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RAPE

The media reports have been alarming: 25 to 33 percent of all U.S. women were sexually abused as children. Twenty-eight percent of female college students are victims of rape or attempted rape. Plus, one estimate that nearly half of all American women will experience rape or attempted rape during their lifetimes.

These statistics have all been reported in peer-reviewed professional research journals, but that hasn’t stopped some critics from doubting the validity of the numbers. There is concern about the possibility rape and sexual assault statistics are overreported, perhaps unduly scaring women and deceiving legislators into funding rape-prevention programs based on inflated numbers.

Neil Gilbert, professor in the School of Social Warfare at the University of California at Berkeley, said such statistics have “fostered an environment of unwarranted fear” among the public by blurring the line between rape and sexual assault.

Some researchers adhere to a strict definition of forced sexual penetration, while others contend “assault” should include any sexual experience against one’s will.

“What the media do not report, and thus the public does not know, is that sexual assault as defined by many studies is not limited simply to rape,” Gilbert said at a 1994 “Sexuality and American Social Policy” seminar in Washington. “It often includes unwanted touching and kissing as well as acts that do not involve contact, such as exposure to an exhibitionist.”

Gilbert added, “It is not that research surveys fail to measure acts that most people would consider reprehensible, just that the surveys do not accurately reflect the prevalence of rape, particularly on college campuses.”

Mary Koss, a researcher at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, has been a frequent target of Gilbert’s remarks. She conducted a landmark national study in 1987 funded by the National Institute of Mental Health that showed 15 percent of female college students had been victims of rape and another 13 percent of attempted rape.

A main point of contention is whether the respondents themselves considered their experiences as rape. Gilbert said nearly three-quarters of the survey participants did not use rape to describe an incident. Koss has explained she included any women’s experience that fit the legal definition used in Ohio (she was working at Kent State University in 1987).

In particular, she said many of the women didn’t realize at the time rape could be committed by an acquaintance, anyone from a family member to a friend or a date.

“Even today, a woman might hear a diverse range of responses when she reports acquaintance rape,” said Barbara Engel, a leading activist for rape counseling in the Chicago area. “Her own family might say things like, `Why did you let the guy back in your apartment?’ Such lack of support can discourage a woman from admitting to an incident.”

Indeed, various research studies show anywhere from 50 to 90 percent of rape and sexual assault cases in this country are not reported. In 1993 the Senate Judiciary Committee estimated that 84 percent of rapes are not reported, with only 2 percent of those reported ending in convictions.

“One cannot escape the conclusion that rape in the U.S. is still being underestimated” and far from overestimated, said Koss. Women might offer many reasons for deciding not to report or press charges: Personal embarrassment, shame, fear of further injury and submitting to what can be demanding court proceedings (including lie detector tests in some states; Illinois law forbids such devices in rape cases).

All of this only clouds the issue of any possible rape hype in America. Researchers will continue to debate what actions should qualify as rape and sexual assault and whether the victim needs to label it as such to qualify.

However, some participants in the debate warn against missing the most relevant point.

“Focusing on just the numbers and whether they represent a big enough percentage to be considered a major social problem is wrong-headed,” said Stephanie Riser, director of women’s studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago and co-author of “The Female Fear: The Social Cost of Rape.”

Riser said the scope of rape is “not limited to only women who have actually been raped; fear of rape has a tremendous impact on a woman’s life from whether she takes a job in a certain neighborhood or feels free to go out alone at night.”

SOME DISTRESSING NUMBERS

Perhaps the most disturbing research about sexual assault discussed at a recent American Medical Association press conference involved young people and “acquaintace rape.”

A survey of 11- to 14-year-olds showed 51 percent of the boys and 41 percent of the girls said forced sex was acceptable if the boy “spent a lot of money” on the girl. The same survey showed 87 percent of boys and 79 percent of girls said sexual assault was acceptable if the man and woman were married, plus 65 percent of the boys and 47 percent of the girls said it was acceptable if a boy and girl had been dating for more than six months.

A study of male college students revealed 35 percent anonymously admitted that under certain circumstances they would commit rape if they could get away with it. Other numbers: One in 12 admitted to committing acts that met legal definitions of rape, and 84 percent of the men who committed rape did not label it as rape.

A second survery of college males found 43 percent who acknowledged using coercive behavior to have sex, including ignoring a woman’s protests and using physical force. Fifteen percent conceded they had committed acquaintance rape.