Features
Sexual Violence ‘Affects One in Five’ US Women
 |
December 15, 2011 TheFreshOutlook  |
A study by the US government revealed one in five women have been victims of sexual assault in their lifetime.
A study released yesterday by the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) has revealed new figures regarding women’s domestic and sexual safety. The ‘National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey’ has exposed statistics concerning the prevalence of violence in American women’s lives.
The data included facts such as: 25% of US women have been affected by abusive behaviour from a partner; more than 6 million women have been a victim of stalking; and more than 12 million men and women have reported rape or acts of physical violence over the course of a year.
The anonymous survey collated data from 9000 citizens who were telephoned at random.
The results are substantially higher than previous studies focused on the same topic. The CDD found 1.3 million women affected by rape, attempted rape or forced sex in their research compared to results from a 2010 survey for the Department of Justice, which found a figure seven times lower.
Experts in domestic violence have spoken up to defend the results and claim to be unsurprised by the high numbers of women affected.
Linda James, a director of ‘Health for Futures Without Violence’ stated that violence in relationships is: “a major problem that [is] often under-estimated and over-looked.”
Talks are in place that aim to find resolutions to the high figures of violence. Dr Howard Spivak, the director of the Violence Prevention Division in CDC’s Injury Center told a news release that: “In addition to intervening and providing services, prevention efforts need to start earlier in life, with the ultimate goal of preventing all of these types of violence before they start.”
By Michelle Davies
[Image courtesy of Silences à gogo]
