Sexual Assault Against Women During The United States

Sexual Assault Against Women in the United States Zoe Williams SOCY 100: Introduction to Sociology Montgomery College September 26, 2014 Violence against women has been ever-present throughout time and place in our world and in recorded history. Although violence against women encompasses a whole range of related acts, rape and sexual assault perpetrated against women is the focus of this paper. Men and boys are also victims of sexual assault, but the numbers of women who are sexual assaulted are much higher. We will be examining the definition of rape, the effects of rape, issues associated with rape, theories about the cause of rape and engage in some speculation on what can be done to improve the safety of women. In†¦show more content†¦Although the definition of rape is narrower than the definition of sexual assault, both terms are used interchangeably here. Rape is defined as penetration by body parts or objects, whereas sexual assault includes other unwanted sexual contact. In both cases, the contact is happens without the consent of the victim, even if they are incapacitated by drugs or alcohol (Gray, 2014). The Centers for Disease control reports that one out of every five women will be sexually assaulted or raped during their lifetime with most victims being girls or younger women. According to RAINN, the Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network (https://www.rainn.org) which calls itself â€Å"the nation s largest anti-sexual assault organization,† nine out of ten rape victims are women and there are more than 237,000 victims of sexual assault in the U.S. every year, with a reporting rate of only 40 percent. Eighty percent of victims are under 30. Two-thirds of all the reported assaults are by someone known to the victim and only 3 percent of rapists get any jail time. The effects of rape are long lasting and have public health and social welfare consequences. According to RAINN, victims of sexual assault have higher rates of depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and drug and alcohol abuse than the general population. Rape is a personal issue because of the trauma it induc es in its