Thursday, March 28, 2024

1 of 16 Women Reports First Sexual Encounter as Rape

*North of 3 million women said their first sexual encounter was, in fact, rape. This statistic was a result of a survey that revolved around women aged anywhere between 18 and 44, which added up to about 3.3 million women. The researchers who designed this survey said that the numbers would have been much worse if women of all age groups would have answered.

Another Reason Why These Numbers May be Understated

This survey had been conducted right before the #MeToo movement had spread like wildfire. This movement led to an increasingly open conversation about personal encounters of sexual violence. Now there are many more women out there who feel comfortable talking about their experiences of sexual violence.

Let’s Dig a Little Deeper

While 6.5% of the 3.3 million women surveyed in the nation said their first encounter was rape, the average age of these victims was found to be as low as just 15! The average age of their assailant or partner was found to be 27! Both these ages have a clear power discrepancy in between them while both the victim and the assailant will have a huge size difference as well.

While the lives of most of these women weren’t threatened during the encounter, 26% of them did get physically threatened. 46% of these women said that they had been forcefully held down while the rest of these women agreed that they had been verbally pressured into the encounter. 16% of these women also said that their partners had threatened to end whatever relationship they had if she didn’t agree to have sex.

Rape Has Many Forms

One thing that is clear in all of these numbers is that consent was either ignored or forced. Well, the definition of rape states that “When a [woman or girl] is coerced into having sex that she doesn’t want to have, is considered rape.”

Both verbal and emotional coercion to have sex has led to very traumatic experiences for women and girls alike. These women are more likely to feel ashamed, traumatized, and isolated after their experience, while people aren’t generally as sympathetic towards them as they would be towards coerced rape victims.

While people believe that mental instability is the only side effect of rape, they should meet rape victims with more severe health problems. We are talking about unwanted first pregnancies, poor overall health, pelvic inflammatory disease, endometriosis, and even abortions.

There is no doubt about the fact that we have yet to control sexual violence and the power imbalance between men and women.

 

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