Sexual assault, or rape, is a violent crime, not a sexual act. The myth that men who rape women are sexually deprived or pathological is being dispelled and replaced with the understanding that rape is more of an act of power and control than lust.¹ According to the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center, more than 320,000 rapes occur each year in Texas.

The occurrence of forcible rape in our country appears to be on the rise. The Senate Judiciary Committee in its Majority Staff Report entitled Violence Against Women: The Increase of Rape in America determined that more women were raped in 1990 than in any other year in American history.

The rate of rape will continue to increase without appropriate prevention and response. In 1993, the Senate Judiciary Committee concluded that only two percent of rapists are imprisoned. Attitudes about women who are raped and rapists continue to present barriers to justice.² Because we doubt the validity of victims' experiences, rape remains the silent crime, reported at least less than 15 percent of the time it occurs.

• More than 226,000 children and 104,000 adults are raped every year in Texas. (NCVTRC, South Carolina)
• The United States has the highest rape rate of countries that publish such information.³
• In one survey, 42 percent of rape victims reported that they had told no one about the assault. Only five percent reported to the police.⁴
• In a survey of college men, 35 percent anonymously admitted they would commit rape if they knew they could get away with it.⁵
• One of every five college women reported being forced to have sexual intercourse.⁶

Sources

1. Kilpatrick, D.G., Edmunds, C.N. & Seymour A. 1992 Rape in America: A Report to the Nation. Arlington, VA: National Victim Center.
2. Kilpatrick and Saunders. 1997 The Prevalence and Consequences of Child Victimization: Summary of a Research Study by Dean Kilpatrick, Ph.D. and Benjamin Sauder, Ph.D. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice.
3. Kirkpatrick et al, 1992.
4. Warshaw, Robin. 1994 I Never Called it Rape: The Ms. Report on Recognizing, Fighting and Surviving Date Acquaintance Rape. New York: HarperPerennial.
5. Kirkpatrick et al, 1992.
6. Division of Adolescent and School Health. 1995. Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance: National College Health Risk Behavior Survey--United States. National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.

What to do if you are raped

Steps to take:

• Go to a safe place.
• If you want to report the crime, notify the police immediately. Reporting the crime can help you regain a sense of personal power and control and can also help to ensure the safety of other potential victims.
• Call a friend, a family member, or someone else you trust and ask her or him to stay with you.
• Preserve all physical evidence of the assault. Do not shower, bathe, douche, or brush your teeth. Save all of the clothing you were wearing at the time of the assault. Place each item of clothing in a separate paper bag. Do not use plastic bags. Do not disturb anything in the area where the assault occurred.
• Go to a hospital emergency department or a specialized forensic clinic that provides medical care for sexual assault victims. Even if you think that you do not have any physical injuries, you should still have a medical examination and discuss with a health care provider the risk of exposure to sexually transmitted diseases and the possibility of pregnancy resulting from the sexual assault.
• If you suspect that you may have been given a rape drug, ask the hospital or clinic where you receive medical care to take a urine sample. Rape drugs, such as Rohypnol and GHB, are more likely to be detected in urine than in blood.
• Write down as much as you can remember about the circumstances of the assault, including a description of the assailant.
• Talk with a counselor who is trained to assist rape victims about the emotional and physical impacts of the assault. You can contact a hotline (RAINN at 1-800-656-HOPE), the Crisis Center (903-893-5615), or a counseling agency to find someone who understands the trauma of rape and knows how to help.