Sex, Consent and Culture

1. Sex, Consent and Culture Mallory Carlberg, Shannon Slage and Katie Wilder

2. Overview • 1 in 6 US women and 1 in 33 US men experience an attempted or completed rape • 7 in 10 rapes or sexual assaults against women are by a relative, friend or an acquaintance • Most instances involve no weapon (one study of college students found no weapon was involved in 90% of cases) • 2% of allegations false (popular figure); 8% to 10% US Department of Justice (book); Philip N.S. Rumney (2006). FALSE ALLEGATIONS OF RAPE. The Cambridge Law Journal, 65 , pp 128-158

3. Statistics by Race • Allwomen: 17.6% • White women: 17.7% • Black women: 18.8% • Asian Pacific Islanderwomen: 6.8% • American Indian/Alaskan women: 34.1% • Mixed race women: 24.4% Source: RAINN

4. Effects of Rape • Victims of sexual assault are: • 3 times more likely to suffer from depression. • 6 times more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. • 13 times more likely to abuse alcohol. • 26 times more likely to abuse drugs. • 4 times more likely to contemplate suicide. Source: RAINN

5. Reportingand Conviction Rates • One of the most underreported crimes • 54% of assaults go unreported • Factoring in unreported rapes, 97% won’t go to jail Source: RAINN

7. Reasons for Underreporting • One study of college-aged victims found: • Almost half of the victims whose experiences met the legal definition of rape did not label the experience as rape • 40% did not think it was serious or were not sure a crime had been committed • 13% did not know how to make a report • 20% expected harsh or dismissive treatment by others in the justice system • Possibly because victims had been taking drugs or alcohol in about 40% of cases Source: book pg. 475-476

8. Who Rapes? • Unfortunately most studies focus on male perpetrators and presume female victims • Surprising number of people will admit to rape if it is not labeled as such • Studies by Lisak and Miller; McHorter, et al

9. Who Rapes? Lisak and Miller Study • 1882 college students, ranging in age from 18 to 71 with a median age of 26.5 • Ethnically diverse Repeat Rape and Multiple Offending Among Undetected Rapists, Violence and Victims, Vol 17, No. 1, 2002 (Lisak & Miller 2002)

10. Who Rapes? • (1) Have you ever been in a situation where you tried, but for various reasons did not succeed, in having sexual intercourse with an adult by using or threatening to use physical force (twisting their arm, holding them down, etc.) if they did not cooperate?
(2) Have you ever had sexual intercourse with someone, even though they did not want to, because they were too intoxicated (on alcohol or drugs) to resist your sexual advances (e.g., removing their clothes)?
(3) Have you ever had sexual intercourse with an adult when they didn’t want to because you used or threatened to use physical force (twisting their arm; holding them down, etc.) if they didn’t cooperate?
(4) Have you ever had oral sex with an adult when they didn’t want to because you used or threatened to use physical force (twisting their arm; holding them down, etc.) if they didn’t cooperate?

11. Who Rapes? • 120 men, just over 6% of those surveyed, admitted to rape • 63% of that 6% reported assaulting more than once • The median number of assaults for this group was 5.6 each • 4% of men in the group assaulted over 400 times

12. Who Rapes? McWhorter • 1146 newly enlisted men in the U.S. Navy • Asked about their behavior since age 14 and followed up with them intermittently • Average age was 20 and the oldest person surveyed was 34

13. Who Rapes? • Similar results • Found 13% of those surveyed admitted to rape or attempted rape • 71% of men who admitted to this admitted to doing it more than once • Average of the 71% was 6.36 assaults each • Just 8.4% of the entire sample was responsible for 95% of all the assaults reported