Sexual assault is a pervasive issue.
Cultural factors, including societal norms, systemic inequalities, and community-specific barriers shape the prevalence and impact of sexual assault. These disparities affect how survivors experience, report, and heal from sexual assault.
By recognizing these cultural influences, we can better understand the complexities of this issue and advocate for inclusive, community-informed solutions that meet survivors where they are.
For Coloradans, 1 in 3 people experience some form of sexual violence, in their lifetime, 80% of which take place prior to the age of 25.
- The likelihood of repeat victimization increases, for youth who have experienced sexual violence before the age of 18.
- Forty-two percent of victims experienced their first completed rape before the age of 18 years.
- According to the 2019 Healthy Kids Colorado Survey Report:
- 10.1% of female students & 3.4% of male students reported having been physically forced to have sexual intercourse when she/he did not want to have intercourse.
- 8% of surveyed students reported making unwelcome sexualized comments, jokes, gestures, or leering
- 4% of Colorado students overall reported touching, grabbing, pinching, or otherwise handling someone in a sexual way, despite it being noted as unwanted by the victim.
- 9.5% of Colorado students report that they had experienced physical dating/relationship violence
- Research has shown that physical violence in the context of teen relationships or casual dating, often predicts sexual violence.
Source: Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment
Survivors with a lifetime history of rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner were more likely to report poor physical and mental health compared with those without a history of intimate partner violence.
- Among U.S. women, the adjusted odds of experiencing asthma, irritable bowel syndrome, frequent headaches, chronic pain, difficulty sleeping, activity limitations, poor physical or mental health, and use of special equipment (e.g., wheelchair) were significantly higher for lifetime rape victims compared with non-victims.
False Reporting
- The majority of sexual assaults, an estimated 63 percent, are never reported to the police.
- A review of research finds that the prevalence of false reporting is between 2 percent and 10 percent.
- Often, victims who do report will delay doing so for a variety of reasons that are connected to neurobiological and psychological responses to their assault.
Source: Overview of False Reporting by The National Sexual Violence Resource Center
Sexual violence is a cost to society.
- Individual victims of sexual violence incur $122,461 over a lifetime in costs associated with lost wages, health, criminal justice, and property damage
- Sexual violence can derail a person’s education and employment, resulting in a $241,600 income loss over a lifetime
- In 2015, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alone recovered $164.5 million for workers alleging harassment.
People who sexually abuse usually target someone they know.
- Nearly three out of four adolescents (74%) who have been sexually assaulted were victimized by someone they knew well.
- One-fifth (21.1%) were committed by a family member.
Source: National Sexual Violence Resource Center
Nearly 1.267 million men have reported being victims of sexual violence.
- The Campus Sexual Assault Study found that 1 in 16 cisgender men will be sexually assaulted in college.
- The National Crime Victimization Survey found that 38% of the incidents of rape and sexual assault reported in the survey were against men.
- One data analysis found 46% of male survivors reported a female perpetrator.
- The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey found that about 40% of gay men and 47% of bisexual men have experienced sexual violence in the US.
- Studies have shown that men with disabilities are almost twice as likely to experience abuse or coerced into sex compared to men without physical disabilities.
Little research has been done to investigate the trends of sexual assault against males, limiting our understanding of the prevalence of sexual violence against men and boys.
Black women are disproportionately at risk of sexual violence.
- Nearly 1 in 5 Black women are survivors of rape.
- For every Black woman who reports rape, at least 15 do not report.
- 41% of Black women experience sexual coercion and other forms of unwanted sexual contact.
- 67% of Black girls report having been “touched, grabbed, or pinched in a sexual way” by someone in school.
44% of women in jail are Black.
- Among women in jail, 86% have experienced sexual violence.
- 2.3% of women in prison reported staff sexual misconduct.
- 6.9% of women in prison reported sexual victimization by other women.
- 6.9% of girls in the juvenile legal system were sexually victimized by either another youth or staff member in the facility.
Source: National Black Women's Justice Institute
Sexual Violence and Sexual Identity
- While women and men of all sexual identities experienced sexual violence in their lifetimes, women reported experiencing a substantial sexual violence burden, especially bisexual women.
- 75.3% of gay men reported only having male perpetrators. 1 in 6 had both male and female perpetrators.
- Systems of oppression contribute to higher rates of sexual violence. These systems include racism, sexism, and heterosexism, among others. For those impacted by one or more of these oppressions, the risk of sexual violence increases.
- Half of all Hispanic gay men (49.5%) and 61.2% non-Hispanic white gay men experienced contact sexual violence
Note: Researchers could not analyze data on genders other than women and men, and could not specifically analyze data based on sexual identity of transgender respondents.
Additional Information on Sexual Violence Among Transgender and Non-binary Individuals.
- Almost half of all transgender people have been sexually assaulted at some point in their lives, and these rates are even higher for trans people of color and those who have done sex work, been homeless, or have (or had) a disability.
- 58% of trans or non-binary people who interacted with law enforcement in the past year experienced mistreatment, such as verbal harassment, repeated misgendering, physical assault, or sexual assault.
- While overall rates of trans and non-binary people receiving unequal treatment at rape crisis centers are low (4.9%), trans women were 2.44 times more likely to have experienced unequal treatment.
Source: National Sexual Violence Research Center
People with disabilities are sexually assaulted at nearly three times the rate of people without disabilities.
- A 2005 survey of people with disabilities indicated that 60 percent of respondents had been subjected to some form of unwanted sexual activity.
- 83% of women with disabilities will be sexually assaulted in their lives.
- Just 3% of sexual abuses involving people with developmental disabilities are ever reported.
- 50% of girls who are deaf have been sexually abused compared to 25% of girls who are hearing; 54% of boys who are deaf have been sexually abused in comparison to 10% of boys who are hearing.
- Approximately 80% of women and 30% of men with developmental disabilities have been sexually assaulted – half of these women have been assaulted more than 10 times.
Understanding the Intersections of Sexual Assault and Immigration Status.
- Abuse rates among immigrant women are as high as 49.8%, which is almost three times the national average in the United States.
- Abusers often use immigration status as a tool to control their victims, threatening to destroy documents, controlling access to documents like passports, or failing to file for legal status for their immigrant spouse.
- Immigrant survivors may face challenges such as limited English proficiency, cultural barriers, lack of knowledge about U.S. law, and fear of law enforcement.
Source: Tahirih Justice Center
Sex workers are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence at work.
- According to a systematic review of research, globally, sex workers have a 45% to 75% chance of experiencing sexual violence on the job.
- Sex workers are often ineligible for rape victim compensation funds or received reduced amounts.
- Sex workers of color, migrant sex workers, and transgender sex workers experience an even greater risk of sexual violence and assault.
