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Sexual Assault Research Paper

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Sexual Assault: A Taboo Topic Sex. That little three-letter word demands attention in this world that thrives on the glorification of physical intimacy. Less eye catching are the words, sexual assault. Those words, sexual assault, are rarely heard in casual conversation but the actions associated with sexual assault are otherwise far too common for comfort. With one in four women and one in six men being sexually abused before the age of eighteen, this is a massive issue worldwide and even in a majorly religious community such as Rigby Idaho (The Children’s Assessment Center, 2016). No individual or community are excluded; nearly everyone knows someone who has been abused or has been assaulted themselves. Thus, everyone should consider the …show more content…

This usually violent action or multiple actions lead to short-term wounds such as bleeding, bruising, internal damage, infections, soreness, and dislocated or broken bones (The Assessment Center, 2016). In some cases, the victim is not physically harmed at all. Bruising and soreness generally disappear in little over a week, but broken bones require six weeks to four months or longer to heal properly. Serious internal damage demands an emergency operation. Otherwise, the internal bleeding will halt on its own. In infections, if the bacteria begin to colonize within the wound, the healing process is often prolonged.
Hence a quote from Stephen Fry, an English poet and comedian, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will always hurt me…mental wounds can grind and ooze for decades and be re-opened by the quietest whisper.” (Fry, 2014). This quote implies that physical wounds will heal with time, but the unseen mental wounds can fester over the years. Additionally, mental trauma heals much slower and is more susceptible to being subjected to the same trauma again, through a sound or a certain place. Thus affecting who the victim is as a person and how they will …show more content…

Mentally, the most common effects are PTSD, depression, and dissociation, all of which cannot be remedied overnight and ordinarily require outside help (source). Outside help includes speaking with a psychiatrist. However, the healing process is often prolonged because it takes at least a year for 75% of child victims to tell someone what happened (The Assessment Center, 2016). Only 10% of college students report their assault, and out of that, the survivor will on average, wait eleven months to report (Ladd, 2016). For all ages, this waiting time before attempting to receive help serves the prevention of the healing process, thus prolonging the span of time spent in

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