It has been advised on this public spiritual website that we are not allowed to send energy nor love to one another, because it is a "rape".
Unfortunately, some people are still in the dark ages, and I thought it completely inappropriate to bring up the assault of women, men and children and equate it to the sending of energy through unconditional love. We all know someone who has been a victim of sexual attack, and it dishonors their experiences to treat them as if it is the same as giving someone unsolicited love energy.
So, here are some sobering statistics of what RAPE really is, and perhaps we should consider how we treat each other, as attached is a bit of data about EMOTIONAL RAPE, very interesting information we should bear in mind when dealing with some people who are drawn to sites like this for the energy they can gain from conflict with other members.
National statistics
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reports, there were 95,136 forcible rapes reported to United States law enforcement agencies in 2002. Sixty-five out of every 100,000 women were reported to be victims of rape that year, up 4.7% from 2001 but down 3.9% from 1998. The actual number of rapes and sexual assaults, however, is in reality much larger; estimates of unreported rape range between 2 and 10 times the number reported to law enforcement. The National Violence Against Women Survey, jointly sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and conducted in the mid-1900s, found that one in six women (18%) and one in 33 men (3%) has experienced an attempted or completed rape. The survey estimated that approximately 17,722,672 women and 2,782,440 men in the United States have been raped or have had rape attempted as a child or adult, and that 302,091 women and 92,748 men were raped in the 12 months prior to the study.
THE VICTIMS. The 2000 "Victim, Incident, and Offender Characteristics," published by the National Center for Juvenile Justice (NCJJ), analyzed sexual assault data collected by law enforcement agencies over a five-year span. The following characteristics were found to be significant among victims of sexual assault:
Age: Over two-thirds of reported victims of sexual assault were juveniles under the age of 18. Twelve to 18 year olds represented the largest group of victims at 33%; 20% were between the ages of six and 11; children less than five years old and adults between 18 and 24 years of age each constituted 14% of victims; 12% were between the ages of 25 and 34; and 7% were over the age of 34. Persons over the age of 54 represented 1% of all victims. One out of every seven victims surveyed in the study were under the age of six.
Gender: Females were more than six times more likely to be a victim of sexual assault then males; more than 86% of victims were females. The great majority (99%) of the victims of forcible rapes were women, while men constituted the majority (54%) of the victims of forcible sodomy (oral or anal intercourse). Females are most likely to be the victim of sexual assault at age 14, while males are at most risk at age four.
Consequences
Victims of sexual assault may sustain a range of injuries; male victims are more likely than females to suffer severe physical trauma. The National Women's Study, funded by the National Institute of Drug Abuse, found that more than 70% of rape victims report no physical injuries as a result of their assault; only 4% sustain serious injuries that require hospitalization. At least 49% of victims, however, state that they feared severe injuries or death during their assault. Fatalities occur in approximately 0.1% of rape cases.
Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are a source of concern for many victims of sexual assault. The most commonly transmitted diseases are gonorrhea (caused by Neisseria gonorrhoeae), chlamydia (caused by Chlamydia trachomatis), trichomoniasis) (caused by Trichomonas vaginalis), and genital warts (caused by human papillomavirus). Syphilis (caused by Treponema pallidum) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are also noted among some sexual assault victims. The transmission rate of STDs is estimated to be between 3.6% and 30% of rapes.
According to the National Women's Study, approximately 5% of adult female rape victims become pregnant as a result of their assault, leading to 32,100 pregnancies a year among women 18 years of age or older. Approximately 50% of pregnant rape victims had an abortion, 6% put the child up for adoption, and 33% kept the child (the remaining pregnancies resulted in miscarriage).
MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS. Also known as rape trauma syndrome, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health disorder that describes a range of symptoms often experienced by someone who has undergone a severely traumatic event. Approximately 31% of rape victims develop PTSD as a result of their assault; victims are more than six times more likely to develop PTSD than women who have not been victimized.
The symptoms of PTSD include:
recurrent memories or flashbacks of the incident
nightmares
insomnia
mood swings
difficulty concentrating
panic attacks
emotional numbness
depression
anxiety
Persons who have been sexually assaulted have also been noted to have increased risk for developing other mental health problems. Over those who have not been victimized, rape victims are:
three times more likely to have a major depressive episode
four times more likely to have contemplated suicide
thirteen times more likely to develop alcohol dependency problems
twenty-six times more likely to develop drug abuse problems
Emotional Rape: What Is It?
Emotional rape can be defined as: Emotional abuse characterized by patterned and purposeful behavior which purpose is to undermine and control the victim. It is an attack on the victim's personality rather than their body. The term "emotional rape" implies a horrific crime, and that is exactly what the victim is going through. In sexual rape, the term "without consent" refer to the victim having not agreed to sex. Emotional rape is the abuse of someone's higher emotions -love, self-respect- without consent. Experts agree that emotional rape is far more complex than verbal abuse. While the latter tends to be erratic and direct response to specific situations, emotional rape is, quite simply, a systematic destruction of someone's personality.
I am frankly ashamed that I felt the need to specify on this spiritual site something as horrifying as sexual assault statistics, but I felt a strong definition was needed here, as the use of the term "rape" is an old and powerful thoughtform which should not be bandied about without education as to what it means to us and our world.
