Since rape seems to be the topic of the week - Remember facts? Remember facts about rape? Because it turns out that a whole lot of people know less than nothing about the subject. Indeed what they think they know is a whole lot of something that is wrong and dangerous to women's heath, safety and well-being. Below are 50 facts about rape.
1. Low estimate of the
number of women , according to the Department of Justice, raped every year: 300,000
2. High estimate of the
number of women raped, according to the CDC: 1.3 million
3. Percentage of rapes
not reported: 54 percent
4. A woman's
chance of being raped in the U.S.: 1 in 5
5. Chances that a
raped woman conceives compared to one engaging in consensual sex: at least two times as likely
6. Number of women in the US
impregnated against their will each year in the U.S. as a result of rape: 32,000
7. Number of states in which
rapists can sue for custody and visitation: 31
8. Chances that a woman's body "
shuts that whole thing down": 0 in 3.2 billion
9. Rank of
U.S. in the world for rape: 13th
10. A woman's chance of
being raped in college: 1 in 4 or 5
11. Chances that a
Native American woman in the U.S. will be raped: 1 in 3
12. Percentage of
women in Alaska who have suffered sexual assault: 37 percent
13. Number of
rape kits untested by the Houston police force: 6,000-7,000 (Texas ranked
second in nation for "forcible rape")
14. Number of adult men
accused of repeatedly gang raping 11-year-old girl in Texas: 14
15. Quote in
the New York Times regarding the rape: "They said she dressed older than her age."
16. Age of
woman raped in Central Park in September, 2012: 73
17. Number of
rape kits left untested in Detroit, listed by Forbes as
one of two the most dangerous places for woman to live in the US: 11,303
18. U.S. state in which, in September 2012, mentally disabled rape victim was
required to provide evidence of her "kicking, biting, scratching" in objection to her rape: Connecticut
19. State seeking to
reduce childcare welfare benefits to women cannot provide proof of their pregnancy-causing rapes: Pennsylvannia
20. Percentage of sexual assault and rape victims
under the age of 12: 15 percent
21. Percentage of
men who have been raped: 3 percent
22. Percentage of
rapists who are never incarcerated: 97 perent
23. Percentage of rapes that
college students think are false claims: 50 percent
24. Percentage of rapes that
studies find are false claims: 2-8 percent
25. Number of
rapes reported in the military last year: 16,500
26. Pentagon's
estimated percentage of military assuaults not reported: 80-90 percent
27. Percentage of military
rape victims who were gang raped/raped more than once: 14%/20%
28. Percentage of
military rape victims that are men: 8-37 percent
29. Percentage of military victims who get an
"involuntarily" discharge compared to percentage of charged and accused who are discharged with honor: 90 percent involuntary to 80 percent with honor
30. Chances an
incarcerated person is raped in the U.S.: 1 in 10
31. Increase in
chance that LGTB prisoner is raped: 15x greater chance
32. Number of
men raped that could be counted as legally raped before the
FBI changed its definition in December of 2011: 0
33. Number of rapes
noted in commonly used World War II statistics: 0
34. Number of rapes of WWII
concentration camp inmates: Untallied millions
35. Number of rapes of
German women by Russian soldiers at the end of WWII: between 1m and 2m
36. Number of women
raped in 1990s Bosnian conflict: 60,000+
37. Number of women
raped per hour in Congo during war: 48
38. Country where 12 year old was
forced to participate in the rape of his mother: U.S.
39. Country where women are
imprisoned for being raped: Afghanistan
40. Age of Moroccan
rape victim who committed suicide after being forced to marry her rapist: 16
41. Worldwide number of "child brides" under the age of 18
forced to marry every day: 25,000
42. Ages of girls forced to marry a 59-year-old at the
Tony Alamo Christian Ministry in Arkansas: 8, 14, 15
43. Estimated
number of people, primarily children, sexually abused by priests in the U.S. versus the number of
senior Catholic officials found guilty of sexual abuse related crimes in the U.S.: 10,667 to 1
44. Chances that a woman in the U.S. is raped versus
gets breast cancer: 2 to 1
45. Chances that a victim is "
Emergency Raped" by a
stranger versus percentage of victims who consider their rapes emergencies: 7 percent versus 100 percent
46. Percentage of victims of rape
who report the use of a weapon: 11 percent
47. Prison
sentences for four men found guilty of participating in gang rapes of two teenage girls in France over two years: one year, six months, suspended sentence
48. State where in 2012 a doctor is facing the loss of her medical license for providing an abortion to a pregnant
10-year old incest rape victim: Kansas
49. Country where
doctors (but not the rapist) were excommunicated for performing a life-saving abortion to nine-year-old incest rape victim: Brazil
50. Country where major party's vice-presidential candidate wants to
criminalize all abortions including rape-related ones, because rape is just "
another method of conception": U.S.
Had enough? Me, too. And, believe me, this is the Cliff Notes version. Some people are offended by frank conversation about violence, especially sexualized violence. I'm offended by the tolerance for these assaults, scientific denialism, entertainment at the expense of people's safety, bodily integrity, and shame-infused legislation that hurts children and women - and is based on the belief that all pasty white men of the GOP are
animals at heart.
NFTOS
Editor-In-Chief
Roger West
