Sexual Victimization of Teenage Girls

From Shield Women's Self Defense-May 19, 2011


Beginning in high school environment where most physical forms of sexual violence are taking place, proactive immediate actions are needed to provide sufficient protective measures for teenage girls.

Consider the following facts:

In 2007, there were approximately 128,532 sexual assaults against girls under 18. That translate to every 4 minutes a teenage girl under 18 is sexually assaulted in the U.S.
[U.S. Department of Justice's National Crime Victimization Survey]


Age range of sexual assault and rape victims
• 15% are under age 12
• 29% are age 12-17
• 44% are under age 18
• 80% are under age 30
• 12-28 are the highest risk years.
• Girls ages 16-19 are 4 times more likely than the general population to be victims of sexual assault.
[U.S. Department of Justice. 2004 National Crime Victimization Survey. 2004]

93% of juvenile sexual assault victims know their attacker.
• 34.2% of attackers were family members.
• 58.7% were acquaintances.
• Only 7% of the perpetrators were strangers to the victim.
[U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2000 Sexual Assault of Young Children as Reported to Law Enforcement. 2000]

• 43% of girls experienced unwanted sexual attention
[The Impact of Bullying and Sexual Harassment on Middle and High School Girls VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN 2007; 13; 627]


• 1 in 5 high school girls have been physically and/or sexually assaulted by a dating partner, significantly increasing their risk of drug abuse, suicide and other harmful behavior.
[Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Maternal and Child Health Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) (2002) 5. Fact Sheet on Violence: Adolescents & Young Adults]


• 61% of 10th to 11th grader girls reported they had been physically/sexually harassed at school
[The Impact of Bullying and Sexual Harassment on Middle and High School Girls VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN 2007; 13; 627]


• 46% of teens who have experienced sexual or dating violence say the worst incident happened on school grounds or in the school building.
[KCSARC teens&adolecents updated 2007]


• Girls and women between the ages of 16 and 24 experience the highest rates of intimate partner violence and rape.
[Callie Marie Rennison (2001). Intimate partner violence and age of victim, 1993-1999. Washington, DC: U.S.]


• 45% of teen girls know someone who has been pressured or forced into having intercourse or oral sex.
[Liz Claiborne Inc. Teen Dating Violence Survey, 2005.]

• Pregnancies Resulting from Rape. In 2004-2005, 64,080 women were raped. According to medical reports, the incidence of pregnancy for one-time unprotected sexual intercourse is 5%. By applying the pregnancy rate to 64,080 women, RAINN estimates that there were 3,204 pregnancies as a result of rape during that period.

RAINN (Rape Abuse National Network); U.S. Department of Justice. 2005 National Crime Victimization Survey. 2005

While other protective measures such as better school policies on sexual assault, improving campus safety, or educating boys on dating violence are necessary, empowering the young women with actual self-defense training has no substitute.

SHIELD has been partnering with various high schools and women's groups in providing self-defense training for teenage girls. We have provided self-defense workshops in an assembly format, took over PE classes period 1-6, provided moms/daughters training workshops, and conducted on-going after school programs to empower the young women in various high schools.

Would Your Rape Count?

Borrowed from the Public Insight Network...

"Each year, tens of thousands of rapes occur in the U.S. each year that are never counted by the FBI's yearly crime report. There are many reasons rapes go unrecorded. Sometimes survivors are actively discouraged from reporting--even by authorities who should know better, such as police or college administrators. Some cases are excluded by the FBI's narrow "forcible rape," which doesn't include male victims, anal or oral rape.

Furthermore, women frequently don't recognize that they were raped, often because of societal messages that say that only a very specific, and rare, type of scenario constitutes rape."

Read more here...

AAUW Action Network

Help Stop Sexual Violence on Campus!

Take Action!

At their best, institutions of higher education are academic oases where the collective contributions of students, professors, and administrators support a healthy community aimed at the pursuit of knowledge. Students (and their parents) invest in higher education because they know college is a well-trodden and successful path to a meaningful career. For women, access to educational opportunities helps lead to financial security and economic independence.
Yet college can only be these things if it is a safe environment. Far too often, college women are the target of sexual violence or assault that shakes or shatters their college experience in a profound way.

A 2007 campus sexual-assault study by the U.S. Department of Justice found that around 28 percent of women are targets of attempted or completed sexual assault while they are college students. The Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN) reports that college-age women are four times more likely than any other age group to face sexual assault. There is an epidemic of sexual violence on campuses, and we must take steps to stop it.

The Campus Sexual Violence Elimination (SaVE) Act (S. 834) would help to end sexual assault and violence on campus by requiring schools to spell out their policies, conduct prevention activities, and ensure necessary assistance for victims. It would constitute a step toward ending the sort of violence which prevents women from attaining their educational dreams.
Ask your senators to cosponsor and support this important piece of legislation!

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