Understanding Sexual Violence
What is Sexual Violence?
Sexual violence is any sexual act that is unwanted and perpetrated against someone’s will without consent.
There are many types of sexual violence, including physical acts, such as unwanted touching and rape. Sexual violence also includes acts that do not have physical contact between the victim and the perpetrator–for example, sexual harassment, threatened sexual violence, exhibitionism, and peeping.
Legal definitions of sexual assault include:
- A completed sex act is defined as contact between the penis and the vulva or the penis and the anus involving penetration, however slight; contact between the mouth and penis, vulva, or anus; or penetration of the anal or genital opening of another person by a hand, finger, or other object.
- An attempted (but not completed) sex act
- Abusive sexual contact is defined as intentional touching, either directly or through the clothing, of the genitalia, anus, groin, breast, inner thigh, or buttocks of any person without his or her consent, or of a person who is unable to consent or refuse.
- Non-contact sexual abuse does not include physical contact of a sexual nature between the perpetrator and the victim. It includes acts such as voyeurism; intentional exposure of an individual to exhibitionism; unwanted exposure to pornography; verbal or behavioral sexual harassment; threats of sexual violence to accomplish some other end; or taking nude photographs of a sexual nature of another person without his or her consent or knowledge, or of a person who is unable to consent or refuse.
Sex without consent is rape. It is illegal and it is wrong, and while there are many ways in which our culture places blame on the victim, it is always the perpetrators fault.
If you are forced, pressured, coerced, or manipulated into sexual activity that you do not want — even if you had sex with the person before, know the person, trusted the person, didn’t fight back or say no, were using drugs or alcohol, haven’t told anyone, or it happened a long time ago — support is available.
Examples of Sexual Violence:
- Harassing someone in a sexual way at school, home or work
- Using sexual language to talk about someone in a way that makes them uncomfortable
- Touching, grabbing, or groping someone in a way that makes them uncomfortable
- Talking someone into doing sexual things that they don’t want to
- Forcing someone into having sex with someone else, or to perform sex acts on themselves
- Forcing someone to take sexual pictures or videos
- Taking videos or pictures without the person’s knowledge and consent
- Forcing someone to watch pornography or other sexual content
- Using physical force to get someone to engage in sexual activity (including oral sex, intercourse, or penetration of any kind)
- Using pressure or threats to get someone to engage in any kind of sexual activity
- Telling someone that if they don’t do something sexual, someone will hurt them or someone they love
Why is Domestic Violence a Public Health Problem?
Sexual violence can have harmful and lasting consequences for victims, families, and communities, include physical (pregnancy and gynecological complications, chronic pain, gastrointestinal disorders, migraines, disability); psychological (trauma, fear, anxiety, guilt, relationship challenges, depression, and suicide); social; and unhealthy behaviors (high-risk sexual behavior, substance abuse, unhealthy diet-related behavior).
Vermont and National Data
Sexual violence is serious problem in the United States and in Vermont:
- Nearly 1 in 5 women (18.3%) and 1 in 71 men (1.4%) in the United States have been raped at some time in their lives, including completed forced penetration, attempted forced penetration, or alcohol/drug facilitated completed penetration. 27.2% of women and 11.7% of men have experienced unwanted sexual contact.
2010 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence survey
- In 2010, there were 240 forcible sex offenses in Vermont. This included 136 forcible rapes and 92 forcible fondling offenses. There were also 40 non-forcible sex offenses, including incest and statutory rape offenses.
Vermont Criminal Information Center
- 6% of Vermont adults said someone had ever had sex with them after they said or showed they didn’t want to/without their consent.
2005 Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS)
- 4% of Vermont adults report that before the age of 18, someone at least 5 years older than you or an adult, forced them to have sex at least once.
2010 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS)/Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE)
- 10% of Vermont adults reported that as children, someone at least 5 years older than them or an adult touched them sexually.
2010 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS)/Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE)
- 6% of Vermont high school students said they had ever been physically forced to have sexual intercourse when they did not want to.
2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey