Sunday, February 23, 2014

Taking A Stand

Recently an article was published in a magazine. This magazine is published by the LDS church. I feel it is important for me to come out and say, I do not in any way agree with this man's opinion (and yes I believe it is an opinion). Now for something I have never really had to put on a blog post.


Trigger Warning: Rape & Sexual Abuse



We need to STOP the victim blaming! It is not OK!
When you tell someone the reason they were raped was because of the clothes they were wearing, not only are you lying, you are blaming the victim. First thing everyone needs to know is rape is NOT about sex. It is about power and control.

When a spouse says no, but the other spouse does not listen, that is rape. By saying, well you are married. You are blaming the victim. It doesn't matter if a person is married or not, if someone says no, the answer is no. Again this act is not about love, it is about power and control.

In the LDS church, most people, find it totally acceptable that a twelve year old girl is required to answer sexual questions to a sixty year old man. I find this disturbing and perverse. Married women that go in to get help because their husbands have raped them, are required to tell in detail about every sexual experience they have ever had. Women that are raped are treated as though they are the ones that did something wrong. News flash, to all the women out there that have been raped, it wasn't your fault! To all the men out there that have been raped, it wasn't your fault! Rape is about power, what a person is wearing has nothing the do with the act!

We need to start teaching all our children how to respect others, and respect other people's boundaries, and it does not matter what they are wearing, they can be naked, it does not give ANYONE the right to force something on someone else! It doesn't matter if a guy spends any money on a girl (or boy), if they say no it means no!

When women go to a local church leader for help, they are not going to confess to a sin, they did NOTHING wrong. Someone else did. It does not matter if this person was a leader, an outstanding member of the community, or a Return Missionary (yes a Return Missionary can rape someone). Blaming the women and saying that because she was wearing a skirt that was above her knee, or because she was wearing a tank top, is WRONG!

I am tired of hearing about girls (or boys) being raped, and the person responsible for the rape is the one that is getting the sympathy, and the victim is getting harassed. We need to teach our kids to respect others. We need to teach our kids to love themselves and to be comfortable in their own skin. We need to let them know that just because they were following the rules, and someone else hurt them, they aren't the ones to blame.

Here are some statistics:
1 out of every 6 American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime (14.8% completed rape; 2.8% attempted rape).1
17.7 million American women have been victims of attempted or completed rape.1


9 of every 10 rape victims were female in 2003.2

Men

About 3% of American men — or 1 in 33 — have experienced an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime.1
  • In 2003, 1 in every ten rape victims were male.2
  • 2.78 million men in the U.S. have been victims of sexual assault or rape.1

Children

15% of sexual assault and rape victims are under age 12.3
  • 29% are age 12-17.
  • 44% are under age 18.3
  • 80% are under age 30.3
  • 12-34 are the highest risk years.
  • Girls ages 16-19 are 4 times more likely than the general population to be victims of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault.
7% of girls in grades 5-8 and 12% of girls in grades 9-12 said they had been sexually abused.4
  • 3% of boys grades 5-8 and 5% of boys in grades 9-12 said they had been sexually abused.
In 1995, local child protection service agencies identified 126,000 children who were victims of either substantiated or indicated sexual abuse.5
  • Of these, 75% were girls.
  • Nearly 30% of child victims were between the age of 4 and 7.
93% of juvenile sexual assault victims know their attacker.6
  • 34.2% of attackers were family members.
  • 58.7% were acquaintances.
  • Only 7% of the perpetrators were strangers to the victim

Effects of Rape

Victims of sexual assault are:8

3 times more likely to suffer from depression.
6 times more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.
13 times more likely to abuse alcohol.
26 times more likely to abuse drugs.
4 times more likely to contemplate suicide.

Pregnancies Resulting from Rape

In 2012, 346,830 women were raped.9 According to medical reports, the incidence of pregnancy for one-time unprotected sexual intercourse is 5%. By applying the pregnancy rate to 346,830 female survivors, RAINN estimates that there were 17,342 pregnancies as a result of rape in 2012.


References
  1. National Institute of Justice & Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. Prevalence, Incidence and Consequences of Violence Against Women Survey. 1998.
  2. U.S. Department of Justice. 2003 National Crime Victimization Survey. 2003.
  3. U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Sex Offenses and Offenders. 1997.
  4. 1998 Commonwealth Fund Survey of the Health of Adolescent Girls. 1998.
  5. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Administration for Children and Families. 1995 Child Maltreatment Survey. 1995.
  6. U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2000 Sexual Assault of Young Children as Reported to Law Enforcement. 2000.
  7. U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. American Indians and Crime. 1992-2002.
  8. World Health Organization. 2002.
  9. U.S. Department of Justice. 2012 National Crime Victimization Survey. 2012.

Reporting Rates


Sexual assault is one of the most under reported crimes, with 60% still being left unreported.1

Why Will Only 3 Out of Every 100 Rapists Serve Time?

The majority of sexual assault are not reported to the police (an average of 60% of assaults in the last five years were not reported).1 Those rapists, of course, will never spend a day in prison. But even when the crime is reported, it is unlike to lead to an arrest and prosecution. Factoring in unreported rapes, only about 3% of rapists will ever serve a day in prison.

References
  1. Justice Department, National Crime Victimization Survey: 2008-2012
  2. FBI, Uniform Crime Reports: 2006-2010
  3. National Center for Policy Analysis, Crime and Punishment in America, 1999
  4. Department of Justice, Felony Defendents in Large Urban Counties: average of 2002-2006
  5. Department of Justice, Felony Defendents in Large Urban Counties: average of 2002-2006

The Offenders


The Rapist isn't a Masked Stranger

Approximately 2/3 of rapes were committed by someone known to the victim.1
73% of sexual assaults were perpetrated by a non-stranger.1
38% of rapists are a friend or acquaintance.1
28% are an intimate.1
7% are a relative.1
He's not Hiding in the Bushes
More than 50% of all rape/sexual assault incidents were reported by victims to have occured within 1 mile of their home or at their home.2
  • 4 in 10 take place at the victim's home.
  • 2 in 10 take place at the home of a friend, neighbor, or relative.
  • 1 in 12 take place in a parking garage.
    43% of rapes occur between 6:00pm and midnight.2
    • 24% occur between midnight and 6:00am.
    • The other 33% take place between 6:00am and 6:00pm.

    The Criminal

    • The average age of a rapist is 31 years old.2
    • 52% are white.2
    • 22% of imprisoned rapists report that they are married.2
    • Juveniles accounted for 16% of forcible rape arrestees in 1995 and 17% of those arrested for other sex offenses.2
    • In 1 in 3 sexual assaults, the perpetrator was intoxicated — 30% with alcohol, 4% with drugs.3
    • In 2001, 11% of rapes involved the use of a weapon — 3% used a gun, 6% used a knife, and 2 % used another form of weapon.2
    • 84% of victims reported the use of physical force only.2
    Rapists are more likely to be a serial criminal than a serial rapist.
    46% of rapists who were released from prison were re-arrested within 3 years of their release for another crime.4
    • 18.6% for a violent offense.
    • 14.8% for a property offense.
    • 11.2% for a drug offense.
    • 20.5% for a public-order offense.
References
  1. U.S. Department of Justice. 2005 National Crime Victimization Study. 2005.
  2. U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Statistics. 1997 Sex Offenses and Offenders Study. 1997.
  3. U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Statistics. 1998 Alcohol and Crime Study.1998.
  4. 2002 Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 1994 Study. 2002.

Statistics from RAINN


Here is a link to the Ensign article. Many people may argue with me, but please understand, that one day it could be your daughter or son that is raped.

Friday, February 14, 2014

I need opinions!!!

I have been very seriously thinking about starting a vlog doing book reviews and talking about the books I am reading. Plus I have also been seriously thinking about starting a panel book discussion podcast, so basically a book club type discussion done as a podcast.

So here is what I am wondering. What does everyone else think of these ideas? Is one a good idea but the other is not? Are they both horrible ideas? Would any body watch the vlog? Would anyone listen to the podcast?? Please I need honest opinions!!! I personally think both ideas are brilliant, so I really do need input here.