Sexual Assault Among Women In the United States

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Sexual Assault Among Women In the United States

Sexual Assault described in technical terms is defined as any sort of sexual activity between two or more people in which one of the people involved is involved against his or her will. (3) The description of "against his or her will" extends to varying degrees of aggression, ranging from indirect pressure to a direct physical attack. According to the Crime Victim Research and Treatment Center 1.3 adult women are sexually assaulted in the United States every minute. (1) Of these assaults 84% of the attacks occur by someone the victim knows. The Senate Judiciary Committee the United States sighted the United States as having the highest rate of sexual assaults per capita in the world. (1) Unfortunately the majority of sexual assaults that occur against women go unreported. Only 31% of sexual assaults that occurred in 1996 were reported to law enforcement authorities. (1) The problem of sexual assault is increasing. In the year 2000 the number of sexual assaults against women had increased by 16.5%. (1) A woman's reaction to sexual assault can vary. Feelings of guilt, being ashamed, intense anger, and denial are common. In addition a woman can feel stigmatized by those around her and her community.

A question to look at is how victims of sexual assault deal with the trauma that they have experienced. The assaults often times have psychological repercussions. In addition a woman can develop health problems. These health problems can develop as varying degrees of depression, anxiety, and clinical stress. An issue to look at is how much control a victim of sexual assault has over her reaction. How much control can a woman have over repressing her emotions? How much of co...

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... communities that they live in. Furthermore if more efforts were made to prevent sexual assault against women in the first place were made, the number of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Cases would decrease. As more is learned about the implications that the environment can have on a victim of trauma, as well as the relationship between the mind and body, more can be learned about treating Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Sources Cited:

1) Sexual Assault Crisis and Support Center

http://apps5.oingo.com/apps/domainpark/domainpark.cgi?client=netw8744&s=www.silent-no-more.org

2) National Center for PTSD

http://www.ncptsd.va.gov/

3) Informational website on PTSD

http://ptsd.factsforhealth.org/brp.html

4) Website for the National Mental Health Association

http://www.nmha.org/pbedu/anxiety/ptsd.cfm

5) Website for Zoloft

http://%20www.zoloft.com/

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