Extent of Male Sexual Violence against Women and Children
www.isis.aust.com/rtn/vawextent.htm

2004 Why sexual violence is almost legal

Original compiled by Christine Hardwick: 19  October, 1997 

Sexual Assault 

  • one in four girls and one in ten boys will be sexually assaulted before the age of 18

  • women have a one in three chance  of being raped in their lifetime

  • 1.9% of women in Australia (133 100) experienced some form of sexual assault in the last twelve months (Women's Safety Australia, 1996)

A community attitude of denial

"a significant minority  (34%) of the community feels that women make false claims of rape, indicating some reluctance to believe victims - men are more likely to show reluctance to believe victims." (Community Attitudes to Violence Against Women, 1995, p.14)

The tip of the iceberg

Reporting incidents of sexual assault to the police:

  • study found that only one tenth of women had reported the last incident to the police

  • Women are more likely to report an incident involving a stranger than someone they know

 (Women's Safety Australia, 1996)

Men are responsible for nearly all sexual violence against women and children: 

  • 97% of abuse of girls

  • 95% of domestic violence and their female partners are the main victims

  • 98% of adult rapes (Ron Frey and Peter Douglas, What is it about men that makes them do the things they do? Australian Institute of Criminology, 1992.)

Which men?

Most women are likely to be raped by someone they know. Women are at greater risk of violence, including rape and murder at the hands of their male partners, family members, friends and acquaintances than from a stranger.

Australian Bureau of Crime Statistics for 1990 showed that:

  • 50% of offenders are aged between 15 and 25

  • 73% are known to the victim          

Child sexual assault and incest

In 75% of reported cases of child sex assault in NSW the victims are girls.( NSW Child Protection Council: Fact Sheet 5)

In over 85% of cases of child sexual assault reported to the NSW Department of Family and Community Services, the offender is a family member (including fathers, uncles, brothers and grandfathers) a close family friend or someone known and trusted by the child. Only 15% are "stranger danger". (NSW Child Sexual Assault Task Force Report, 1985.)

Rape in marriage

The 1992 NSW Sexual Assault Committee phone- in reported that 15% of adult sexual assault victims had been raped by a husband, partner or ex-partner.

The Women's Safety Australia report 1996 found that women's experience of sexual assault in marriage as being 1% with a current partner and 10.2% with a previous partner.

Sexual assault and sex offences in rural Australia

  • In a NSW study of recorded crime statistics in 3 rural and 2 metropolitan statistical divisions the incidence of sexual assault and sex offences was found to be high in rural regions.

  • In the Far West of NSW sexual assault and sex offences were almost twice as high than on average.

  • sexual assault: Far West 230 per 100 000 people compared to the average 138.7 per 100 000

  • sex offences:   Far West 596.9 per 100 000 people compared to the average 314 per 100 000 (Kerry Carrington et al, Crime, locality and Citizenship, 1996)

Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research 1995 reported high rates of sexual assault in rural NSW too:

  • North West had the worst sexual assault record with 63.2/100 000 compared with a state average of 35.2

  • Central West 58.2

  • Far West 54.2

Issues for rural areas include:

  • violence against women and children is less visible 

  • more isolation and a lack of information about what resources are available

  • difficulties in providing support for women in remote and isolated areas

  • tendency for rural people not to talk so much about the issues 


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