Sexual Violence In Prisons

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Pages: 6

Sexual violence has become a more prevalent topic of society. According to the CDC, “Sexual violence is defined as a sexual act committed against someone without that person’s freely given consent”. Sexual violence is interchangeably used with rape and sexual assault even if there is a slight variation with the meanings. As society mutes sexual violence victims, they have become too afraid to tell their story in fear of the repercussions of their attacker and the potential for being sexually assaulted today. Not only is it society’s idea to blame the victims of sexual violence but the people of society who continuously undermine sexual assault allegations, even in the workplace. Men and women are developing severe mental disorders from these …show more content…
In society, men being sexually assaulted or raped is not as common and is unknown yet is quite present in male prisons. In an article by Tawandra Rowell-Cunsolo titled Exposure to Prison Sexual Assault among Incarcerated Black Men, it provides statistics on the normality of sexual assault, focusing in African American men. In the data collection of 143 black incarcerated men they asked if the prisoners had heard or witnessed sexual assault while incarcerated (p 57). The statistics show 43% had heard sexual assault while incarcerated and 16% had witnessed it (p 62). There is a large possibility these numbers could vary as some men are not truthful in fear of repercussions while in prison. Sixteen percent may not seem to be a large number but it does not account for repeated assaults and the unaccounted truths of the study. With this study being done on a minority it shows how they are at a greater risk for sexual assault as well. Programs within the prison for men as a form of prevention are not beneficial to the prisoners and do not provide an immense amount of prevention for any inmate. Most women feel threatened to share, so with men seen as “superior” they are more reluctant to share based on how society has labeled them as stronger. This is one of the many examples of society’s role in the silencing of victims of sexual assault. If victim shaming was not present many of these men would have enough will to express their traumatic event whether it relates to sexual violence or any other experience. Along with the issues in prison, people who suffer with a disability are already targets for sexual assault. Kathleen Basile wrote an article with statistics on how much of a higher risk people with disabilities compared to non-disabilities. One unique piece of information the article, Disability and Risk of Recent Sexual Violence, is that it represents data from penetrative and non-penetrative sexual