After Silence in the Media

While much attention is directed to the incidence of rape, its impact on victims is virtually ignored. The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that in 1999, while overall violent crime rates plummeted by 7 percent in 1998, rape and sexual assaults remained unchanged. Preliminary data from BJS's National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), * showed about 333,000 rapes and sexual assaults among victims 12 and older in 1998. About 14 out of 15 sexual assaults are against females; one in 15 is against a male. If these rates remain constant, in the next decade there will be roughly 2.6 million rape survivors who will have joined the ranks of millions of survivors living in the United States today.

For survivors, becoming a statistic is not the end of rape, but the beginning.

We tend to forget what these numbers mean - that millions of women and men are living with the on-going physiological, psychological and emotional wounds of rape. For survivors, becoming a statistic is not the end of rape, but the beginning. Post-traumatic Stress Disorder will haunt many rape survivors for the rest of their lives. Rape rauma is a significant health problem for millions of survivors, not only in the United States, but also around the world. A report released by Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and the Center for Health and Gender Equity (January 20, 2000) found that one of every three women worldwide has been beaten, raped and/or abused and that this violence is linked to a variety of health disorders including problem pregnancies, substance abuse, gastrointestinal disorders and chronic pain syndromes.

More and more rape survivors are challenging the social stigma by public
disclosure. . .

The trauma of rape, sexual assault and sexual abuse are among society's most pressing problems. Yet, these prevalent crimes are often cloaked in a shroud of secrecy and the problems they create are rarely acknowledged. Rape trauma is intensified by the social stigma of this crime. It silences victims, keeps them from seeking help, and contributes to rape trauma remaining a hidden, worldwide epidemic. A petition is now being circulated calling on the Surgeon General of the United States to declare rape trauma a national health problem. (See Of Special Interest.)

More and more rape survivors are challenging the social stigma by public disclosure, recognizing that rape stigma is an obstacle to the social action that these statistics make clear is desperately needed. After Silence explores the reasons for society's response to these crimes and its victims and how social misconceptions and confusions hinder survivor recovery. Although the story told in After Silence is only one story among millions, it reveals what statistics cannot -- the personal experience of rape, the nature of its enduring injury, and the personal cost of societal misunderstandings about sexual violence.

To request a Press Kit or an interview with Nancy Venable Raine, please email step31@idt.net.

*The entire BJS report, "Criminal Victimization 1998, Changes 1997-98 with Trends 1993-98" is available at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/.