THERE are numbers that do not need to be spoken for. Like two. As in the number of minutes that pass before a woman somewhere is sexually assaulted.
Or one in five. The number of boys that the American Medical Association estimates will be sexually assaulted by the time they reach the age of eighteen.
16. The percentage of Nigerian hospital patients treated for sexually transmitted infections who are under five years old.
300,000. Worlwide, women raped every year by a spouse or intimate partner.
One. The number of dollars for which fourteen-year-old prostitutes in the Congo sell themselves to U.N. peacekeeping soldiers, earning them the nickname "one-dollar U.N. girls." One dollar in some cases, a mug of milk in others, but always just enough to subsist another day in the life of rape survivor whose experience has made her unmarriable in her culture.
40. The percentage of battered American women who have attempted suicide.
45,000 to 50,000. Women and children trafficked to the United States annually, by the CIA's estimation.
Four in 10. Number of sexual assaults in the U.S. that take place in the survivor's own home.
Six. The percentage of American rapists that will serve even a single day in jail for their crime.
Or one in four, a statistic that has become so adept at speaking for itself that it is nearly cliché.One in four college-age women have experienced attempted or completed sexual assault since their fourteenth birthday.
There are stories that should not be profaned with editorializing.
A senior at Duke accepts a ride home from an acquaintance, who rapes her behind a locked door at a crowded party at 4 a.m. Back at her apartment, she sobs under the hot water of her shower and tries to pull herself together -- in time for her 9 a.m. graduation.
A Latin American woman, trafficked into the Venezuelan sex trade out of economic desperation, has her ribs cracked and leg fractured in a police brothel raid. She is forced to continue "working" despite her cast. She is brave to have even gone to the hospital; it is not uncommon for women in her position to be raped by the doctors they go to for treatment.
A first lieutenant in the U.S. Army is raped by a member of her unit during pre-Iraq deployment training. She reports the rape to her superiors, only to be held in seclusion by the Army at a civilian hospital for three days. When she is released, she is read her Miranda rights and threatened with criminal prosecution for filing a false report. The bill from the hospital -- which the Army refuses to pay -- arrives in the mail.
A fourteen-year-old girl in Liberia is kidnapped on her way home from church by a government militia. She is taken to the front lines where she is forced to carry ammunition and cook. She is raped daily; struggle means certain death.
A freshman at William & Mary is raped in her dorm room by another student that she has been seeing. Her father had given her a can of mace to protect herself when she left for school; the entire rape happens with the can sitting on the edge of her desk. "You never think to accessorize your wrist with a can of mace on a date with Prince Charming," she explains.
In Australia, a nine-year-old boy is sexually abused in a men's bathroom at a suburban shopping mall. Two decades later, he finds himself with no career, "only barely managing to hold down menial and demeaning jobs," a paralyzing fear of intimacy, and wrestling with suicidal thoughts. He blames only himself.
A third year at the University wrestles daily with the memory of sexual abuse and incest. Her panic attacks and flashbacks make it hard for her to concentrate, and her grades slip to the point of academic probation.Her professors just assume she's lazy.
There are statistics that speak for themselves, and there are survivor stories that don't require commentary. Sexual violence is global force destroying lives and communities around the world. This Thursday, sexual violence survivors in our community will speak for themselves at a rally and vigil, at a gathering that has become an annual declaration, Take Back the Night.
Will you be listening?
Katie Cristol's column appears Mondays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at kcristol@cavalierdaily.com
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