By now you must have seen
the news about the Portland-based woman who reported being sexually
assaulted by former Vice President Al Gore. We know Mr. Gore is a
very popular figure and we do not presume he is guilty. But this news
story presents an important opportunity to examine sexual assault in
a broader context.
Many people wonder why it
takes victims so long to contact the police after being sexually
assaulted. Victims say there are many reasons. One is fear of future
assaults or other forms of retaliation. It is common for an assailant
to threaten the victim. The assailant is often in a more powerful
position and can ‘back up the threat’ – a male assailant is
usually physically stronger than the female he is victimizing.
Physical restraint, hitting, or strangulation may have been used to
subdue the victim so that they believe the assailant’s threats of
future violence. If the assailant is an employer – or has influence
over the employer – then the assailant can easily convince the
victim that she will lose her job if she tells anyone about the
assault. The more ‘power’ the assailant has, whether physically,
financially, institutionally, or by virtue of being a celebrity, the
more leverage that the assailant has to keep the victim quiet. It is
no wonder that an estimated 75% - 90% of sexual assaults are never
reported.
Another reason victims do
not report sexual assaults is society’s backlash against victims.
Most sexual assaults are committed by someone the victim knows. In
other words, victims typically move in the same circles, have the
same friends, go to the same church, shop at the same stores and live
in the same neighborhoods as their assailants. The beliefs about
sexual assaults in these micro-cultures are well known to the victim,
since she is a part of those cultures. If the prevailing belief is,
‘fast women get raped’, then the victim knows she will be blamed
for the rape because by definition she must be ‘fast’ and brought
the rape upon herself. Woe be to the victim who accuses an
international celebrity of sexual assault – all the beliefs about
rape, from all the cultures of the world, come down on her head.