The allegations of what happened at a long ago house party between a 15-year-old girl and a classmate has some Americans talking about sexual violence for the first time, according to victim advocates.
 |
| Debbie Nugent (Left) Penny Ettinger (R) of NOVA |
In Bucks County, an elderly man last week called a rape crisis hotline, reporting he was sexually abused as a child. It was something he had never told anyone before. But now he was looking for support to deal with memories that he said were triggered by the media coverage surrounding the sexual assault allegations against Judge Brett Kavanaugh, whose nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court was confirmed Saturday afternoon.
“This was a big deal for us,” said Tarah Sellers, director of client services for the Network of Victim Assistance in Warwick, which operates the hotline.
Other rape and crisis hotline operators and victim services programs in Pennsylvania and New Jersey also have reported a significant spike in callers coming forward with allegations of past sexual assault. Local advocates say the attention surrounding the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings for Kavanaugh, coupled with the #MeToo movement’s momentum, has compelled sexual violence survivors to share their stories, many for the first time.
“People are feeling comfortable coming forward now they are not the only one,” said Martina Singleton, director of sexual assault services for the Coalition Against Rape and Abuse in Cape May, New Jersey, which has also seen an increase in calls and visits. “That is what we are trying to get across, ‘silent no more.’ We mean it. Speak up and let someone know.”
Over the last two months, CONTACT of Burlington County, New Jersey, has seen a more than 50-percent increase in hotline calls seeking sexual assault-related support compared to a year ago, said Jillian Allen, director of sexual assault services. Additionally, the agency’s Sexual Assault Response Team has responded to twice as many requests over the last two months compared to 2017. The agency declined to release specific call numbers.
In Montgomery County, where last month comedian Bill Cosby received a state prison sentence for a 2004 sexual assault, the district attorney’s office has experienced a jump in new sexual violence allegations, spokeswoman Kate Delano said.
“We have received several reports of sexual assault by women that date to 20 or more years ago, and we are investigating,” she added. “Beyond that, I can’t provide any details.”
In Pennsylvania, prosecutors have a 12-year statute of limitations for sexual assaults involving adults, but child sexual assault victims can file criminal charges until their 50th birthday. New Jersey has no statute of limitations on rape allegations.
National statistics suggest one in five women — and one in 71 men — are raped in their lifetime, but sexual offenses are the most underreported crime, with estimates that 60 percent to 80 percent of victims never contact police, though most know their attacker. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that one in six boys and one in four girls are sexually abused before the age of 18, and roughly one-third of those assaults occur between the ages of 12 and 17.
Fewer than one in five women who are raped or sexually assaulted sought assistance from a victim service agency, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Other law enforcement agencies in Pennsylvania and New Jersey have not seen increases in reports, though some officials said they would not be surprised if they did. In Pennsylvania, rape crisis hotlines are reporting a recent “substantial” increase in activity in larger cities, but not elsewhere in the state, according to Kristen Houser, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape.
“It probably has to do more with local dynamics,” she added. “People speak when they feel safe to do so and dynamics in small communities can be harder to overcome.”
Over the last week, the Network of Victim Assistance in Bucks County is seeing double the 50 hotline calls it typically gets, according to NOVA’s Sellers. They are triple the usual number of so-called third-party anonymous callers — people who claim to be calling on behalf of someone else.
While the hotline sometimes sees caller spikes around high-profile events, such as the Cosby case and the recent Pennsylvania grand jury report detailing 70 years of sex abuse coverups in Catholic dioceses, the recent jump in call volume has been the biggest, and fastest, spike Sellers said she’s seen in the three years she has been with the agency.
“People have been hearing these things over and over again, and this one hit home,” Sellers said.
Some callers have specifically mentioned the revelations surrounding the Senate hearings and Kavanaugh’s accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, as triggering memories of past undisclosed assault experiences, Sellers said. Most callers are people the agency hasn’t previously served, she added.
NOVA’s Executive Director Penny Ettinger believes Blasey Ford’s story serves as a critical piece in an evolving national conversation on sexual violence.
“While the #MeToo movement is a household word by now, this brought it home,” Ettinger said. “It has brought the discussion of sexual assault into our homes.”
Advocates believe the circumstances and details that Blasey Ford described in her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee are common shared experiences for many people, and it’s the reason her story has resonated with the public more than other recent high-profile sexual assault survivors.
Her inability to recall some details of the alleged assault while vividly remembering others is a common experience for sexual assault survivors, which makes it easier for them to emotionally connect with Blasey Ford, said Mary Onama, executive director of the Victim Services Center of Montgomery County.
“The ‘I’m not alone’ piece is very, very critical for healing and for reducing the sense of isolation,” Onama added. “Dr. Ford represents voices of victims, she really does.”
Creating that sense of community and support for survivors is critical, advocates said, to counter the social and cultural stigmas surrounding sexual violence and negative public reactions targeting Blasey Ford, which could discourage others from disclosing past sexual assault and abuse.
“It can be hard to hear someone talk about their experience in that level of detail. It can bring back those feelings of fear of not being believed,” Houser said. “When you hear all the doubters, that can make it feel like your own experience is being denied. That is what we have seen happen over the last two weeks.”
No comments:
Post a Comment