I have been taking a sociology class this past semester, and in a class on gender, the professor requested that upon entrance to the room, all students write down on a slip of paper everything they do every day to avoid/protect themselves from sexual assault.
Females all wrote down similar things, such as carrying pepper spray, dressing “modestly," not drinking alone at parties, not walking through an alley at night, and so on.
One of my male classmates was called upon by the teacher to read off his list. He stated that he didn't do much of anything to prevent sexual assault from happening to him.
The professor stated that his response had proved her point exactly: sexual assault is a gender issue; that it's sexist.
My classmate replied that he didn't believe it was sexist, it was simply because he's tall and strong, and feels he could defend himself properly against any such attack.
My professor informed him that she disagreed because there are women who are tall and strong, who worry about sexual assault “daily."
I bring this story up because it applies PERFECTLY to the generalized idea that sexual assault is either (1) sexist, (2) a gender issue facing only women, or (3) that it's a result of “rape culture."
Implying that sexual assault is a sexist issue, is actually sexist in and within itself.
The literal definition of sexist:
Unfortunately, sexual assault statistics are one of the few things in life I have memorized like the back of my hand, due to my line of work. The misunderstanding of such statistics is where ignorant thought processes like these come into play.
Today, I want to break down some of these statistics, to better explain sexual assault as generally non-sexist events, through looking at child, adolescent, and adult statistics spanning both males and females across their life span.
1. Victims of convenience, access, preference, and physicality are not consequences of sexism.
I happen to completely agree with my classmate who was shamed for his answer. Adult men are less likely to be sexually assaulted than adult women.
BUT— this isn't because sexual perpetrators are sexist against women. I guarantee you there isn't a thought process resembling, “I hate women, therefore in order to punish them, I am going to rape them."
Women are more convenient targets. They are generally smaller, weaker, and easier to overpower. This also isn't sexist, but biologically determined.
And as my professor so eloquently pointed out, there are women who are exceptions to this rule, but it's a rule nonetheless.
2. Statistics are gathered based on age, and adult stats are separate from childhood and adolescent reports.
A common mistake when referring to statistics is generalizing them.
Statistically, 1 in 5 adult women will be sexually assaulted, whereas only 1 in 72 adult men will be sexually assaulted.
These types of staggering differences are often generalized and used to imply that such assaults are sexist, or don't concern to men.
Often not taken into account is the fact that children and adolescents are scaled separately.
Which leads me to:
3. Young boys are more likely to be sexually assaulted than adult men. Adolescents are more likely to be targeted for male sexual abuse.
Combining childhood AND adolescent statistics, 1 in 4 females and 1 in 6 males will be sexually assaulted before the age of 18. These statistics alone even the “playing field" against sexism even more.
Strictly within childhood (ages 1-10), males exceeded females in the rate of victimization.
12.3% of women were a victim of their first completed rape before age 10.
27.8% of men were age 10 or younger at the time of their first completed rape victimization.
4. Adolescent males are likely to be sexually assaulted through the power of authority and emotional blackmail.
“Women can and do sexually abuse and assault men, but it rarely gets reported by the survivor. If you include emotional blackmail as a way of forcing a guy to submit to sexual assault, then the number of crimes greatly increases."
