Abstract
In the past decade, feminist consciousness-raising and political action have transformed public awareness of sexual violence. The testimony of victims, first in consciousness-raising groups, then in public speakouts, and finally in formal survey research, has documented the high prevalence of all forms of sexual assault. The best currently available data indicate that for women, the risk of being raped is approximately one in four, and that for girls, the risk of sexual abuse by an adult is greater than one in three (Russell, 1984). Boys appear to be at lower, but still substantial, risk for sexual assault by older boys or men (Finkelhor, 1979). The findings that most victims are female and that the vast majority of offenders are male have been reproduced in every major study. They are not artifacts of reporting, which in any case is extremely low; probably less than 10% of all sexual assaults are reported to police, and less than 1% result in arrest, conviction, and imprisonment of the offender (Russell, 1984).
An expanded version of this chapter has been published in Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society,13(4) (Summer, 1988): 695–724.
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Herman, J.L. (1990). Sex Offenders. In: Marshall, W.L., Laws, D.R., Barbaree, H.E. (eds) Handbook of Sexual Assault. Applied Clinical Psychology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0915-2_11
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