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A Fact Sheet on Sexual Assault
prepared by the New Hampshire Coalition
Against Domestic and Sexual Violence
Many statutes, including New Hampshire's, now define sexual assault as nonconsensual sexual penetration by physical force, by threat of bodily harm, or when the victim
is incapable of giving consent by virtue of mental illness, mental retardation, or intoxication. Legally, acquaintance rape carries the same penalties as sexual assault committed by a stranger.
(National Coalition Against Sexual Assault). An estimated 683,000 adult American women are forcibly raped each year. Every minute in the United States there are 1.3 forcible rapes of adult women; 78 women are
forcibly raped each hour. Every day, 1,871 women are forcibly raped, equal to 56,916 forcible rapes each month. (National Victim Center and Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center,
Rape in America.- A Report to the Nation. 1992). Eighty-four percent (84%) of all sexual assaults are committed by an acquaintance of the victim. (National Victim Center and Crime Victims
Research and Treatment Center, Rape in America: A Report to the Nation, 1992). Many victims of sexual assault develop a post-traumatic stress syndrome that has been referred to as Rape Trauma Syndrome.
Symptoms can include fear, helplessness, shock and disbelief, guilt, humiliation and embarrassment, anger, self-blame, flashbacks of the rape, avoidance of previously pleasurable activities, avoidance of the place or
circumstance in which the rape occurred, depression, sexual dysfunction, insomnia, and impaired memory. (American Medical Association. Sexual Assault in American . November 6, 1995). The
National Victim Center reports that over 700,000 women are raped or sexually assaulted annually. Of these, 61 % are under the age of 18. (American Academy of Pediatrics, Committee on Adolescence.
Sexual Assault and the Adolescent . Pediatrics. 1994; 94(5): 761-765). Common myths surrounding rape include: only women can be sexually assaulted; victims who truly resist cannot be raped; "no"
really doesn't mean "no"; nice girls don't get raped; and "she asked for it." (AMA. Sexual Assault in America. November 6, 1995). Sexual assaults can and do occur
within marital relationships. Most often, these assaults occur within a context of on-going domestic violence. While reports and prosecutions of spousal rape are fairly infrequent, some convictions have occurred. (AMA. Sexual Assault in America. November 6, 1995). Sexual violence remains the most dramatically under-reported crime, with an estimated two-thirds of attacks unreported.
(American Medical Association. 1996). A study of sexual assaults among college students found that 73% of the assailants and 55% of the victims had used drugs, alcohol, or both immediately before the assault.
(AMA. Sexual Assault in America. November 6, 1995). Forty-three percent (43%) of college-aged men admitted using coercive behavior to have sex, including ignoring a woman's protest and/or
using physical aggression. (Bureau of Justice Statistics, Criminal Victimization in the United States, US. Department of Justice, 1991 and 1993). Male victims of sexual assault experience
the same reactions as women, as well as an increased sense of vulnerability, damaged self-image, and emotional distancing. These reactions are often a result of the cultural belief that a male should be capable of
defending himself. Consequently, males often blame themselves for the attack. (National Victim Center, Male Rap , NVC, 1992). Only 16% of rapes are ever reported to police; 50% of
surveyed rape victims said that they would be a lot more likely and 16% would be somewhat more likely to report rapes to police if there was a law prohibiting the news media from disclosing their names and
addresses. (National Victim Center and Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center, Raj2e in America: A Report to the Nation 1992.) Only 22% of rape victims were assaulted by
someone they had never seen before or did not know well; 9% of victims were raped by husbands or ex-husbands; 11% by their fathers or stepfathers; 10% by boyfriends or ex-boyfriends; 16% by other relatives; and 29% by
other non-relatives, such as friends and neighbors. (National Victim Center and Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center, Rape in America: A Re,2ort to the Nation. 1992). Sexual
assault affects women of all ages; however, most rape, and specifically acquaintance rape, happens to women between the ages of 15 and 25.
(Rapaport, Karen R. and C. Dale Psoey, "Sexually Coercive College Males, "Acquaintance Rape: The Hidden Crime, edited by Andrea Parrot, John Wiley and Sons, 1991). Sixty-two percent (62%) of a
national sample of women with physical disabilities reported having experienced emotional, physical, or sexual abuse. The same percentage of a comparison group of women without disabilities reported abuse, but the women
with disabilities had experienced abuse for longer periods of time. (Young, Nosek, Howland, Chanpong, & Rintala, 1997. "Prevalence of abuse of women with physical disabilities." Archives
Of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Special Issue 78 S34-S38. quoted by Margaret Nosek and Carol Howland. In Brief- Abuse and Women with Disabilities. VA WNet. a project of the National Resource Center on
Domestic Violence The 14 member groups of the NH Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence
assist survivors of sexual assault, and domestic violence, and- members of their families, with 24-hour crisis lines, emergency shelter, counseling, support groups and help dealing with police, medical and court personnel. The programs provide speakers and educational programs to community groups. In 1997,
Coalition groups assisted 1,073 sexual assault survivors. They helped hundreds of women obtain restraining orders against their abusers.
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