• Every 2 minutes, someone in America is sexually assaulted.
• 15% of sexual assault and rape victims are under the age of 12.
• 905,000 of America’s children were abuse victims in the year 2006.
• In 2006, 1,503 American children died as a result of their abuser’s violence and neglect.
• In 2006, 78% of children who died as a result of abuse were under the age of 4.
• Rape and abuse transcend race, age, gender, social standing, and all other demographics.
• 1 in 6 women & 1 in 33 men will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime.
• 1 in 10 rape victims are male.
• The Houston Area Women’s Center (HAWC) stated that there were 20,070 instances of domestic violence, 6 of which resulted in death, in Houston, in the year 2006.
• There were 854 reported rapes in 2006, according to The Houston Police Department in January of 2007.
• Statistics show that only 40% of rape cases ever get reported to the police.
• Sexual assault, or rape, is a violent crime, not a sexual act. The myth that men who rape women are sexually deprived or pathological is being dispelled and replaced with the understanding that rape is more of an act of power and control than lust. In fact, the FBI calls rape “the most violent crime trailing only murder.”

The experience of sexual assault has different meanings for each person. No one knows precisely how an individual will react; however, crisis counselors have found that most people experience sexual assault as a severe emotional and physical violation, usually referred to as Rape Trauma Syndrome.1 Rape Trauma Syndrome is considered a form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). For sexual assault victims, the emotional and spiritual trauma can be the most difficult to overcome.

Trauma can produce pronounced feelings of helplessness and powerlessness, as well as physical symptoms such as breathing problems, vomiting, extreme trembling, outbursts of anger, nightmares, and the inability to remember events. Phobic anxiety may set in, causing a person to want to avoid any situation that may trigger memories. Victims are also likely to experience depression.

Eventually, the victim may become despondent, demoralized, and preoccupied with pain or disability. He or she could feel that no one understands. If the victim is not validated, as is often the case with rape victims, this may feed into his/her sense of worthlessness and shame.

Note: Research indicates that repeated trauma, including sexual molestation, experienced by children younger than three years old may cause malformation of the brain.2

• Eighty-two percent of victims reported that the rape permanently changed them.3
• The chances that a woman will develop PTSD after being raped are between 50 and 95 percent.4
• Half of rape victims describe being fearful of serious injury or death during the event.5
• Thirteen percent of rape victims attempt suicide. Thirty percent contemplated suicide.6