Rape and Sexual Assault Essay

Rape and sexual assault is a social problem that occurs all over the world. It tends to affect both genders, but research shows that women suffer first of all. A few inquiries show that only a small percentage of cases are properly addressed. Some simple statistics therein testifies to the fact that one in every four women has experienced sexual assault, and that approximately a third of all adolescent girls say that their first sex experience was not intentional but rather forced (Silverman 76). The definition of sexual assault encompasses many factors, and it does mean not only forced sex or rape but also includes some other forms of coercion encompassing attempts to get sexual favors, unwarranted sexual advances, and any other acts that presuppose force applied by one party in effort to gain some sexual service from the other party.

When it comes to a coercion, people tend to ignore some aspects, seeing them as normal. An example is where a woman gets forced to have sex with the employer to obtain a specific job or promotion in the office, something that gets accomplished through blackmail or threats. Coercion also encompasses instances where people get drugged or simply forced to have sex when drunk, asleep, or mentally confused in such a way that they do not comprehend what is happening around them (Berns, 2017). All in all, sexual violence has many adverse effects on the victim and the society as a whole. Firstly, the mental and physical health of the victim deteriorates rapidly to a worse state. Sexual violence is also associated with various health problems that have dire immediate, future, and long-term effects on the individual.

Typically, the victim’s mental health suffers most of all. A victim of sexual assaults may end up living with the trauma forever, which makes it hard for the person to become part of the society and mostly makes one view the male gender with hate and distaste. Sometimes, even death is associated with this assault as many commit a suicide being unable to deal with the trauma, especially if they got affected with HIV. In other instances, the victim may be murdered by her attackers. In brief, rape may be described as a forced physical act or coerced penetration with use of any body part. When the attempt to do so does not work, the act is referred to as attempted sex, thus also punishable by the law (Walters et al. 6). To understand the concept of sexual assaults, the following factors have been brought to light by researchers to assess the situation.

Sexual assault is a broad spectrum and, thus, includes the following types: rape occurring in a marriage or with a dating couple, rape committed by strangers, rape that arises during armed conflicts such as resistances, abuse of small children in a sexual manner, and sexual advances (which are among the most frequent occurrences in the world) among many others. Importantly, herein, sexual assaults do not only occur to women but also men. Despite this fact, research statistics shows that such attacks on males are minimal as compared to the opposite gender. Furthermore, in some cases, rape occurs as a form of punishment.

During wars and armed conflicts, captured soldiers got raped as a way of showing them how inferior they are to their enemies. Finally, i some communities, a woman gets raped if she becomes involved in social disorders including breaking moral codes, such as adultery, or even public drunkenness. Another form of sexual violence is female genital mutilation. It refers to the act of circumcising girls, which is considered a crime. However, in many communities, especially in Africa, still encourage the practice by viewing it as a rite of passage from childhood to adulthood. The problem with female genital mutilation is that it is deeply rooted in a number of cultures, which makes it hard to eradicate it entirely as it would mean forcing some communities to abandon their traditions and beliefs.

Given the above mentioned, sexual assault is among the most prevalent social vices. The extent to which these acts happen is very high and needs to get addressed immediately. In this context, different surveys have been carried out in various cities and countries Thus, the data collected shows that the reported cases are very minimal are only a tip of an iceberg, where a more significant part of is submerged. The magnitude of the social problem is very high, so women have started coming up with ways of protecting themselves. Yet, some cases are still unreported. The reason as to why many victims do not disclose their experiences is shame, fear of being blamed and other factors. They think that the society will view them differently and alienate them making them feel unwanted. As a result, the victim becomes mentally disturbed to the extent of harming themselves to get rid of the pain (Kelly 56).

Certainly, sexual assault should be termed as a crime as its rate of occurrence is very high and should always be reported, investigated, and punished in a very severe way. The first way of dealing with a problem is handling the culprits and helping the harmed ones. However, incidents of this nature are continuously becoming common in the society, and no one is doing anything to address those problems (Deer 94). The reason for this is that even when the victims report the cases to the courts, they oftentimes end up failing because of the lack of evidence and credibility. Such a situation is capable of hurting the victim even more as people think that she lied about the matter. I have interacted with some victims of sexual assaults, and their stories are alarming. These people wish that their lives could end at the moment, and some even confessed that they were thinking about a suicide. Others hope they could take it to court and convince the judge it was a horrible crime. In any of these cases, rape has very many consequences. The psychological effects are at times very devastating and lead to the post-traumatic stress disorder (Breeding et al.). That comes with an array of difficulties in sleeping, lousy appetite, anger, feeling shame and denial, avoiding people, and negative attitude on relationships, sex, and men in particular.

It is difficult to understand why rapes occur and some people even try to defend sex offenders. Some say that many women call these acts upon themselves. An example is a guy who explained to me why he thought so. In his words, a 21st-century woman is too independent and granted very many freedoms, which is why she ends up abusing them. In the old-age culture, on the other hand, the man was the head of the family and controlled everything. This last point is one of the causes of domestic violence, which in turn causes assaults regarding sex. Another reason mentioned by the man is that women currently dress very skimpily and inappropriately, thus creating vicious intentions in men’s minds.

Regardless of the position taken, one needs to deal with sexual assaults immediately before the problem acquires an uncontrollable nature. There is no defence for a person who abuses another one sexually without the latter’s consent. Therefore, measures of curbing this social vice will help a lot in the future. They require cooperation of all people, governments, and humanitarian organizations. First of all, there is the need of setting up specific centres where a person could report any offence. The employees therein should be equipped with knowledge and skills to offer professional advice to the victims. The next step involves coming up with amendments to the existing laws so that when a case gets reported it gets handled appropriately. It will give the victims enough confidence to come out and report. The final measure is educating the society on the negativities of sexual assaults. Forums like this one will help a lot in changing the attitude to assault and personal rights.

Works Cited
Breeding, Matthew J. “Prevalence, and Characteristics of Sexual Violence, Stalking, and Intimate Partner Violence Victimization—National Intimate Significant Other and Sexual Violence Survey, United States, 2011.” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Surveillance Summaries vol. 63, no. 8 (2014).
Berns, Nancy S. Framing the Victim: Domestic Violence, Media, and Social Problems. Routledge, 2017.
Deer, Sarah. The Beginning and End of Rape: Challenging Sexual Violence in Native America.University of Minnesota Press, 2015.
Kelly, Liz. Surviving Sexual Violence. John Wiley & Sons, 2013.
Silverman, David (ed.) Qualitative Research. Sage, 2016.
Walters, Mikel L., Jieru Chen, and Matthew J. Breiding. “The National Intimate Partner andSexual Violence Survey (NISVS): 2010 Findings on Victimization by Sexual Orientation.” Atlanta, GA: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vol. 648, no. 73 (2013): 6.