The Real Rape
The Real Rape
I will never forget when one of my very good friends told me about how her Uncle forced himself on her and raped her, and he continued to do so for 3 years until he passed away and she turned 11. She said it was a 3 year long nightmare and sadly, she is clearly traumatized by it. What was really shocking is that she revealed this tragedy to only a hand full of people, including me. Why didn’t she seek for help or go to the authorities. She explained how her own family members didn’t believe her and out of shear fear and embarrassment, she refused go to the authorities.
According to a Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN), every 2 minutes, someone is sexually assaulted in the US. 44% of those victims are under 18 and 97% of the assailants will not be prosecuted. StatisticBrain.com says that 60% of rapes committed in the United States are never reported to authorities. Also, 95% of victims in college fail to notify authorities even though, college women are four times sexually assaulted more than the general US population. These are alarming numbers and so it begs the question, why are these violators not reported more often? Why are reports so few compared to the actual number of victims assaulted? Or better yet, why hasn’t the US justice system been able to efficiently, draw out the many muted rape victims?
Maybe it’s the media’s portrayal of rape. Usually when we see rape incidents on the news, it’s a stranger with intent to rape a random female or females, and in some cases, gruesomely murders them after, as in the Kensington Strangler incident. Or maybe it’s a group of persons that brutally gang rape an unsuspecting teen, as in the case of a 15 year old girl who was beaten and raped outside her high school’s Homecoming, in California. So most of us wouldn’t suspect a person we know or acquainted with, to commit the most violating crime a female would ever have to endure. RAINN indicates that about 67% of sexual assaults are
I will never forget when one of my very good friends told me about how her Uncle forced himself on her and raped her, and he continued to do so for 3 years until he passed away and she turned 11. She said it was a 3 year long nightmare and sadly, she is clearly traumatized by it. What was really shocking is that she revealed this tragedy to only a hand full of people, including me. Why didn’t she seek for help or go to the authorities. She explained how her own family members didn’t believe her and out of shear fear and embarrassment, she refused go to the authorities.
According to a Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN), every 2 minutes, someone is sexually assaulted in the US. 44% of those victims are under 18 and 97% of the assailants will not be prosecuted. StatisticBrain.com says that 60% of rapes committed in the United States are never reported to authorities. Also, 95% of victims in college fail to notify authorities even though, college women are four times sexually assaulted more than the general US population. These are alarming numbers and so it begs the question, why are these violators not reported more often? Why are reports so few compared to the actual number of victims assaulted? Or better yet, why hasn’t the US justice system been able to efficiently, draw out the many muted rape victims?
Maybe it’s the media’s portrayal of rape. Usually when we see rape incidents on the news, it’s a stranger with intent to rape a random female or females, and in some cases, gruesomely murders them after, as in the Kensington Strangler incident. Or maybe it’s a group of persons that brutally gang rape an unsuspecting teen, as in the case of a 15 year old girl who was beaten and raped outside her high school’s Homecoming, in California. So most of us wouldn’t suspect a person we know or acquainted with, to commit the most violating crime a female would ever have to endure. RAINN indicates that about 67% of sexual assaults are