Sexual Abuse In Today's Society

Sexual abuse is a growing topic in today’s society. There are many cases happening today, like the Olympic gymnast, Aly Raisman, who says her Olympic doctor sexually abused her and many other similar cases. Many of these cases include the male thinking he was “higher” or makes lots of money so he would get what he needs or deserves. Some people deem it acceptable to sexually abuse other people if they are drinking, if the person is wearing something “inappropriate”, or they are “asking for it”, and many other reasons. Sexual abuse has a broad range of meanings, from coercing a person to engage in any type of sexual activity to actually forcing another person into sexual intercourse (Rape and Sexual Abuse). The National Center for Victims of …show more content…
Anyone can be a victim of sexual abuse, it does not pertain to females. Nearly 18 million women and 3 million men just in the US have been raped or had rape attempted on them (Rape and Sexaul Assault). Just in one year more than 300,000 women and 93,000 men have been raped (Rape and Sexaul Assault). The FBI has statistics from 2009 that state 44% of individuals raped were under eighteen, 15% under twelve, 29% were between ages twelve and seventeen, and 80% were under thirty (Rape and Sexaul Assault). The most high risk ages were between twelve and thrity four (Rape and Sexaul Assault). Also, girls between ages sixteen and nineteen are four time more likely to get sexually assaulted then guys (Rape and Sexaul Assault). Females are most likely to be a victim at age fourteen and males at age four (Rape and Sexaul Assault). Most victims are sexually assaulted in fields, woods, schools, parking lots, and other less populated places (Rape and Sexaul Assault). The offenders usually don’t use weapons to attack their victims. Only 13% of the cases studied the offenders used a weapon (Rape and Sexaul Assault). Most victims know their attacker. According to the Department of Justice 86% of victims said they knew their attacker (Rape and Sexaul …show more content…
The mental effects are called Rape Trauma Syndrome or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (Rape and Sexaul Assault). Approximately 31% of rape victims develop PTSD after they are attacked (Rape and Sexaul Assault). Symptoms of PTSD include nightmares, withdrawn, emotional numbness, and many others (Rape and Sexaul Assault). Most victims also contemplate suicide, develop drug and alcohol problems, and become depressed for a long time (Rape and Sexaul Assault). Some physical include STDs, pregnancy, and others. STDs include chlamydia, syphilis, gonorrhea, and others (Rape and Sexaul Assault). Contracting an STD and becoming pregnant is very high in rape cases (Rape and Sexaul