Know the Facts
- 1 in 4 women and 1 in 9 men experience violence from their partners in their lifetimes.
- 1 in 3 teens experience sexual or physical abuse or threats from a boyfriend or girlfriend in one year.
- 1 in 5 women are survivors of rape.
- 1 in 3 women and 1 in 6 men have experienced sexual violence in their lives.
- 1 in 4 women and 1 in 6 men were sexually abused before the age of 18.
What is sexual assault?
The term sexual assault refers to sexual contact or behavior that occurs without explicit consent of the victim. Some forms of sexual assault include:
- Attempted rape
- Fondling or unwanted sexual touching
- Forcing a victim to perform sexual acts, such as oral sex or penetrating the perpetrator’s body
- Penetration of the victim’s body, also known as rape
What is rape?
Rape is a form of sexual assault, but not all sexual assault is rape. The term rape is often used as a legal definition to specifically include sexual penetration without consent. For its Uniform Crime Reports, the FBI defines rape as “penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.” To see how your state legally defines rape and other forms of sexual assault, visit RAINN’s State Law Database for Tennessee.
What is force?
Force doesn’t always refer to physical pressure. Perpetrators may use emotional coercion, psychological force, or manipulation to coerce a victim into non-consensual sex. Some perpetrators will use threats to force a victim to comply, such as threatening to hurt the victim or their family or other intimidation tactics.
What is Domestic Violence?
Power and control – one person’s need and determination to dominate another person.
- Can be physical and sexual abuse
- Can also be verbal, emotional and financial abuse
Domestic Violence law covers the relationships in a household or family including: spouses, boyfriends, girlfriends or roommates, uncle and nephew, grandson and grandmother, etc.
Under Tennessee law, it is physical injury or attempting to inflict physical injury on an adult or minor, including stalking and sexual assault; putting them in FEAR of physical harm.
Stalking has become a more prominent tactic, including harassment or unconsented contact, following a person or showing up at his/her house or workplace, calling or leaving items on his/her property.
What Are the “Warning Signs” of an Abuser?
Red flags and warning signs of an abuser include but are not limited to:
- Extreme jealousy
- Possessiveness
- Unpredictability
- A bad temper
- Cruelty to animals
- Verbal abuse
- Extremely controlling behavior
- Antiquated beliefs about roles of women and men in relationships
- Forced sex or disregard of their partner’s unwillingness to have sex
- Sabotage of birth control methods or refusal to honor agreed upon methods
- Blaming the victim for anything bad that happens
- Sabotage or obstruction of the victim’s ability to work or attend school
- Controls all the finances
- Abuse of other family members, children or pets
- Accusations of the victim flirting with others or having an affair
- Control of what the victim wears and how they act
- Demeaning the victim either privately or publicly
- Embarrassment or humiliation of the victim in front of others
- Harassment of the victim at work
Local data: January – November 2022:
Total Homicides: 217
Domestic Violence incidents: 27
Intimate Partner Violence: 19
Domestic Violence unit has investigated 12,467 DV related Cases
Aggravated Assaults: 6,430 (DV and non DV)
DV Aggravated Assaults: 2,042
5,793 DV Assaults
Sexual Assaults:
Forcible rapes: 302
Statutory rapes: 24
1 in 4 women and 1 in 7 men have experienced severe physical violence from an intimate partner.
More than 50% of employed battered women is harassed AT WORK by abusive partners; 25% report that it affects their work performance.
According to Department of Labor, 27% of all workplace violence incidents are tied to domestic violence.
Domestic violence costs $9.05 billion annually to US economy ($203 million to Tennessee’s economy annually)!