SEXUAL ASSAULT & ABUSE

• Sexual violence is any act (verbal and/or physical) which breaks a person's trust and/or safety and is sexual in nature. The term "sexual violence" includes: rape, incest, child sexual assault, ritual abuse, date and acquaintance rape, marital or partner rape, sexual contact, sexual harassment, exposure, and voyeurism. Sexual assaults are acts of violence where sex is used as a weapon. Assaults are motivated primarily out of anger and/or a need to feel powerful by controlling, dominating, or humiliating the victim. Victims/survivors of sexual assaults are forced, coerced, and/or manipulated to participate in unwanted sexual activity. Victims/survivors do not cause their assaults and are not to blame. Offenders are responsible for their assaults.
  
  
• Sexual assaults are acts of violence where sex is used as the weapon. Assaults are motivated primarily out of anger and/or a need to feel powerful by controlling, dominating, or humiliating the victim. Victims/survivors of sexual assaults are forced, coerced, and/or manipulated to participate in unwanted sexual activity.
  
  
• Victims/survivors do not cause their assaults and are not to blame. Offenders are responsible for the assaults.
  
  
• Whether the crime is rape, incest, child sexual abuse, stalking or sexual harassment, sexual assault impacts our schools, our workplace, our streets and our homes. Victims are our sons, our daughters, our brothers, sisters, friends and grandparents. 1 in 3 women have been the victim of sexual assault at some point in her life: 1 in 5 men. 93% of sexual assault survivors are violated by someone they know, someone they trusted.
  
  
• Sexual assault has a devastating impact on survivors and our communities. Depression, anxiety, panic, isolation, self-hatred, pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease, HIV and AIDS, eating disorders and post traumatic stress disorder are just some of the effects on survivors of sexual assault. The community costs include, increased juvenile crime, alcohol and drug dependency, welfare dependency and suicide.
  
  
• Sexual assault is commonly misunderstood to be a crime of passion, where men, who are presumed to be biologically unable to control their own sexuality, are provoked into lust by women wearing skimpy clothing and behaving in a sexy manner. But if you examine the situations in which sexual abuse occurs, there is always a perceived or real power differential. The perpetrator feels entitled to take advantage of another person and believes that he or she can get away with the crime either because the victim will be afraid to tell, or because s/he is unlikely to be believed if s/he does tell.

Each misperception serves to protect perpetrators, blame victims, and make all of us more vulnerable.

Click here to view the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault information pages.