about this, please friend me.

[Redheadedlady]

Ok, first, I have gotten my stats from the ABS - a nation wide governmental study. They are accurate. Second, having harsher penalties for falsly accusing will further decrease the reporting rate of rape which is not a good thing. Third, harsher penalties for false reporting will not make witnesses (victims) more credible; it will make them a target for the prosecution. Fourth, I did mention men; please read it properly. Fifth, DNA is not always accurate; even after the fact. If you want to talk