US: 1 in 16 women's first sexual encounter is rape

[StopThePlanet]

A study released this week by:

Laura Hawks, MD1,2;

Steffie Woolhandler, MD, MPH2,3;

David U. Himmelstein, MD2,3;

et alDavid H. Bor, MD1,2; Adam Gaffney, MD, MPH2,4; Danny McCormick, MD, MPH1,2

Author Affiliations:

1Department of Medicine, Cambridge Health Alliance, Cambridge, Massachusetts

2Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts

3City University of New York, Hunter College, New York, New York

4Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Cambridge Health Alliance, Cambridge, MA

Some articles about the study:

www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/09/16/761201571/tip-of-the-iceberg-1-in-16-women-report-first-sexual-experience-as-rape

www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/09/16/health/sexual-initiation-forced-united-states-study/index.html

www.google.com/amp/s/www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2019/09/millions-women-sexual-experience-rape-190916185705930.html

The study:

jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2751247

I don't have a lot to add about this at the moment except that it confirms what I've always wondered based on my own experiences. Let us be bathed in sunshine.

Have NC but there was a post about this in AIBU earlier. Only one post since...

Anyway one poster said pornography had a lot to answer for and this was my response:

Timshelthechoice - I definitely agree with this. Was actually saying the exact same thing the other day to current DP. Relationship with my first boyfriend had many non-consensual instances. Pornography definitely influenced him (I was his first sexual partner so would be where his info was from) and at the time I just didn't know any better that being forced/not consenting and him doing it anyway was as wrong as it was. Not sure he did either. Not that it makes it any better and I am still massively damaged years later on. I find it all very sad and think better education is needed from a young age. Reality is children/young teens etc. are accessing it and with no context and explanation it's so dangerous :(

Have had a look at some of the resources since makes for depressing reading although unsurprising

Yes porn can definitely have an impact.

When my mother was a child porn was not easily accessible by her father and yet he preyed on her.

When I was a child porn wasn't easily accessible either - especially not when i endured CSA. When I was 18yrs old porn still wasn't readily accessible and yet I endured rape.

IMO:

Prolific porn use is a symptom but not the cause of sexual assaults (incl. CSA & rape). The normalization of fetishes has an impact but is also a symptom not the cause. Appropriation of our words, spaces, and shortlists are a symptom. Organized religions (most) are a symptom albeit a control mechanism with doctrine that subordinates females. The belief that women aren't capable of true STEM work is a symptom. Women being default caregivers and compromisers is a symptom. The belief that women are hysterical when irrefutably justified in their anger is a symptom. Women as the anomaly or the outliers or the atypical with men as the default is a symptom. Women throwing other women/girls under the bus for a seat at the men's table is a symptom.

Correlation does not equal causation.

There are many symptoms. The causation is rooted in the gain and maintaining of power.

I'm shocked by this but I don't really know why I should be.

I'm not shocked, just sad and angry.