AGAINST PORNOGRAPHY
Anti-Pornography Website

Sexual Violence Statistics


As well as finding out about pornography's effects and harms, it is important to also know what the reality of the sexual violence statistics is:

ARE YOU LIVING IN A RAPE CULTURE?

Of female Americans who are raped, 54% experience their first rape before age 18. (1)

44% of the 930 adult women interviewed in San Francisco reported having been the victim of one or more rapes or attempted rapes over the course of their lives. (2)

68.3% of rapes were perpetrated by someone who knew the victim. (3)

78% of women raped or physically assaulted since they turned 18 were assaulted by a current or former husband, live-in partner or date. 17% were victimized by an acquaintance, 9% by a relative other than a husband and only 14% were assaulted by a stranger. (4)

7 in 10 rape and sexual assault victims know their attacker prior to the assault. (5)

Of surveyed college women, about 90% of rape and sexual assault victims knew their attacker prior to the assault. (6)

Rape and sexual assault are not crimes that usually occur in dark alleys or in deserted areas at night. As a matter of fact, 6 out of 10 sexual assaults occur in the home of the victim or the home of a friend, neighbor or relative. (7)

Child-victims of rape know their offender prior to the incident 90% of the time. (8)

Women with a childhood history of sexual abuse are 4.7 times more likely to be subsequently raped. (9)

Girls who were raped are about three times more likely to suffer from psychiatric disorders and over four times more likely to suffer from drug and alcohol abuse in adulthood. (10)

Teens 16 to 19 years of age were three and a half times more likely than the general population to be victims of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault. (11)

69% of teen sexual assaults reported to law enforcement occurred in the residence of the victim, the offender, or another individual. (12)
 
One in four female college students reported they had been victims of attempted or completed rapes; 80% were victimized by boyfriends, friends or acquaintances. (13)

An estimated 91% of rape and sexual assault victims were female, and nearly 99% of the offenders in single victim offenses were male. (14)

61% of rape victims were sexually assaulted before the age of 18. (15)

According to a study conducted by the National Victim Center, 1.3 women age 18 and over in the U.S. are forcibly raped each minute; 78 per hour; 1 871 per day, or 683 000 per year. (16)

More than half of college women interviewed in one study reported being victims of some level of sexual aggression. Only 27% of the women whose experience met the legal definition of rape labeled themselves as rape victims. 47% of the men who had commited rape said they expected to engage in a similar assault in the future, and 88% of men who reported having commited an assault that met the legal definition of rape denied they had commited rape. (17)


Notes:
 
(1) Patricia Tjaden and Nancy Thoennes. "Prevalence, Incidence and Consequences of Violence Against Women: Findings From the National Violence Against Women Survey." National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, November 1998.
(2) Diana Russell, Sexual Exploitation: Rape, Child sexual Abuse, and Workplace Harassment; 1984.
(3) National Crime Victimization Survey, Bureau of Justice; 1997.
(4) National Violence Against Women Survey, 1998.
(5) Callie M. Rennison, "Criminal Victimization 1999: Changes 1998-00 with Trends 1993-99." Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice, August 2000.
(6) Bonnie S. Fisher, Francis T. Cullen, and Michael G. Turner. "The Sexual Victimization of College Women." Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice, 2000.
(7) Lawrence Greenfeld, "Sex Offenses and Offenders: An Analysis of Data on Rape and Sexual Assault". Washington, DC: US Dept of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics; 1997.
(8) Lawrence A. Greenfeld, "Child Victimizers: Violent Offenders and Their Victims." Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice; 1996.
(9) Merrill, L.L., et al. "Childhood Abuse and Sexual Revictimization in a Female Navy Recruit Sample." Naval Health Research Center, 1997.
(10)
Kenneth S. Kendler et al., Archives of General Psychiatry, Medical College of Virginia Commonwealth University, 2000.
(11) Callie M. Rennison, "Criminal Victimization 1999: Changes 1998-2000 with Trends 1993-99." Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice, August 2000.
(12) Howard Snyder, "Sexual Assault of Young Children as Reported to Law Enforcement: Victim, Incident, and Offender Characteristics." Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice, 2000.
(13) Mary Koss et at., "The Scope and Prevalence of Sexual Aggression and Victimization in a National sample of higher education students", Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology; 1987.
(14)
Lawrence A. Greenfeld, "Sex Offenses and Offenders", Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice; 1997.
(15) American Academy of Pediatrics, Comitee on Adolescence, "Sexual Assault and the Adolescent"; 1994.
(16) Kilpatrick, D. G. et al., "Rape in America: A report to the nation", National Victim Center; 1992.
(17) Mary Koss, "Hidden Rape: Sexual Aggression and Victimization in a National Sample of Students in higher Education", in Ann Wolbert Burgess ed., Rape and Sexual Assault II; 1988.