Sexual Assault Still a Taboo Subject, Often Not Reported

Criminal Justice

Sexual Assault Still a Taboo Subject, Often Not Reported

Posted Mar 26, 2008, 10:33 am CDT
By Martha Neil

An Australian woman who wrote last year about the experience of fighting off a stranger who attacked her on the street says doing so has been enlightening.

Dozens of victims of sexual assault have spoken to her about their own experiences as a result; some were people she knew but didn't know had been attacked—sometimes by their family or friends, rather than strangers, too, writes Nina Funnell in the Sydney Morning Herald.

The victims she knows are professionals, and several are men, she notes. Although it is encouraging to see that they have gone on to become confident people living successful lives, the experience of talking with them has highlighted for her some unpleasant truths as well.

"Apart from being united in their academic and career success, all but one of these individuals are also united in their decision not to report the crime," she writes. "Nor do they regret this decision. In some cases they chose not to report out of a desire to protect the perpetrator, though in most cases it was because they believed they would be 'raped' again by the system and either blamed, humiliated or simply not believed."

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