Nearly 90 percent of people who experience sexual violence do not report the incidents to police, the Modern Women’s Foundation said yesterday.
The WHO defines sexual violence as “acts that range from verbal harassment to forced penetration, and an array of types of coercion, from social pressure and intimidation to physical force.”
Surveys worldwide have found that about 80 percent of people who are targets of sexual violence do not report incidents and in Taiwan the number might be as high as 90 percent, the foundation said, citing the results of an online survey it conducted.
Photo: Wu Po-hsuan, Taipei Times
A support system for victims of sexual violence needs to be established and more attention should be put on the issue through events like Denim Day, the foundation said.
The survey, which was divided into questions on hypothetical scenarios and actual experiences, was conducted last month. It garnered 876 valid responses.
About 40 percent of those surveyed never tell anyone, including friends, after they experience sexual violence, it said, adding that only 32.4 percent said they had sought assistance following an incident.
As many as 20,000 cases of sexual violence go unreported each year, the foundation said, citing Ministry of Health and Welfare data.
Among respondents who said they had been subjected to sexual violence, 85 percent had been sexually harassed and 27.6 percent had been sexually assaulted, the survey showed.
“Most of those who do not report incidents are worried that there is insufficient evidence, that the case will bring them shame or that their life will be thrown into disorder,” foundation president Jennifer Wang (王如玄) said.
“However, it is greatly concerning that people are bearing this trauma alone,” Wang said. “We need to ensure that people committing these acts are brought to justice.”
Among those who said they had told someone about their experience, less than 30 percent said they received the reaction they expected and more than 50 percent said they did not.
“For example, this could mean a friend telling a victim that they failed to protect themselves or that they are blowing things out of proportion,” foundation director-general Chang Miao-ju (張妙如) said.
“It could also be an authority figure who has an unprofessional attitude or an unsatisfactory ruling in a lawsuit,” Chang said. “Any of those things can make a victim feel disheartened and helpless.”
People who do not find appropriate help can develop anxiety, insomnia, nightmares and even mental dissociation, she said.
People should be encouraged to seek professional help and should be accompanied, but should never be forced against their will to speak with someone, she said.
Tang Ching (湯淨), who founded Nuan Nuan Sunshine, a support group for people who have experienced sexual violence, said she hoped the group would be a place for people to share their stories anonymously and provide mutual support.
“Many people fail to recognize what constitutes sexual violence,” Tang said. “Often the act occurs when the victim is very young or it is committed by someone the victim had an emotional connection with, making it harder for them to tell others.”
Sometimes speaking to others can also unlock memories that have been buried, thereby causing renewed suffering, she said.
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