Fact Overview:
- An adult woman is raped every three minutes.
- Only three out of every ten rapes is reported.
- One is six males will be sexually assaulted by age 18.
- Ninety percent of sexually assaulted children are assaulted by someone they know.
- Sexual assault is a violent abuse of power.
- It is NEVER your fault if you are sexually assaulted or abused!
Victims often know the person who sexually assaulted them.
People who sexually abuse usually target someone they know.
- Nearly three out of four adolescents (74%) who have been sexually assaulted were victimized by someone they knew well (Kilpatrick, Saunders, & Smith, 2003).
- One-fifth (21.1%) were committed by a family member (Kilpatrick, Saunders, & Smith, 2003).
What is Consent?
Clear- Consent is active.
Coherent- People incapacitated by drugs or alcohol cannot consent
Willing- Consent is never given under pressure.
Ongoing- Consent must be granted EVERY TIME.
- Consent is expressed through words or actions that create mutually understandable permission.
- Consent is never implied and the absence of no is not a yes.
- Silence is NOT consent
- "I'm not sure," "I don't know," "Maybe" and similar phrases are NOT consent
Coherent- People incapacitated by drugs or alcohol cannot consent
- Someone who cannot make rational, reasonable decisions because she or he lacks the capacity to understand the "who, what when, where, why or how" of the situation cannot consent.
- People who are asleep or in another vulnerable position cannot consent.
Willing- Consent is never given under pressure.
- Consent is not obtained through psychological or emotional manipulation
- Consent cannot be obtained through physical violence or threat
- Someone in an unbalanced power situation (i.e. someone under your authority) cannot consent.
Ongoing- Consent must be granted EVERY TIME.
- Consent must be obtained at each step of physical intimacy. If someone consents to one sexual activity, she or he may or may not be willing to go further.
