Sexual Abuse
If you ask many women what sexual abuse is the first thing they might think of is rape. In fact, there are many forms of sexual abuse. Sexual abuse is a problem in the United States that has to be addressed through the education of young people and changes in the media so that women are not promoted as sex objects. Every two minutes an American is sexually assaulted. Each year there is approximately 237,868 victims of sexual abuse (www.rainn.org). This is a legacy that our country cannot afford. But can we really blame sex offenders for thinking it is all right to sexually harass a woman when our culture and media are telling young men and young women that it is OK to smack a girls butt or to think it is ok to touch her or call her names if she dresses a certain way? Is it ok for women to feel they need to dress sexy in order to get a job? The media teaches women to be self conscious about looking a certain way.
Sexual abuse has been going on for many years. “It has become one of the most high profile crimes” (www.wikipedia.com). According to the article found on Wikipedia, child sexual abuse became a public issue in the 1970’s and 1980’s. In 1977 it took almost a decade for academic research to reach law enforcement manuals (www.wikipeida.com). The article goes on to explain that one of the many things that helped this topic become so public was feminism. In the 1980’s legal standards evolved in ways that eventually made it easier to prosecute child sexual abusers. In the 1970’s feminism caused much attention towards sexual abuse. In 1981 the National Center for child abuse published its first study on the incidence of neglect, child sexual abuse and child abuse itself. In 1986 congress passed the child abuse victims right act, giving children a civil claim in sexual abuse cases. In the 1980s and 1990s laws established an increased response to child abuse and by 2004, the public then had free access to a database on sex offenders nationwide through the enactment of Megan's law. By the twenty first century, the issue of child sexual abuse has become a legitimate focus of professional attention. In 2003 Lord Laming published his report into the death of a young child whose name was Victoria Climbie, which found that health, police and social services missed 12 missed opportunities to save her. A retired Chicago Police Officer (now a professor of criminology) recalled that when he was a rookie in the early 60’s, he was told in training that “any woman who came to the police station to report that she had been raped was a prostitute who hadn’t been paid”(brunel.ac.uk)
Like many other social problems sexual abuse may be caused by trauma. Most of the time the abuser was once abused. Although this is very true, our generations’ culture and media is full with unhealthy sexuality. Socially and culturally there is a masculine requirement to be dominant and powerful during a sexual relationship. Many kids grow into young adults thinking it's normal to objectify women.(www.everydayfeminism.com)
We live In a country where a woman’s success and achievements are hardly equal to those of men. Women’s success is often measured by their picture on a cover of a magazine. We are awash in pictures of young and very pretty females selected to persuade people into buying products, attract attention or please male viewers.
Many magazines like Playboy claim to “Celebrate women’s beauty” but Playboy doesn’t run pictures of females of all ages or sizes, in reality more than half of the female population cover what playboy doesn’t celebrate as beauty. Playboy usually only puts very young and pretty women of one physical type, chosen to appeal the male eyes. Although these women are very carefully selected they still aren’t presented as full “multi-dimensional people”. (www.nomas.org) They are often posed and dressed to de-emphasize individuality. Even though they are very careful on choosing the women of playboy magazine, they eventually get replaced by a younger model.
Many believe that due to how our media portrays females a "climate" in which violence and exploitation of women are both tolerated and basically encouraged. (www.nomas.org) Males are part of the objectification as well, for example guys on cover magazines are muscular and look a certain way. Television usually portrays that guys have a higher power than females. Songs are saying that sexually objectifying women is okay. Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke caused a big commotion when the video came out, in the video there is three men well dressed and three women are topless posing and dancing. The video demonstrates clear dynamic power, in which the males are dominant and females are being used as sexual objects. Other songs like Make it Nasty, Headband, Tip Drill or Monster are songs that have caused a huge controversy in the media. Most women in these video’s are pretty young women with big butts and big breasts, half naked dancing around males. Not to forget that in all these videos men are touching women in a very sexual way.
Younger audiences may not see the videos or television shows but they have video games like Grand Theft Auto, also portraying the “damsel in distress” trophy in addition to vivid images of violence against women. (www.gamecult.umwblogs.org) For instance, during mission number twenty-three the main character, Tony, has to chase a man who beat up his boss’s “girl”. After chasing Wayne and catching him, the player is awarded with one thousand five hundred dollars and allowed to move on to the next level.
If a kid grows up watching television shows, music videos or playing video games that objectify women, how can it be expected for males and females to respect themselves and others? Since a young age many kids are taught that if a boy hits you he likes you, it’s mixed signals like these that have our society and mostly women confused on how they should be treated. The media should stop perpetuating this culture. Instead of using females for advertising, they should use something else. Girls on television are beautiful but even though they seem flawless, they aren’t. Most of the pictures on magazines and television shows are edited and don’t actually look perfect in real life. The media not only promotes that sexual abuse is okay but promotes a shallow definition of beautiful.
Women should have the right to dress and go wherever they want without being sexually abused or assaulted. Many people often blame the victim, “She was dressed very provocative” or “she wanted it”. Sex without consentment is sexual abuse. It doesn’t matter if the victim is wearing shorts or revealing clothing, if the woman does not give consent to sexual contact, then it is always a no. “Most rapist report not remembering what the victim was wearing and studies of rapists suggest that victim attire is not a significant factor.” (slutwalkseattle.com)
False rape allegations, although it is said to be rare, it does happen. Nearly one in ten - nine point seven percent of respondents said they themselves have been falsely accused of sexual abuse. The studies of child abuse allegations suggest that overall rate of false accusation is under ten percent. Only a small portion of the false allegations originated with the child, the studies showed most false allegations originated with an adult bringing the accusations on behalf of the child. A large majority occurred in the genre of divorce and child custody battles. Denial of sexual abuse by the accused is common and in reality is not easily accepted.(www.secasa.com) To prove one's innocence takes more than just saying “I didn’t do it”, its takes much time, good proof and a very good lawyer.
Sexual abuse isn’t just rape it is also unwanted kissing or touching, refusing to use condoms or birth control, sexual contact with someone who is under the influence, repeatedly pressuring someone into having sex or using sexual insults towards someone. According to the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Crime Victimization Survey “there is an average of 237,868 victims (age twelve or older) of rape and sexual assault each year. “Every two minutes another American is sexually assaulted” (rainn.org). Forty four percent of the victims are under age of eighteen, eighty percent of victims are under age thirty. Approximately two thirds of assaults are committed by someone known to the victim which means thirty eight percent of rapist are acquaintances to the victim. Out of every hundred rapes only forty get reported to the police, then lead to an arrest, eight get prosecuted and four lead to a felony conviction. Three rapist will spend maybe a single day in prison, the other ninety seven will walk free.(www.victimsofcrime.org)
The Law and Sexual abuse-
When sexual abuse occurs the only witness may be the victim. The victims statement might be the only evidence. The issue most of the time is whether the victims statement can be trusted. Child sexual abuses are even harder to prove largely because survivors of sexual abuse will not come forwards until they are older. Sexual abuse may be discovered in one or two ways Disclosure which is the victim, or a victim's family member or person seeking help makes a statement or indirect methods which is someone witnessed the abuse, victim contract an STI or becomes pregnant.(www.americanhumane.org)
According to Gourley, Rehkemper & Lindholm PLC Criminal Defense Attorneys, First degree of sexual assault is when in the course of committing sexual abuse the person injures the victim other than just the abuse. The penalty for this act is a class A felony requiring life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Second degree of sexual assault has four separate alternatives. Committing sex act while displaying a dangerous weapon in a threatening manner. If a dangerous weapon is any instrument or device of any sort to indicate that the sex offender intends to inflict death or serious injury upon victim. Use or threaten to use force that would create a substantial risk of death to any person. If the victim is under age of twelve or knowledge of the victims age and it being irrelevant. Aiding another in committing sexual assault or through force against the will of the victim. Sex abuse in the second degree is a class B forcible felony requiring a mandatory prison sentence of twenty five years. It is also subject to seventy percent rule for certain forcible felonies meaning that the individual must serve seventy percent of his or her time before even being eligible for parole. Sex abuse in the third degree is divided into two subsections. Commits sex act against another by force or against the will not rising to the level of first and second degree or alleged victim is incapable of consent or there is a special relationship between the defendant and alleged victim. Sex abuse in the third degree is a class C felony carrying with it a ten year term of imprisonment as it is a forcible felony. How ever there are two theories of sex abuse in the third degree that are not forcible felonies and the court can grant probation. Which include Sexual abuse between spouses, If the conviction for felony sexual assault involves an alleged victim that is fourteen or fifteen and the defendant is more than five years older and the “sexual assault” was not by force or against the will of the victim. Sexual abuse in the third degree is also subject to the “special sentence” of lifetime parole. A second offense for felony sexual abuse in the third degree requires life imprisonment.
The way the courts handle sexual abuse is unfair at times, in many cases the victim has to prove her innocence before the sexual offender does, when in reality it is the sexual offenders trial, not the victims. A sexual abuse survivor should never have to be re- victimized.
Sexual abuse is still a problem in the United States that has to be addressed through the education of young people and changes in the media so that women are not promoted as sex objects. We can’t change our history but we can change the future. We need to remove blame from the victims and place it where it belongs, so that the victimization does not continue. As a country, we need to take a stand against our media and cultures that victimize and make women feel small. We need to teach our little boys not to hit women, call them names, or judge them based on their size, or outfits. If just these few changes were made maybe men would look at women differently instead of just as objects. If we raise little girls to be strong, self made and confident, women wouldn’t allow the media, men or culture to treat them as sexual objects. We need to have stronger laws against the sexual perpetrators and not victimize the survivor. The most important gift anyone can give a girl is a belief in her own power as an individual, her value without reference to gender, her respect as a person with potential.
~Emilie Buchwald, author
Notes/sources
"RAINN.org | RAINN | Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network." RAINN.org | RAINN | Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 May 2014.
""Save Us!" The Objectification of Women in Video Games." Games and Culture. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 May 2014.
"Www.brunel.ac.uk." Welcome to Brunel University, One of London's Top Universities. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 May 2014.
"Sexual Abuse." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 13 May 2014. Web. 15 May 2014.
"Sexual Abuse." Http://www.apa.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 May 2014.
"Child Sexual Abuse Statistics." Child Sexual Abuse Statistics. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2014.
"Child Sexual Abuse." Child Sexual Abuse. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2014
"Objectification Of Women | NOMAS." Objectification Of Women | NOMAS. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2014.
"Everyday Feminism." Everyday Feminism. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 May 2014.
"Gourley, Rehkemper & Lindholm PLC." Iowa Attorneys. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 May 2014.
"American Humane Association." American Humane Association. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 May 2014.
"The Child Abuse Accommodation Syndrome." The Child Abuse Accommodation Syndrom. N.p., n.d. Web.
Sexual abuse has been going on for many years. “It has become one of the most high profile crimes” (www.wikipedia.com). According to the article found on Wikipedia, child sexual abuse became a public issue in the 1970’s and 1980’s. In 1977 it took almost a decade for academic research to reach law enforcement manuals (www.wikipeida.com). The article goes on to explain that one of the many things that helped this topic become so public was feminism. In the 1980’s legal standards evolved in ways that eventually made it easier to prosecute child sexual abusers. In the 1970’s feminism caused much attention towards sexual abuse. In 1981 the National Center for child abuse published its first study on the incidence of neglect, child sexual abuse and child abuse itself. In 1986 congress passed the child abuse victims right act, giving children a civil claim in sexual abuse cases. In the 1980s and 1990s laws established an increased response to child abuse and by 2004, the public then had free access to a database on sex offenders nationwide through the enactment of Megan's law. By the twenty first century, the issue of child sexual abuse has become a legitimate focus of professional attention. In 2003 Lord Laming published his report into the death of a young child whose name was Victoria Climbie, which found that health, police and social services missed 12 missed opportunities to save her. A retired Chicago Police Officer (now a professor of criminology) recalled that when he was a rookie in the early 60’s, he was told in training that “any woman who came to the police station to report that she had been raped was a prostitute who hadn’t been paid”(brunel.ac.uk)
Like many other social problems sexual abuse may be caused by trauma. Most of the time the abuser was once abused. Although this is very true, our generations’ culture and media is full with unhealthy sexuality. Socially and culturally there is a masculine requirement to be dominant and powerful during a sexual relationship. Many kids grow into young adults thinking it's normal to objectify women.(www.everydayfeminism.com)
We live In a country where a woman’s success and achievements are hardly equal to those of men. Women’s success is often measured by their picture on a cover of a magazine. We are awash in pictures of young and very pretty females selected to persuade people into buying products, attract attention or please male viewers.
Many magazines like Playboy claim to “Celebrate women’s beauty” but Playboy doesn’t run pictures of females of all ages or sizes, in reality more than half of the female population cover what playboy doesn’t celebrate as beauty. Playboy usually only puts very young and pretty women of one physical type, chosen to appeal the male eyes. Although these women are very carefully selected they still aren’t presented as full “multi-dimensional people”. (www.nomas.org) They are often posed and dressed to de-emphasize individuality. Even though they are very careful on choosing the women of playboy magazine, they eventually get replaced by a younger model.
Many believe that due to how our media portrays females a "climate" in which violence and exploitation of women are both tolerated and basically encouraged. (www.nomas.org) Males are part of the objectification as well, for example guys on cover magazines are muscular and look a certain way. Television usually portrays that guys have a higher power than females. Songs are saying that sexually objectifying women is okay. Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke caused a big commotion when the video came out, in the video there is three men well dressed and three women are topless posing and dancing. The video demonstrates clear dynamic power, in which the males are dominant and females are being used as sexual objects. Other songs like Make it Nasty, Headband, Tip Drill or Monster are songs that have caused a huge controversy in the media. Most women in these video’s are pretty young women with big butts and big breasts, half naked dancing around males. Not to forget that in all these videos men are touching women in a very sexual way.
Younger audiences may not see the videos or television shows but they have video games like Grand Theft Auto, also portraying the “damsel in distress” trophy in addition to vivid images of violence against women. (www.gamecult.umwblogs.org) For instance, during mission number twenty-three the main character, Tony, has to chase a man who beat up his boss’s “girl”. After chasing Wayne and catching him, the player is awarded with one thousand five hundred dollars and allowed to move on to the next level.
If a kid grows up watching television shows, music videos or playing video games that objectify women, how can it be expected for males and females to respect themselves and others? Since a young age many kids are taught that if a boy hits you he likes you, it’s mixed signals like these that have our society and mostly women confused on how they should be treated. The media should stop perpetuating this culture. Instead of using females for advertising, they should use something else. Girls on television are beautiful but even though they seem flawless, they aren’t. Most of the pictures on magazines and television shows are edited and don’t actually look perfect in real life. The media not only promotes that sexual abuse is okay but promotes a shallow definition of beautiful.
Women should have the right to dress and go wherever they want without being sexually abused or assaulted. Many people often blame the victim, “She was dressed very provocative” or “she wanted it”. Sex without consentment is sexual abuse. It doesn’t matter if the victim is wearing shorts or revealing clothing, if the woman does not give consent to sexual contact, then it is always a no. “Most rapist report not remembering what the victim was wearing and studies of rapists suggest that victim attire is not a significant factor.” (slutwalkseattle.com)
False rape allegations, although it is said to be rare, it does happen. Nearly one in ten - nine point seven percent of respondents said they themselves have been falsely accused of sexual abuse. The studies of child abuse allegations suggest that overall rate of false accusation is under ten percent. Only a small portion of the false allegations originated with the child, the studies showed most false allegations originated with an adult bringing the accusations on behalf of the child. A large majority occurred in the genre of divorce and child custody battles. Denial of sexual abuse by the accused is common and in reality is not easily accepted.(www.secasa.com) To prove one's innocence takes more than just saying “I didn’t do it”, its takes much time, good proof and a very good lawyer.
Sexual abuse isn’t just rape it is also unwanted kissing or touching, refusing to use condoms or birth control, sexual contact with someone who is under the influence, repeatedly pressuring someone into having sex or using sexual insults towards someone. According to the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Crime Victimization Survey “there is an average of 237,868 victims (age twelve or older) of rape and sexual assault each year. “Every two minutes another American is sexually assaulted” (rainn.org). Forty four percent of the victims are under age of eighteen, eighty percent of victims are under age thirty. Approximately two thirds of assaults are committed by someone known to the victim which means thirty eight percent of rapist are acquaintances to the victim. Out of every hundred rapes only forty get reported to the police, then lead to an arrest, eight get prosecuted and four lead to a felony conviction. Three rapist will spend maybe a single day in prison, the other ninety seven will walk free.(www.victimsofcrime.org)
The Law and Sexual abuse-
When sexual abuse occurs the only witness may be the victim. The victims statement might be the only evidence. The issue most of the time is whether the victims statement can be trusted. Child sexual abuses are even harder to prove largely because survivors of sexual abuse will not come forwards until they are older. Sexual abuse may be discovered in one or two ways Disclosure which is the victim, or a victim's family member or person seeking help makes a statement or indirect methods which is someone witnessed the abuse, victim contract an STI or becomes pregnant.(www.americanhumane.org)
According to Gourley, Rehkemper & Lindholm PLC Criminal Defense Attorneys, First degree of sexual assault is when in the course of committing sexual abuse the person injures the victim other than just the abuse. The penalty for this act is a class A felony requiring life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Second degree of sexual assault has four separate alternatives. Committing sex act while displaying a dangerous weapon in a threatening manner. If a dangerous weapon is any instrument or device of any sort to indicate that the sex offender intends to inflict death or serious injury upon victim. Use or threaten to use force that would create a substantial risk of death to any person. If the victim is under age of twelve or knowledge of the victims age and it being irrelevant. Aiding another in committing sexual assault or through force against the will of the victim. Sex abuse in the second degree is a class B forcible felony requiring a mandatory prison sentence of twenty five years. It is also subject to seventy percent rule for certain forcible felonies meaning that the individual must serve seventy percent of his or her time before even being eligible for parole. Sex abuse in the third degree is divided into two subsections. Commits sex act against another by force or against the will not rising to the level of first and second degree or alleged victim is incapable of consent or there is a special relationship between the defendant and alleged victim. Sex abuse in the third degree is a class C felony carrying with it a ten year term of imprisonment as it is a forcible felony. How ever there are two theories of sex abuse in the third degree that are not forcible felonies and the court can grant probation. Which include Sexual abuse between spouses, If the conviction for felony sexual assault involves an alleged victim that is fourteen or fifteen and the defendant is more than five years older and the “sexual assault” was not by force or against the will of the victim. Sexual abuse in the third degree is also subject to the “special sentence” of lifetime parole. A second offense for felony sexual abuse in the third degree requires life imprisonment.
The way the courts handle sexual abuse is unfair at times, in many cases the victim has to prove her innocence before the sexual offender does, when in reality it is the sexual offenders trial, not the victims. A sexual abuse survivor should never have to be re- victimized.
Sexual abuse is still a problem in the United States that has to be addressed through the education of young people and changes in the media so that women are not promoted as sex objects. We can’t change our history but we can change the future. We need to remove blame from the victims and place it where it belongs, so that the victimization does not continue. As a country, we need to take a stand against our media and cultures that victimize and make women feel small. We need to teach our little boys not to hit women, call them names, or judge them based on their size, or outfits. If just these few changes were made maybe men would look at women differently instead of just as objects. If we raise little girls to be strong, self made and confident, women wouldn’t allow the media, men or culture to treat them as sexual objects. We need to have stronger laws against the sexual perpetrators and not victimize the survivor. The most important gift anyone can give a girl is a belief in her own power as an individual, her value without reference to gender, her respect as a person with potential.
~Emilie Buchwald, author
Notes/sources
"RAINN.org | RAINN | Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network." RAINN.org | RAINN | Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 May 2014.
""Save Us!" The Objectification of Women in Video Games." Games and Culture. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 May 2014.
"Www.brunel.ac.uk." Welcome to Brunel University, One of London's Top Universities. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 May 2014.
"Sexual Abuse." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 13 May 2014. Web. 15 May 2014.
"Sexual Abuse." Http://www.apa.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 May 2014.
"Child Sexual Abuse Statistics." Child Sexual Abuse Statistics. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2014.
"Child Sexual Abuse." Child Sexual Abuse. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2014
"Objectification Of Women | NOMAS." Objectification Of Women | NOMAS. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2014.
"Everyday Feminism." Everyday Feminism. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 May 2014.
"Gourley, Rehkemper & Lindholm PLC." Iowa Attorneys. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 May 2014.
"American Humane Association." American Humane Association. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 May 2014.
"The Child Abuse Accommodation Syndrome." The Child Abuse Accommodation Syndrom. N.p., n.d. Web.