What is Sexual Violence?

 

   According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s (NSVRC), “Sexual violence occurs when someone is forced or manipulated into unwanted sexual activity without their consent. Consent, by definition, means permission for something to happen or agreement to do something. Reasons someone might not consent include fear, age, illness, disability and/or influence of alcohol or other drugs. Anyone can experience sexual violence, including children, teens, adults, and elders. Those who sexually abuse can be acquaintances, family, trusted individuals or strangers; of these, the first three categories are most common.”  Please click here to access the What is Sexual Violence article that offers a clear and concise explanation of forms of sexual violence, its impact, ways to prevent it and facts.

 

Additional resources about sexual violence:

• CDC Injury Prevention & Control: Division of Violence Prevention website offers definition of sexual violence, public health approach to prevention and access to the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS). 

 

• Rape and Sexual Assault: A Renewed Call to Action from The White House Council on Women and Girls 

 

• The Impact of Sexual Violence fact sheet from NSVRC.

 

• It's Time...to Connect provides information about sexual assault and how healthy care professionals can assist victims.

 

• It's Time...to Connect provides information about sexual assault and how parents and caregivers can play a role in responding to victims 

 

• Rape Myths and Facts from Washington University in St. Louis.

 

• False Reports: Moving Beyond the Issue to Successfully Investigate and Prosecute Non-Stranger Sexual Assault, explores contradicting data around false reports of sexual violence, and explains that more methodologically rigorous research has found that false reports converge around 2%-8%.  Furthermore, the article explains what a false report is and how to overcome the challenge of the criminal justice response that continues to believe reports are false.

 

•  Understanding the Predatory Nature of Sexual Assault, In this article, David Lisak discusses that most men are not sexual predators and the few men that are sex offenders are serial offenders.