Blog Post 2

Facts group: Legal definitions of sexual harassment and sexual assault. Survey results about harassment and rape: Who does it? How many people are subjected to it?

Sexual Harassment:
harassment (typically of a woman) in a workplace, or other professional or social situation, involving the making of unwanted sexual advances or obscene remarks.

Sexual Assault:
is any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient.  

 Sexual violence can refer to a lot of things. It can happen to anyone, and anyone can be the "perpetrator". Whether it is someone you trust, or a stranger all forms of sexual violence are punishable by law.
I heard that most victims know their attacker..that is the most disturbing thing I have heard and yet, it does not surprise me.
-I looked up factors that may increase the risks for sexual assault. This is what I found:
-sorority membership, having numerous sexual partners, being an under clansmen at a school or institution, certain days of the week (more then 1/2 of sexual assaults take place on the weekends between midnight and 6 am), being at an off-campus party, being intoxicated.

-Factors that affect physically forced sexual assault:
-experience with prior sexual assault, experience dating violence before, experience with multiple sexual partners, race.


I have heard of many instances of sexual abuse. One in particular happened in my own hometown. I was in third grade when my best friend of the time had tole me her stepfather had been sexually abusing her. At the time we were so young that it was hard to comprehend. Therefore, I told my mom who contacted the school. We talked to my friend about it, and she agreed to talk to her mom about the situation. Even though it broke up her mother's new relationship, it was the right thing to do. My friend and her mother moved away and that was the last time I had heard from her and her family. Thinking back on it now, it is very hard to even understand how hard it must have been for my friend to tell her mother this kind of thing. It made me think of how many other people going through this problem decide not to come forward, just because of other outlying factors in their lives. Any type of sexual harassment, assault, or rape is devastating to the victims. However, when people question those who claim to have been sexually violated it makes me question our society altogether. As if this person has not been going through enough, now they have to face the scrutiny and judgement of the public eye.