Staggering statistic from the USA..

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**mattyrm**

I dont recall the thread, but a few months back I told you lot that my missus told me that a huge percentage of American women are raped in comparison with the UK, and I dismissed it as her ragging on her home country, as she does it alot..

Anyway, I read this today.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16192494

Rape affects almost 20% of US women, study says

early 20% of women in the US are raped or suffer attempted rape at some point in their lives, a US study says.

Even more women, estimated at 25%, have been attacked by a partner or husband, the Centers for Disease Control said.

The findings form part of the first set of results from a nationwide study surveying sexual violence by intimate partners against men and women.

More than 24 people a minute reported rape, violence, or stalking, it says, with 12 million offences reported.

Experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) described the results of the first year of the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey as "astounding".

Among the key figures included in the survey's findings were:

more than one million women were raped in the 12 months prior to the survey, estimates show
more than six million women and men were a victim of stalking
more than 12 million women and men reported rape, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner over the course of a year.

People who experience sexual violence, stalking or intimate partner violence often deal with the effects for their entire life," said Dr Linda Degutis, director of CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.

Many of those attacked experience rape or sexual assault in their early years, with almost 80% of rape victims suffering their ordeal before the age of 25.

Some 35% of women raped before they were aged 18 were also raped as adults, Dr Degutis added.

Among the effects measured by the study, Dr Degutis said, were increased fears for safety and incidents of post-traumatic stress among victims.

Clinical conditions including asthma, irritable bowel syndrome, diabetes, frequent headaches, chronic pain and difficulty sleeping were also more likely in women who are raped or subject to assault.

There were also clear findings about the incidences of attacks on men and observations about health impacts on men who suffer rape or sexual assault.

An estimated one in 71 men has been raped at some point in their lives, the study finds.

Almost 53% of male victims experienced some form of intimate partner violence for the first time before the age of 25. Some 25% of male rape victims were first raped when they were 10 years old or younger, the findings show.

The study data was based on a survey of 9,086 women and 7,421 men from around the US, the CDC said. Results were weighted in an effort to ensure nationally representative results.

Researchers conceded that sample size limited the study, but said they felt the methods used in the survey were likely to encourage genuine responses.

Research was carried out in a health context, the CDC said, without involvement of law enforcement, in an effort to ensure respondents felt able to describe incidents that could have involved close friends or family members.

Ive discussed this topic with the missus many times in the past, because I flat out didnt believe it.

What possible reasons can you suggest, in that our culture and countries are almost identical, we speak the same language, we are pretty much identical in so many regards, and yet there is such an enormous divide with these figures between the US and Europe/Canada/Australia/New Zealand for example.

Or will the figures be similar in the other first world nations, and we are in a state of collective denial?

For myself, I just cant fathom that one in every five goes through something like this.. If I was to make an uneducated guess I would have said maybe 1 in 50?

Thoughts?

**Kilkrazy**

There are significant differences between US and UK cultural and social attitudes.

**purplefood**

That's not good...
Wonder why it's so high?

**Bastion of Mediocrity**

Horrible! Makes a person sick. By chance do you know what the comparable numbers are for the U.K.?

I see this stuff and makes me wish that the sentencing for rape was equal to that murder, in both cases the perpetrator has taken a life.

**mattyrm**

Kilkrazy wrote:There are significant differences between US and UK cultural and social attitudes.

You honestly think so?

I've lived in both.. I dont believe that to be the case. I can be convinced though, what would you say is a "significant" difference then?

**Castiel**

A gun to the head makes people more compliant and less likely to fight back would seem the obvious reason.

**purplefood**

mattyrm wrote:
Kilkrazy wrote:There are significant differences between US and UK cultural and social attitudes.

You honestly think so?

I've lived in both.. I dont believe that to be the case. I can be convinced though, what would you say is a "significant" difference then?

The drinking culture in the UK is different from the US...
Social taboos on nudity and violence are different...
At least. That is what it seems like i haven't been there before. I would like to visit the US one day but i have neither the time or the money right now...

**Easy E**

Heck, different parts of the UK and US have different cultures.

**Frazzled**

I think the statistic is utterly bogus. HOWEVER, as a husband and father, one is too many. How do we reduce it ?(ok exterminating rapists would be a start but for some reason people get their panties in a wad about that).

**Joey**

shock horror, human nature debased, pointless and cruel.
Yawn.

**purplefood**

Frazzled wrote:I think the statistic is utterly bogus. HOWEVER, as a husband and father, one is too many. How do we reduce it ?(ok exterminating rapists would be a start but for some reason people get their panties in a wad about that).

I'm fairly liberal about that but frankly i think they deserve it...
The problem is that guilt isn't always certain...
Maybe it should be an option...

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Joey wrote:shock horror, human nature debased, pointless and cruel.
Yawn.

Aren't you the cynical one...

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Easy E wrote:Heck, different parts of the UK and US have different cultures.

Fairly true...

**mattyrm**

purplefood wrote:
The drinking culture in the UK is different from the US...
Social taboos on nudity and violence are different...
At least. That is what it seems like i haven't been there before. I would like to visit the US one day but i have neither the time or the money right now...

See, none of that is significant.

I had two lads from Oklahoma visit this weekend, we started in the boozer at midday on Saturday, and we drank in 14 pubs (I know cos Scott wrote all the names down on a beermat!) drank about 16 pints, got a kebab, we have exactly the same mentality, same craic, same conversations (sports, booze, birds, politics, general gak). American men like getting leathered as much as we do, they just have less time off and live father away from boozers so they dont drink quite as often, but there is no significant difference.

As is the taboo on violence.. Possibly sex to a small degree, but not significant surely?

**Chowderhead**

Matty, two men from the Bible Belt don't represent all of America.

And we have a ton of sex and violence. But possibly less crazy tabloids, which could factor into it.

**mattyrm**

Of course they dont, ive lived and worked in about 5 States, my point was exactly that I dont see any significant differences.

We have a ton of sex and violence too, have you ever been to the UK? Its not like we walk around with top hats on and talk about tea all day.

Thats exactly my point, perhaps there was a significant difference a hundred years ago, but now?!

My favourite movie was Robocop when I was 8!

**halonachos**

America is the prude of the world, I think everyone knows that by now. Violence is okay, but as soon as sex is involved we don't like it nearly as much. In fact, if the middle east was filled with nude people we wouldn't invade because its just too icky for us to handle.

**KamikazeCanuck**

There's lies, damn lies and then there's statistics.

**Frazzled**

Chowderhead wrote:Matty, two men from the Bible Belt don't represent all of America.

And we have a ton of sex and violence. But possibly less crazy tabloids, which could factor into it.

Just the good parts, but agree less crazy tabloids (except the parts with aliens and such).

**Polonius**

Rape is widely acknowledged as shockingly underreported. From a psychological standpoint, actually pressing charges is often worse than simply repressing the assault.

It's sort of a good news/bad news type of situation. While rape is far more common than we think, the majority of victims recover.

I'd be surprised if a similar survey in other western nations didn't reveal similar statistics.

**halonachos**

"How to lie with Statistics" was a nice little story I read once.

Rape is a tender subject and that was something we had to learn about in our EMT class. A lot of rape victims feel like showering afterwards, but you're not supposed to let them because it can remove evidence and its preferable to have an EMT of the sex oppossite of the gender of the rapist. So if a woman is raped you should have a female EMT deal with it, but damn its just domething that messes people up physically and psychologically.

**Polonius**

mattyrm wrote: Of course they dont, ive lived and worked in about 5 States, my point was exactly that I dont see any significant differences.

We have a ton of sex and violence too, have you ever been to the UK? Its not like we walk around with top hats on and talk about tea all day.

Thats exactly my point, perhaps there was a significant difference a hundred years ago, but now?!

My favourite movie was Robocop when I was 8!

I think, if anything, the fact that you have more actual (but not debilitating) sex and violence is why the US has more of both in media. From my understanding of the UK, simply fights are not uncommon, and most people understand that people like to get down.

Repression does some weird stuff to us.

**daedalus**

mattyrm wrote: Its not like we walk around with top hats on and talk about tea all day.

And then my ENTIRE day was ruined. :(

**Castiel**

daedalus wrote:
mattyrm wrote: Its not like we walk around with top hats on and talk about tea all day.

And then my ENTIRE day was ruined. :(

That's because they wear bowler hats nowadays.

**Morathi's Darkest Sin**

I actually get mistaken for someone from the US more so than not. I have a US styled army jacket, but with UNSC shoulder patches and a Halo Reach patch over the front pocket, folks assume its US military.

The fact I wear a Broncos cap as well probably doesn't help.

As to the statistics, wouldn't like to say, I can sadly believe the numbers, but I'm guessing these aren't a reported number but an estimate they have expanded upon based on the numbers they have taken.

Still terrible to read mind.

**WARORK93**

.

**halonachos**

Castiel wrote:
daedalus wrote:
mattyrm wrote: Its not like we walk around with top hats on and talk about tea all day.

And then my ENTIRE day was ruined. :(

That's because they wear bowler hats nowadays.

Exactly, at least they all laugh like this "Oh-ho-ho-ho" and use umbrellas as walking canes still.

@Warork, one of the other reasons is all biological/psychological. You have girls who look 18 but are actually 15 or even younger now and days, the other issue is that some of these girls want to act like they're grown up and that gets them into some unsavory situations. Unfortunately sometimes there isn't an actual parent who is willing to tell them that they shouldn't go to a certain place because there is a chance that something bad may happen to them. I'm not blaming the girls for getting raped, I'm blaming parents for not taking care of them like they should. Then there's body image issues, at around 15 years of age there is one gender that wants to have sex and that gender is made up of boys. Statistics also say that if two 14 year olds were to engage in sexual activity there is a ~60% chance that the girl is going to regret it or didn't want to in the first place. This is just consensual sex too.

Reason for the above being that girls who mature early tend to have body image issues due to extra fat deposits readying them for biological roles and of course hormones changing the overall personality. It is better for a boy to mature early than it is for a girl to mature early as well for these reasons.

Young people don't know how to handle these situations because our sexual education in the US is basically comprised of "Don't do it" being repeated over and over again. They don't talk about how to avoid situations or how to deal with them should they arise.

**Castiel**

halonachos wrote:
Castiel wrote:
daedalus wrote:
mattyrm wrote: Its not like we walk around with top hats on and talk about tea all day.

And then my ENTIRE day was ruined. :(

That's because they wear bowler hats nowadays.

Exactly, at least they all laugh like this "Oh-ho-ho-ho" and use umbrellas as walking canes still.

No no no, the laugh is "Hawhaw!"

**halonachos**

No, that's american southern. The British are pretty haughty with their laughter.

**Flashman**

Although we've come a long way, I think there still many ways in which men's attitudes towards women are somewhat primitive.

Case in point, is there any practical reason why Black Widow doesn't zip her jump suit all the way up? No there isnt. It's purely a sex thing.

I'm no prude and don't object to the above image in any way shape or form, but it's illustrative of how western society views women. That's not to say other societies are any better, but everytime I see Zoo, Nuts, FHM and the like in the newsagent, I wonder sometimes if we're the ones who have regressed.

**Frazzled**

Regressed vs. who exactly? Saudi Arabia? (cue article about executing a "sorcerus").

**halonachos**

What's a newsagent?