Spikeface ([info]spikeface) wrote in [info]feminist_101,
@ 2008-01-26 15:38:00
Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Statistics Question
I was wondering if anyone could explain the "one in four women is raped" statistic. I see it bandied about a lot, and I was hoping someone could find a source that backs that up. I hope this doesn't come across as incredulity on my part. I'm not trying to pick a fight or disprove the statistic. But I know that if I use it somewhere, some jerk will probably blow up in my face and demand sources etc., and I'd like to be ready. I hope this is the right forum for my request.

RAINN lists the statistic as "1 in 6 American women is sexually assaulted." That's not a 1 in 4 figure, and deals with all sexual assault, not specifically rape (not that that makes it better). They also said that about 60% of sexual assaults go unreported. If the 1 in 6 number doesn't take that into account (which I was sort of unclear about), you'd get numbers greater than 1 in 3.

I know statistics vary according to the year and study, and that rape statistics are very hard to calculate. But I see the 1 in 4 a lot and was just wondering about its origin.

(Post a new comment)


[info]trbulnt_spnstr
2008-01-27 02:03 pm UTC (link)
I've always heard 1 in 6 women are raped, 1 in 3 are sexually assaulted, and that is of women between ages 18 and 26 or something like that.

Here's a little bit more about the statistic being higher for people in age categories under 30:

* 12-34 are the highest risk years. Risk peaks in the late teens: girls 16 to 19 are four times more likely than the general population to be victims of rape, attempted rape or sexual assault. This is according to the 2000 National Crime Victimization Study (PDF, 131KB).

that's from here http://www.rainn.org/statistics/victims-of-sexual-assault.html

The info that people are talking about is apparently from a study done by RAINN in 2000 which doesn't seem to be on their website anymore. I know the info is def. from RAINN but I can't find it, so here is a different group referencing it:

http://www.turningpointservices.org/Sexual%20Assault%20-%20Statistics.htm

(Reply to this)


[info]beginning
2008-01-28 01:17 am UTC (link)
RAINN used to have it as 2 out of every 5 American women experiencing some type of sexual violence in their lifetime, but I know that changed recently – the numbers you have are probably their most recent.

I think these numbers change so frequently due to different research and reporting methods that it would be really hard to find the most correct figure. You might want to compare RAINN and say, the NIH or some other governmental organization, and see what the difference is. That's a common method in statistics: Give the government stats (which are always low), give the stats of the most visible advocates (which are often, but not always, on the high end), and then let people arrive at their own conclusions. It doesn't resolve anything, but it's considered more valid for sourcing purposes than to pick one and hope it's right. (At least, that's how I was taught.)

I don't have the time to read it through, but here's a Wikipedia article that attempts to explain the problems with rape statistics in particular. Might be interesting.

(Reply to this)


[info]jocelynxheart
2008-01-30 04:44 am UTC (link)
As far as I know (I was told this by an uncle who practiced law about ten years ago, and I'm not sure if this has changed since then....) rape (at least in Canada) falls under the category of sexual assult, which works in degrees, just like murder charges.

(Reply to this)


[info]demonista
2008-03-05 05:04 am UTC (link)
Well, the best studies find a reporting rape of sexual assault as less than 10%. (http://www.statcan.ca/english/research/85-570-XIE/85-570-XIE2006001.pdf)

Sexual assault will happen to 2/3 of women in their lifetime. In 1 in 6 will be incestuously abused by 18, an additional 1 in 6 will be abused extra-familiarly. The total for girls is 38%. 44% of women will be raped or attempted raped in their lifetime. One in ten women have been upset with someone trying to get them to do what they (almost always men) had seen in pornography. Of women who were ever married, 14% had been raped as defined under law, and 24% had been sexually assaulted by their husbands. (from Diana Russell's study of 930 US women; the results were published in Rape in Marriage, The Secret Trauma, Sexual Exploitation, and others.)

The StatsCan study found that 16% of women had been sexually assaulted by husbands ALONE. Considering it's recentness, and the accuracy of StatsCan, the number for women from all men is gonna be a hell of a lot higher.

(Reply to this)

Create an Account
Forgot your login or password?
Login w/ OpenID
English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…