What is Sexual Assault?
Sexual Assault is sexual contact upon a person without consent. No one regardless of dress or behavior deserves to sexually assaulted. Sexual assault is never the victim’s fault.
Sexual Assault includes the following:
- Rape and attempted rape
- Unwanted sexual touching
- Voyeurism or exhibitionism
- Child sexual abuse or incest
- Exposing children to sexual acts or pornography
- Electronic abuse–using technology to harass, monitor, and control
Important Facts About Sexual Assault
- Rape is an act of power, control, and domination
- No one deserves to be sexually assaulted
- No one is immune from the possibility of sexual assault. Victims have been as young as few weeks old and as old as 95
- Men as well as women can be sexually assaulted
If you have been a victim of sexual assault, Susan B. Anthony Project can help
A sexual assault counselor can offer support, answer questions, help you develop a safety plan, and offer shelter, if needed.
- 24 hour crisis line
- Counseling for survivors and their families
- Support groups
- Day and evening appointments
- Support at hospital during a sexual assault exam
- Help with restraining orders
- Medical and legal support and advocacy
- Emergency shelter
- Transitional housing
Facts and Statistics about Sexual Assault
- Nearly 1 in 5 women (19.3%) and 1 in 59 men (1.7%) have been raped in their lifetime.
- 78% of incidences of sexual violence involved an offender who was a family member, intimate partner, friend, or acquaintance.
- Fewer than 50% of sexual assault victims report the assault to police
- 23% of rape or sexual assault victims received help or advice from a victim service agency.
(from Prevalence and Characteristics of Sexual Violence, Stalking, and Intimate Partner Violence Victimization—National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, 2011; U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau op Justice Statistics, 2013)