Supporting Survivors
I wanted to use the first point with 99% of perpetrators are male in the title. But I am not sure whether the numbers are really exact (it should not be a discussion about some points more or less). Moreover I think the statistics only refer to the US.
An estimated 91% of victims of rape & sexual assault are female and 9% male. Nearly 99% of perpetrators are male.
This US Dept. of Justice statistic does not report those who do not identify in these gender boxes.
Around the world, at least 1 woman in every 3 has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime. Most often the abuser is a member of her own family or is her partner.
Only 2% of rapists are convicted and imprisoned.
Approximately 80-85% of completed rapes are committed by someone who is known to the victim/survivor.
42% of gay, lesbian and bisexual university students in one sample reported they had been forced to have sex against their will compared to 21% of heterosexual students in the same study.
While 80% of reported rapes are against white women, minorities are more likely to be assaulted. Rates of rape: White-17.7%, Black: 18.8%, Asian/Pacific Islander-6.8%, American Indian/Alaskan Women-34.1%, Mixed Race-24.4%. The stats for non-whites are probably low, since barriers to reporting would be increased for women of color.
American Indian women are the only ethnic group more likely to be assaulted by a male outside their own ethnicity.
It is estimated that 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 7 boys by age 18 will have been the victim of some form of sexualized violence.
Women who were sexually assaulted by current or former male partners were significantly more likely to present with physical injuries than women assaulted by acquaintances.
Women reporting rape within a relationship report an average of 20 sexual assaults during that relationship.
Among developmentally disabled adults, as many as 83% of females and 32% of males have been sexually assaulted.
Of 22 substances used in drug facilitated rapes, alcohol is the most common finding in investigations of drug facilitated sexual assault cases.
For individuals with psychiatric disabilities, the rate of violent victimization including sexual assault is 2 times greater than the general population.
Lifetime risk for violent victimization including sexual assault for women who live with homelessness and mental illness is 97%
My comment from now on:
I know these statistics are not closely related to the topic but they are shocking.
Now the main topic. I have talked with a lot of women who were victim of sex crimes in the past. Two of them were raped one by her ex boyfriend (developed PTSD) and the other girl by a stranger. She said she is not impacted in a severe way by it because she was an adult when it happened. (she was homeless.) The other girl was sexually molested as a child developed PTSD, schizophrenia and borderline. Similar to my case ("only" physical and emotional violence) the damage was pretty large because it happened so early in the development.
I am male by the way. To make that clear. I don't really have a final answer why males are statistically so much more often the perpetrators. One could speculate maybe when women are the cultprits there might be a bigger stigmatization to open up about it. However this would propably only make a change of at maximum 5-10% in the statistics (?) I don't have any evidence for that it is just a hypothesis. I tried to make a research to answer this question. And many many people on the internet ( in random forums) claim the crimes are underreported when the perpetrators are female. I highly doubt that this would close the gap fully. I would like to know what an expert says about this topic.
Here are some other theories I have in mind.
Men are physically often stronger and have it thus easier to assault someone.
Testosterone causes a higher chance of sexual aggressions. Maybe a hgher sex drive in general.
Social roles. Men are forced (subliminally) by the society to be strong, to never show emotions, to be muscular and dominant. The prisons are full of men also because of similar reasons and I assume much social violence happens in prisons from what I have heard in the US. I ask myself whether the same applies to Germany. (e.g. rapings in showers).
Sex is a status symbol for men. Sometimes it can be for women too but not in the past. Women were (are?) usually called whores if they had many different sexual relationships. Men instead get celebrated and admired if they sleep with many different women.
Women commit different crimes. My mom beated me up since I was 5. It was her way to deal with being overburdened by raising us. I could imagine the violence was kind of inherited in our family. So one could say such crimes get inherited. And due to the fact men were in the past more likely to be sex offenders they are still more likely to be ones in the present time. Rape was in many (all?) countries legal when the couple was married. The potential new chancellor of Germany voted against that. So he was in favor that rape is not prosecuted when the couple is married. I hope so much he won't become chancellor but mainly for economical reasons.
I guess in our evolution men were more prone to violence because they were stronger physically. Religions and traditons cemented that position. And people in power seem to abuse that exact power.
So this is another good point. People who are in the social hierarchy higher ones also tend to abuse that power. Women are not more virtuous or better human beings. But being in the lower position makes one an easier target of violence.
One point to explain. Women in certain areas are privileged in our society but so are men. The situation is way more fluid and it is far from the truth to pretend women were disadvantaged on every issue. Having to defend one's country is often forced on men. Successful suicides are more likely to be done by males. In the news they say look even women and children died by the attacks. Well I understand why they emphasize children. However why should it be worse to kill a woman than to kill a man? Probably because we tend to assume men to be soldiers. Moreover women are responsible to raise the kids which is an outdated notion.
I think one obvious thing. There are also a lot of female sex offenders. Women cannot receive a free pass on this issue.
But really looking at official statistics makes me wonder. I think many people will go with the underreporting explanation. But I wonder if the huge magnitude in the difference could really be explained by that.
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