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Envisioning a better victim response
Published in Rachel E. Lovell, Jennifer Langhinrichsen-Rohling, Sexual Assault Kits and Reforming the Response to Rape, 2023
Margaret J. McGuire, Danielle B. Sabo, Joanna Klingenstein
The stigma associated with sexual violence impedes victim services from providing adequate support and can deter survivors from coming forward to seek out medical treatment, police intervention, or support of any kind in the wake of their trauma. The term stigma refers to an attribute of the self that society deems as profoundly discrediting. Stigma can also refer to some aspect of the self that conveys a character flaw or a feature devalued by society (Goffman, 1963). Cultural tropes as to what constitutes a credible, “good” or “real” victim of sexual violence are often not encompassing the multitude of possible trauma narratives and may ultimately encourage survivors to conceal their identities (Campbell, 1998). The future of survivor advocacy services must prioritize the destigmatization of sexual violence from within the criminal justice system and even from victim service providers (Campbell, 1998).
The State of Black College Students' Sexual Health
Published in Naomi M. Hall, Sexual Health and Black College Students, 2022
Sexual violence is sexual activity and/or contact when consent is not voluntarily given. According to the CDC (2016), more than 33% of women and 25% of men have experienced sexual violence during their lifetimes. According to the campus sexual violence statistics from Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network (RAINN, 2021), 26.4% of female undergraduate students and 6.8% of male undergraduate students experience rape or sexual assault through force, violence, or incapacitation. Due to the nature of this type of violence, it is not reported as often as other crimes, and the statistics on Black college students is limited as it has not traditionally been included in previous large-scale campus assault research. However, in 2001 the HBCU Campus Sexual Assault (HBCU-CSA) study was published. Data from 3,951 Black women at four different HBCUs participated in the study and results indicate 14.9% experienced an attempted or completed sexual assault before entering college, and 14.2% experienced at an attempted or completed sexual assault since entering college. Since entering college, participants reported 4.8% were assaulted through force or violence, and 3.4% occurred when the participant was incapacitated. Not much information was provided on perpetrators in this report, other than that most students who experienced a sexual assault knew the perpetrator. There is a more robust discussion on this topic in Chapter 7.
Sexual and Reproductive Health, Maternity and Newborns
Published in Miriam Orcutt, Clare Shortall, Sarah Walpole, Aula Abbara, Sylvia Garry, Rita Issa, Alimuddin Zumla, Ibrahim Abubakar, Handbook of Refugee Health, 2021
Data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has shown that female refugees face high risks of violence, extortion and exploitation, including rape and transactional sex, through their journey from their country of origin to Europe.10 Sexual violence increases the risk of pregnancy, especially in adolescents – a group already predisposed to maternal mortality and complications. Sexual violence also results in further downstream complications, including STIs, and mental health consequences manifesting in symptoms of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress and poor sleep and concentration.11
“It could bring down Greek life as a whole”: Greek life members’ perspectives on party culture, safety, responsibilities and consequences
Published in Journal of American College Health, 2023
Carolyn M. Porta, Sean Elmquist, Lauren Martin, Kira Sampson, Kasey Stack, Annie Hill, Angeline Lee, Molly C. Driessen
Significantly, fraternity and sorority members expressed different views about partying risks and how to mitigate them. Fraternity members voiced some concern about CSV, but focused primarily on protecting their fraternity’s physical property and reputation as a whole, whereas sorority members expressed overwhelming concern about CSV and focused on how to avoid becoming a victim of sexual violence. This is not surprising given that previous research has documented that 24% of sorority members had experienced some form of sexual assault and that 50% of these assaults occurred in fraternity houses.29 Previous research shows that college men do not generally categorize college men as rapists and further suggests that the idea that outsiders are more likely to be associated with CSV is a rape myth.30 Adherence to rape myths and stereotypical gender roles is an indicator of one’s likelihood of victim blaming and willingness to protect perpetrators of sexual violence, or worse, potential to engage in violence.30 The placing of blame onto external sources, likewise evidenced by fraternity members in this study, suggests that fraternity members may be less willing or able to identify sources of risk internal to fraternity culture.
Prevalence and factors associated with the occurrence of sexual violence among people with disabilities in Burkina Faso
Published in AIDS Care, 2022
Harouna Fomba, Henri Gautier Ouedraogo, Kadari Cissé, Seni Kouanda
Overall, one risk factor were significantly associated with sexual violence in this study. The disability duration was a factor associated with sexual violence among women with disabilities. Females whose disability occurred in childhood or adolescence were more likely to experience sexual violence compared to the women whose disability started in adulthood. Gender was a significant individual factor associated with sexual violence. Our findings suggest that females with disabilities were more vulnerable to be victims of sexual violence than their male peers and they were much more likely to experience various forms of sexual violence including forced marriages and genital mutilations. This seems to be similar to those reported in the general population. Women and girls are much more likely to be the victims of sexual violence (Dartnall & Jewkes, 2013). A study conducted in Uganda showed that girls were more exposed to face sexual violence than boys (Devries et al., 2014). We did not find an association between the disability duration and a sexual violence among men with disabilities.
“It Made Me so Vulnerable”: Victim-blaming and Disbelief of Child Sexual Abuse as Triggers of Social Exclusion Leading Women to Homelessness
Published in Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 2022
Philippe-Benoit Côté, Catherine Flynn, Kim Dubé, Mylène Fernet, Josiane Maheu, Audrey Gosslin-Pelerin, Pénélope Couturier, Mélissa Cribb, Gabrielle Petrucci, Marie-Marthe Cousineau
Rape culture refers to a complex set of beliefs, practices, and attitudes that implicitly or explicitly tolerate, conceal, and normalize sexual violence in society (Buchwald et al., 2005; Harding, 2015; Ryan, 2019), and is subtly perpetuated through the media, popular culture, and institutions that convey sexist, misogynistic, or gender-specific discourses (Buchwald et al., 2005; Harding, 2015; Pearson, 2000). It is built on false beliefs surrounding sexual abuse, or “rape myths,” which have the effect of trivializing sexual abuse and blaming survivors rather than the perpetrators of violence (Belknap, 2010; Harding, 2015; Ryan, 2019). Common rape myths include women often lie about rape, there must be physical resistance for it to be rape, women are usually raped by strangers, rape is simply unwanted sex and not a violent crime, and women are responsible for their rape (Harding, 2015; Hayes et al., 2013; Rollero & Tartaglia, 2019; Ryan, 2019).