More rape stats

[xxxkaliaxxx]

Been doing a lot of research for my zine. I keep finding stats that I believe everyone needs to be familiar with. These below stats are taken from the book "Rape and Society: Readings on the Problem of Sexual Assualt" by Patricia Searles and Ronald Berger. The study that the stats are in reference to was conducted in the mid 90's

Comments

[humandays]

one of the things i have heard about these studies - not sure if it applies to this one, but i think this one is included - is that it has a jiggered definition of "rape."

one of these studies actually included as an actual assault "feeling of having been pressured to have sex" - without there even having been sexual contact!

now that is an outrage, and a minimization of the trauma of people who have really been raped.

[xxxkaliaxxx]

That is true, you do have to watch out for that with studies. What I read in reference to these 2 studies was that the definition for rape was simply "forced physical sex." Which is fairly open ended but forced sex is certainly a definition of rape.

[humandays]

absolutely. and that's a horrifying statistic.

i keep hoping for the real sexual revolution that will drain energy from pedophilic pursuits. *shudder*

[sparkleflygrrl]

those are indeed interesting figures, but you need to leave room for the bias...WHO are these women they are interviewing? It doesn't appear to be a legit random selection of women.

[joelyttle3]

I've actually seen these studies in various forms numerous times, and these findings are rather consistent. They are usually done across the country in middle schools, high schools and colleges.

[sparkleflygrrl]

yes but they do not tell you where they are interviewing women. for all we know, they go into counseling centers, or battered women meetings and ask them to answer a few questions. plus it's exluding a bunch of age groups.

[xxxkaliaxxx]

Oh, I'm not sure what you mean by excluding age groups. The study was done to gather the views of young adults. The first study was all college students, the second was all high school students.

sex negative culture

[joelyttle3]

Hi, I read your post in the soc group and then read this post in your journal. I know I mentioned it but I really think that it has to do with our (United States) culture being sex repressive.

You commented: Sex is everywhere in our culture and yet is is all bullshit titillation. We do not show real sex nor do we show real people having sex but we have no problem showing our youth music videos of pimped out pop stars bumping and grinding to poor quality music.I agree that sex is visual in the US but not anymore so than in comparable countries. In fact pornography and other types of sexually explicit materials is even more readily available in these countries. The difference being that our culture drives people crazy when it comes to sex

Re: sex negative culture

[somefire]

I think what she meant was that sex is actually less visual and more suggestive in the US than in other countries - thus leading to the problems shown in the survey's statistics. If one is 'tempted' but not shown then one is liable to act on urges rather than see their consequences (as consequences are hardly ever shown, only the titillation factor). Having grown up in the US and lived for the past year in the UK, I can say honestly that the attitude toward sex in European countries is definitely more open than in the US. Morning-after pills are available OTC; most abortions are covered under the National Healthcare System; condoms are available in public toilets. The awareness and the openness thus leads to a more concretised view of sex in its totality: both as a socio-cultural phenomenon and yet also as a personal phenomenon with potential repercussions.

Re: sex negative culture

[xxxkaliaxxx]

Yes, thank you. That was exactly what I meant to say and I appreciate hearing your views from the US vs. UK.

Re: sex negative culture

[xxxkaliaxxx]

I completely agree with what you are saying about the double standards for women, especially for the teenage girls. And while I am aware that pornography is more readily available in other countries, I don't believe in a connection between rape and pornography. I believe in a connection between rape and sexual frustration.

How do you think the sexual activity of women here is viewed differently in other countries? Like more or less liberal?

[porno_poet]

You know what else bothers me? That most women expect husbands to cheat on them, as if it was a normal thing.

[audiguy]

"79% of girls and 87% of boys believed that it was ok for a man to rape a woman if they are married. "

I don't believe that for a second. I think they came to that conclusion by wording the questionare a certain way. Like if its okay to try to push for sex. Not what I would consider rape (unless they used physical threats). In fact I would see that as a very common occurence. To be pressured a bit, but being pressured isn't rape. It's not sexual assualt either. I'm not condoning that type of behavior but to call it rape is B.S.

If I manipulate a person to kill themselves, I didn't kill them. Of course it makes me a bad person but I didn't commit murder.