Posted on 04/07/2010 5:41:37 AM PDT by Colofornian
Sexual assault is the lone violent crime in which Utah is worse than the national average, according to the state Department of Health, which says as many as one-third of Utah women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime.
The state is reciting those numbers as part of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, which runs through April, because Utah's rate of rape against women is about 10 percent higher than the national average, according to the department.
Sexual assault by a stranger is rare. The department said someone is most likely to be assaulted by family members, spouses or a partner.
Rachel Brighton, coordinator of Sexual Assault & Anti Violence Info at Utah State University, said students and even some faculty are surprised when they hear the statistics.
"We think of violence the way it's portrayed on television," Brighton said. "It's a stranger, the scary perpetrator hiding in the bushes with a knife or a gun."
A Department of Health survey said one in three Utah women experiences sexual violence in her lifetime.
The reasons behind why Utah has a high rape rate are difficult to pinpoint. But Alana Kindness, executive director of the Utah Coalition Against Sexual Assault, said researchers do know some risk factors.
"Unfortunately, one of those risks is being young, and we have one of the highest rates of young people under the age of 18," she said.
Kindness said her group tries to teach both sexes how to have healthy relationships with partners, family, co-workers and others.
Utah is "not doing real well in teaching how to conduct relationships where we are not violating someone else's boundaries," Kindness said.
It’s REAL tempting to ask if this is associated with Mormons who are harking back to an older vision of the LDS church. Or is it a “wild West” issue? Illegales? Unusually light legal sanctions?
If only Mormons were allowed to marry, they wouldn’t have this problem.
13.3% were strangers...13.9% were either a neighbor, co-worker, or babysitter. 14.3% were "friends." Almost 52% were either family members, partners, or spouses.
» In 2008, Utah's rate of rape was 63.7 for every 100,000 females; the U.S. average is 57.4.
» Reported rapes decreased in Utah about 10 percent during the 10 years ending in 2008.
» Carbon, Salt Lake, Tooele, Uintah and Weber counties had higher rates of rape than the state rate between 2002 and 2008.
Source: Utah Department of Health, Utah Bureau of Criminal Identification
(1) It's well documented that the physical abuse nationally has always been higher for cohabitating couples than married couples. Now you wouldn't write off other kinds of domestic violence physical abuse in cohabiting relationships just because they're living together, would you? So what makes this type of violence so sacrosanct to you that you feel you need to come in and play it down?
(2) I'm sure this category includes rape and sexual assault by ex-husbands...also known to happen. Certainly this isn't a figment of some feminist imagination.
(3) And then finally, "spousal" rape. There's no breakdown of numbers between "spouse" and "partner" -- so not sure how often that occurs. I would venture a "guess" that the reason the rate is so high in Utah re: partner & spousal rape is due to polygamy.
Somebody who has just added a 15 yo girl to his polygamous harem has just committed rape. (And it's possible the tabulators put it under this category)
I agree. One third of women ? C'mon. Reminds me of the "abuse" statistics where a harsh look is "abuse".
If one third of women are “sexually abused”, then what percentage of men in Utah must be sexual abusers?
These statistics sound like something from a feminist wish list.
I hardly think that state is a society of knuckle-dragging Neanderthals.
And how many males will end up being falsely accused of sexual abuse or rape (there’s been a lot of that around) because of the witch-hunt atmosphere that embracing “statistics” like this creates?
I get the feeling that the definition of sexual assault is rather all encompassing. In a puritan society, an unsolicited peck on the cheek or hug or accidental bumping might be considered a "sexual assault" under this definition.
In my day violating someone's "boundaries" would be met with a slap in the face. In my day it was basically "touch me there and you're going to die". These days the learned response seems to be "touch me there and I'm going to cry.. and report you to the police".
I guess it's not my day anymore.
Don’t waste your time on this monomaniac.
I’m not downplaying anything, just wishing for reliable numbers.
It’s not difficult to come up with questions like “Have you ever been touched sexually by your husband in a way you didn’t enjoy?” - and construe that as “just another sexual assault by spouse”.
Feminists have a long history of slandering men and demeaning marital sex. If there is indeed a terrible problem in Utah, we won’t know it by their fraudulent statistics. They’ve cried “WOLF!” too many times for me to give any credibility to their “sexual assault by spouse” numbers.
Any rape or sexual assault problem in Utah will get shrugged at because the data source is suspect - and women will suffer. When they cry “RAPE!” and no one pays any attention, they can blame the feminists.
According to this study:
"Child molestation was the most common form of sexual violence reported, followed closely by rape." (14% child molestation; 6% child rape); age range: 3 -->16...average age -- about 11 1/2.
"Almost ninety percent of victims, 86.2%, experienced their first sexual assault before their 18th birthday."
Would copping a feel off a 17 year old girl as you are crossing paths in the school hall be considered "child molestation" or a "sexual assault?"
And half the people are dumber than average too.
This was a telephone survey. Let’s face it, the people mostly likely to respond are those who were molested and those who are “told” they were.
My own sister has a huge narrative about my dad sexually abusing her. She is terribly sick and has been treated for years. There is not, nor has there ever been proof of her story and there are huge hole in it.
How do you think she would respond to a call like this?
I do know this, if I got one of these calls, I would say, “I don’t have the time, sorry.”
Well, I looked further into it, and the "husband" vs. "ex-husband" ratio was almost 3:1 -- about 6% for "husbands" and 2% for ex-husbands. Source: Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice: Rape in Utah
So when this article references "husbands" -- about 1/4th of these so-called "husbands" are probably "ex" status when the crime occurred.
Technically, half the states are below the median.
"Average" is another word for "Mean."
Your statement is technically incorrect.
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