Some Statistics on Sexual Violence:
One in three women worldwide suffers rape or attempted rape during her lifetime.
(UN News Centre 2008, UN-backed TV series peels back silence surrounding worldwide sexual violence United Nations, New York, viewed 5 June 2008)
The overwhelming majority of perpetrators of sexual assault are men – with various sources of data showing from 93-99% of reported abusers being male.
(Australian Bureau of Statistics September 2004, Sexual Assault in Australia: A statistical overview, Cat. no. 4523.0, ABS, Canberra, pp.43-44)
Who Perpetrates Sexual Violence:
The results of the 2005 Personal Safety Survey in Australia gives some insights into who perpetrates sexual violence:
- Sexual assaults experienced by women in the previous 12 months to the report results showed that 78.2% of perpetrators were known to women, with 39% of perpetrators being a family member or friend and 21.1% a previous partner. For assaults that women had experienced since the age of 15, statistics were very similar.
- With sexual assault experienced as children, (under 15 years of age):
- For girls – the most common perpetrator was their father/step-father (16.5%) or another male relative (35.1%).
- For boys was a greater spread of who the perpetrators of the abuse were, however it was still only reported that 18.3% of perpetrators were strangers. (Morrison Z, 2006, pp.13-14).
(Morrison Z December 2006, ‘Results of the Personal Safety Survey 2005’ AWARE: ACSSA Newsletter,no.13, pp. 9-14.)
Personal Safety Survey 2005 – Higher Incidence of Assault on Women:
Since the age of 15, 5.5% (408,100) of men reported experiencing sexual violence compared to 19% (1,469,500) of women.
(Australian Bureau of Statistics August 2006, Personal Safety Survey Australia 2005, Cat. no. 4906.0, ABS, Canberra, p. 11.)
Children (before the age of 15) – Women were more likely to have been sexually abused than men – 12% ( 956,600) of women had been sexually abused compared to 4.5% (337,400) of men.
(Australian Bureau of Statistics August 2006, Personal Safety Survey Australia 2005, Cat. no. 4906.0, ABS, Canberra, p. 12.)
Reporting Stats:
Data from the National Crime and Safety Survey (NCSS) of 2002 indicate that approximately one in seven adult female victims of sexual assault (14%) did not disclose the most recent incident to anyone.
(Australian Bureau of Statistics September 2004, Sexual Assault in Australia: A Statistical Overview, Cat. No. 4523.0, ABS, Canberra, p. 55)
Higher Incidence of Sexual Violence experienced by young people:
Personal Safety Survey Australia 2005
In the 12 months prior to the, younger women and men reported experiencing violence at higher rates than older women and men.
- 12% (117,000) of women aged 18–24 years experienced at least one incident of violence, compared to 6.5% (97,900) of women aged 35–44 years and 1.7% (42,100) of women aged 55 years and over.
- 31% (304,300) of men aged 18–24 years experienced at least one incident of violence, compared to 9.4% (138,700) of men aged 35–44 years and 2.8% (62,500) of men aged 55 years and over.
(Australian Bureau of Statistics August 2006, Personal Safety Survey Australia 2005, Cat. no. 4906.0, ABS, Canberra, p. 6.)
