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A History of Sexual Assault
The Political/Social Context of Sexual Assault
Sexual violence has always been a problem. With increasing knowledge of the prevalence of sexual assault in the U.S. and the world, more and more people are growing aware that it exists even within their own communities. One result of that awareness is an increase in services and protections for victim/survivors. However, it is important to place sexual violence within a context of society and its structure, for this form of assault has an impact well beyond the individual or even close friends and family members.
Current estimates of sexual assault in the U.S. suggest that one in three to five women and one in six to ten men are sexual assaulted in their lifetimes. In both cases, the majority of assaults occur before the age of 18. Numbers vary, because data collection has been uneven, in particular the data collection methodology of the Department of Justice (Bureau of Justice Statistics), which has modified how it gathers information. Very likely over the next few years we will see a change in statistical rates from the federal government.
But, whether one in three, one in five, or one in ten, all these numbers are unacceptable. From the therapeutic perspective, all victim/survivors must receive aid and treatment, regardless of gender, ethnicity, race, class, sexual orientation, etc.
Yet the political perspective presents another angle. While the presence of sexual assault harms the entire community, women and girls are also oppressed as a class of people because of the existence of rape and other forms of sexual assault. Peggy Reeves Sanday, a noted anthropologist, has studied rape-free and rape-prone cultures around the world. She found that those societies which she deemed to be rape-free had several shared characteristics: they tended to worship male and female gods or were animistic, and the women, regardless of roles, held political and economic power equal to that of men. Their voices had equal value and their participation in leadership was considered important. Of all these societies, none were first-world, or even second-world societies; rather they typically were aboriginal tribes scattered around the world.
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