BACKGROUND:
Stereotypes
and prejudicial misconceptions are prevalent regarding sexual assaults and
victims' responses. These are collectively referred to as rape myths. This
study examines three rape myths purporting that sexual assault victims (1)
immediately report the crime, (2) experience severe physical and/or anogenital
injuries, and (3) forcefully resist their assailant.
STUDY DESIGN:
This
is a cross-sectional descriptive study examining presence of physical or
anogenital injury, level of physical resistance during a sexual assault, and
time to sexual assault report. Study subjects were female sexual assault
victims examined by a sexual assault nurse examiner at Regions Hospital in St.
Paul, Minnesota, in 2011 and 2012.
RESULTS:
Sexual assault
nurse examiner reports for 317 subjects met the inclusion criteria and were
reviewed. Twelve (4%) victims experienced physical injury requiring medical
intervention. Thirty-four (11%) sustained anogenital injuries requiring medical
intervention. Overall, 253 (81%) victims did not actively resist at some point
during the assault, with 178 (57%) victims never actively resisting. Nearly
half (129, 43%) did not appear in the emergency department for 12 or more hours
from the time of the assault.
CONCLUSION:
Women
who seek emergency department assistance after a sexual assault take a variable
amount of time to present to the emergency department, rarely experience
moderate or severe physical or anogenital injury, and commonly do not exert
strong physical resistance against their attacker during at least part of the
assault.
Below: Delay from the end of assault to ED presentation
Below: Patient and Assault Characteristics
Below: Univariate Predictors of Three Key Outcomes
Below: Frequency of Any Injury During the Assault, Shown Separately by Level of Resistance
- 1Author Affiliations: 1Department of Emergency Medicine, Regions Hospital; 2Health Partners Institute for Education and Research; 3Medical College of Wisconsin; 4University of Minnesota Medical School; 5Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Program, Regions Hospital; and 6Critical Care Research Center, Regions Hospital.
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