The emotional state of the person who had gone through a sexual abuse is totally different from the person who haven’t being through it before. There is an experience and outlook to life that this gives each person. One is characterized by pain and sense of loss while the other is not. Being single with any of these experiences will influence your attitude towards relationships or marriage. An abused person is either doubtful of the relationship he or she want to get into or has a revengeful attitude towards one as a result of previous ugly experience(s).

According to US department of Justice (http://www.justice.gov/ovw/sexual-assault):

“Sexual assault is any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient. Falling under the definition of sexual assault are sexual activities as forced sexual intercourse, forcible sodomy, child molestation, incest, fondling, and attempted rape”.

According to the research carried out by “Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network” (RAINN, https://rainn.org/get-information/statistics/sexual-assault-victims) gave the following statistics on the subject of sexual abuse on men, women and children.

Who are the Victims?

Breakdown

Women

1 out of every 6 American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime (14.8% completed rape; 2.8% attempted rape).¹

17.7 million American women have been victims of attempted or completed rape.¹

9 of every 10 rape victims were female in 2003.²

Lifetime rate of rape /attempted rape for women by race:¹

• All women: 17.6%
• White women: 17.7%
• Black women: 18.8%
• Asian Pacific Islander women: 6.8%
• American Indian/Alaskan women: 34.1%
• Mixed race women: 24.4%

Men

About 3% of American men — or 1 in 33 — have experienced an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime.¹

• From 1995-2010, 9% of rape and sexual assault victims were male.¹⁰
• 78 million men in the U.S. have been victims of sexual assault or rape.¹

Children

15% of sexual assault and rape victims are under age 12.

• 29% are age 12-17.
• 44% are under age 18.
• 80% are under age 30.
• 12-34 are the highest risk years.
• Girls ages 16-19 are 4 times more likely than the general population to be victims of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault.

The statistics from the same link further showed that victims of sexual assault are:

1.   3 times more likely to suffer from depression.
2.   6 times more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.
3.   13 times more likely to abuse alcohol.
4.   26 times more likely to abuse drugs.
5.   4 times more likely to contemplate suicide.

I will like to say that using this statistics from America doesn’t mean it is limited to America. It is because of the scientific data management that afforded me the opportunity to use this statistics to buttress my line of reasoning. We have similar trends across the globe.

These figures were given so that we can have an idea of what goes on in our world. These information will give you a clue to the impact sexual abuse have in a community, nation and the world at large. It is the understanding of the possible numbers of  affected people in our world that informed this article.

The next article will focus on handling the impact of sexual abuse.

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