Almost half of Australian women aged 18-41 were sexually abused as a child

Leigh | Oct 10, 2007 | Comments

Megan at ImginIf  writes about a story in the Sun Herald today. Research that shows a staggering 45 per cent of women were abused as children by family members, friends or strangers. 

Abuse ranged from non-contact behaviour such as indecent exposure or being forced to watch pornography, through to rape. It found 75 per cent of abuse involved some contact, most of which was shockingly severe, such as forced intercourse.

Megan, who is an passionate about child abuse and protection says she is not at all surprised by these numbers. I, on the other hand was quite shocked. While I know of a family member who was abused and read a lot of what Megan writes, I really did not know that it was so common.

As the mother of 2 daughters these numbers are frightening, does this mean that one of my daughters will be sexually abused?

This highlights the problems facing people such as Megan, who are working so hard to bring awareness to everyone. People are unaware, or just do not want to know how serious the problem is becoming. Due to the stigma surrounding sexual abuse, people are unwilling to talk about it.

How can we all work together to protect our children?

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Filed Under: Health • Women

  • Kylie
    I believe these statistics, I was abused as a child, in two different ways by two different perpertrators .. once when I was 16 .. a random flasher .. so yes this was fairly minor, the other time was repeated sexual assault ...

    I now work with many youth, and community groups, and when the discussions get going you can guarantee almost half the women in the room have had some sort of sexual abuse (again ranging from minor to more severe). I believe the rates for the more severe abuse are something like 1 in 3 women ... and 1 in 10 men (yes the boys are feature as well) ... look around that room you are sitting in, I can guarantee there will be atleast one if not two people that have suffered as a child.

    I choose now to support others, it is heart wrenching sometimes, but if I can work with Youth and Communities before the abuse happens, and give people the strength to either seek help, or to help teach kids to keep themselves safe. Yes not foolproof, but a way to combat it!
  • What a sickening statistic :(

    More power to everyone who is trying to make it a safer world for our children to live in!
  • 45% seems very high. Has anyone seen the questions in the survey or know how the survey was conducted or how the survey respondants were chosen? It sounds like a Griffith Uni or media beat-up to me.

    There's a big difference between "have you ever seen an adult member of your family naked" and "have you ever been sexually abused"?
  • Wow, I too had no idea of these statistics. I guess many people have trouble believing these high rates because sexual assault in its different forms isn't something that's really discussed.
  • Leigh thanks for raising this issue as well. The more discourse around the rates of sexual assault the quicker perpetrators will get the message that the silence is lifting.

    Many people have difficulty understanding such high rates. One in two does not mean that one in two female children are raped - sexual assault falls on a continuum from non contact to contact through to penetration.

    I am shocked at the comments left on the news item blog. People, Australian people, men and women, do not believe the research.
    I believe, I support, I will work until my dying day to protect children from sexual assault. Thanks for helping me Leigh. I really appreciate it.

    This month in Queensland is Sexual Violence Awareness month. The research findings release is timely.

    On the last Friday in October (26th this year), all over the world, women, men and children will walk together against sexual violence. If there is a Reclaim the Night march or function in your area, please consider joining it.

    One stick burns out quickly but a whole heap of sticks makes a noticeable bonfire.
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