U.S. Has Highest Rate of Sexual Assault id AAA13215; Thu, 16 Oct 1997 00:48:56 -0400 Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit ------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the October 23, 1997 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- HOW TO STOP RAPE? U.S. HAS HIGHEST RATE OF SEXUAL ASSAULT By Sue Davis If two new studies are accurate, there were hundreds of unreported rapes and various other forms of sexual abuse last week in the United States. According to a 1996-97 study sponsored by the Commonwealth Fund and new analysis of a 1992 study by the Alan Guttmacher Institute, one in four females in grades five through 12 has been sexually or physically abused, or forced by a date to have sex against her will. Most of the abuse is committed by a family member or family friend, takes place in the home and occurs more than once. The rate of depression is 50 percent higher for girls than for boys. One in four girls wants to leave home to get away from the violence. And one in three girls has suicidal thoughts. Sexual abuse was found to have lasting effects. It often leads to self-destructive behavior. The studies show that abused teens are more likely to engage in risky behavior-- including smoking, drinking and taking drugs, eating disorders, failing to use contraception and becoming pregnant. Such widespread abuse of young women constitutes a national tragedy and a national disgrace. There is something profoundly wrong with a society that allows its young women to be wounded in such epidemic numbers. In fact, the United States has the highest rate of sexual assault in the world. One out of three women is abused during her lifetime. This life-threatening crisis deserves an immediate national response. Yet since the statistics were announced, no outcry has issued from Congress to denounce the abuse and demand legislative steps to end it. The White House has not even set up a commission to study how to stop the problem. How can this kind of violence, terror and intimidation that so deeply corrodes the lives of young women be stopped? In the short run it's crucial to shelter and protect girls and young women. A mass struggle for women's rights, linked with labor and the communities, is absolutely crucial and could go a long way toward changing things. But violent sexual abuse of women is rooted in the social system of capitalism, which is rooted in patriarchy. So it will take even more to end this centuries-old outrage and horror. Society must be completely reorganized so that respect for women--their rights, bodies and needs--is a basic component. Since male supremacy and women's oppression are a basic component of capitalism, a revolution that uproots and overthrows capitalism is needed to totally end the sexual abuse of women. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted if source is cited. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: ww@workers.org. For subscription info send message to: info@workers.org. Web: http://workers.org) ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytfem-10.16.97-00:48:57-17410